Who was Margaret Donald?





MARGARET'S LETTER

Part 2:
~WHO WAS MARGARET DONALD?~

Who was Margaret Donald, the author of the letter? And what was her relationship to Patrick Henry of colonial Virgina fame? In 1790 she was living on Marischal Street in Aberdeen, Scotland. Marischal Street was located in the old part of the city which had long been the theatre district of Aberdeen. J. Keith Angus in his book, A Scotch Play-house (Edinburgh: D. Wyllie & Sons, 1878), states, “Aberdeen, in old days, played an honourable and prominent part in the advancement of the drama into Scotland, and her old play-house in Marischal Street was the scene of many gala dramatic days….” In 1789 Alexander Milne drafted a plan of the City of Aberdeen taken from a survey of that year, presumably the basis for the Aberdeen city council’s report issued in 1967 stating, “Marischal Street, designed by William Law in 1767, is of great historic interest in terms of the early development of Classical Aberdeen. Formed on the site of the Earl Marischal’s lodging and linking Castlegate with the Harbour below, Marischal Street [originally had] a fine granite bridge … with buildings attributed to the renowned Aberdeen architect, John Smith. It is thought to be the first street in Aberdeen paved with square granite sets.” However, at this point, very little of Margaret’s own life is known other than that her letter is posted from Marischal Street in Aberdeen.

In the letter, Margaret named her brother as William Duguid (later identified as a half-brother) and identified herself as a cousin of Patrick Henry, the statesman in Virginia. She gave us her motherʼs name—Jean Henry, and identified Jean as Patrick Henryʼs aunt. She also mentions several other relatives. Her letter was addressed to Patrick Henry at an old address, evidence that contact between them was sparce. We know from the return signature on the envelope that Margaret went by the nickname “Peggy” and that her surname was Donald, later verified to be her maiden name. It was later learned that Margaret was born to Jean Henry and her 2nd husband, Alexander Donald, in Skene Parish, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on July 7, 1733. She would have been about 57 years old when she penned the letter.

One of the most difficult tasks of this project has been to explain the discrepancy of the name of the father of siblings Jean, Patrick and John Henry. Margaret gave his name as Alex in the letter. However, the historic records for these siblings began to reveal that his name was actually Patrick. This discrepancy and possible reasons for it are discussed further in my analysis of the letter.

Her purpose in writing Patrick Henry at that time seems to have been twofold. She was being urged by another cousin, an elderly David Henry, to send Patrick knowledge of his relatives and ancestors who lived overseas in Scotland. She mentioned being in touch with Patrickʼs mother and sisters and speaks fondly of them; the inference is that she may have visited with the Henry family in Virginia at some point in the past, and apparently they corresponded after she returned to Scotland. Her other obvious reason for the letter was to ask Patrick Henry, who was a lawyer, to make some inquiries for her as to when she and her sister could expect to receive the proceeds of an inheritance left to them by George Donald who died in Virginia. She does not identify in the letter exactly what her relationship is to George Donald, and the misunderstanding of this relationship has been the cause of some erroneous information published in the past. My research and resulting documentation shows clearly that George Donald was Margaret’s brother, both children of Jean Henry’s 2nd marriage to Alexander Donald. Margaret also mentioned a Mr. Buchanan in regard to the handling of the inheritance, an important clue used in verifying George Donaldʼs will.

These were all clues used in unraveling the mysteries of Margaretʼs Letter. Could all of the information mentioned be verified? Could the family relationships be unraveled and proven? As I dug into the archives in Virginia and Scotland, a better picture of this family group began to emerge. My gratitude for Margaretʼs Letter grew as I realized just how much family history would have been lost had it not been for the discovery of this letter in Patrick Henryʼs files.

Part Three: ANALYSIS OF THE LETTER~

Return to Home Page
Contact me at Karen Lucas Williams



Created August 7, 2009

© Karen Lucas Williams  All Rights Reserved 2009-2017