McDonald, Alexander (1882-1973)
Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference
ALEXANDER McDONALD: who died on 11th March, 1973 in the ninety-first year of his age and the sixty-fifth of his ministry served in the following circuits: Halstead and Great Bardfield, Dover and Deal, Crewe, Blackburn, Wigton, Durham, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Crewe, Berwick-on-Tweed and Pickering (West).
Family
Alexander was born on 19 December 1882 at Sherburn Hill, Co. Durham, parents Hugh McDonald, a police constable (1881) and died in 1888, and Agnes Ferguson, baking powder packer (1891).
The 1901 census records Alexander working in a coal mine.
He married Elizabeth Ethel Watson (1889-1944) in the summer of 1912 in the Houghton Le Spring Registration District, Co. Durham. Elizabeth was the daughter of Rev. Thomas Jameson Watson. Birth records identify four children.
- Muriel Norma (1913-1972) – a school teacher (1939); married Wilfrid Phillipson in 1947
- Donald Arnold (1915-2006) – a school teacher
- Agnes Irene (1916-2011) – state registered nurse (1939); married Richard G Salkeld in 1945
- Sheila (1931-1937) – died of diphtheria
Alexander died on 11 March 1973 Crossways Green, Chepstow, Monmouthshire.
Circuits
- Hartley
- 1908 Halstead &c
- 1910 Dover & Deal
- 1912 Crewe II
- 1915 Blackburn III
- 1919 Wigton
- 1923 Durham
- 1928 Middleton in Teesdale
- 1933 Crewe
- 1937 Berwick
- 1944 Pickering W
- 1949 Barnard Castle (S)
References
Methodist Minutes 1974/146
W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990
Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers
Comments about this page
Rev. Alexander McDonald and his wife (known by her second name Ethel) are my maternal Grandparents. It’s been a pleasure to have been able to provide their photographs along with some family information. Thank you to Geoff Dickinson for including everything on this page.
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