Catherine McDonald was born c. 1797, and the 1881 census record gives her place of birth as Perth.

She was married to John McIntyre in late 1815. The Buchanan Parish Register indicates that the couple ‘gave up their names for Proclamation on one Sabbath in order to marriage’ on 24^th November 1815, and that both were ‘in this Parish’.

It is very probable that she is the lady of the same name who died on 21^st November 1881 at 201, Garbraid Street, Maryhill, Glasgow. She was 84 years at the time of death, and she was indicated to be the widow of John McIntyre, a general labourer. The causes of death were entered as senile decay and what appears to be ‘erysipelas’.

The signature of the informant is entered as ‘Marjory McIntyre or Livingston, Daughter’. It is likely that this is the same Marjory McIntyre who was born at Arrochar, Dunbartonshire, on 12^th April 1823.

A few months previously, at the time of the 1881 census, Catherine McIntyre had been shown living with Marjory as a ‘boarder’. Her age was entered as 84, and she was stated to have been born in Perth. Marjory was stated to be 54 and her place of birth was given as Dunbarton. Both ladies were entered as widows. Also resident at the same address was John Livingston, Marjory’s son, a plumber aged 21.

Forebears

On Catherine McDonald McIntyre’s death certificate, her parents are shown as John McDonald, general labourer, (deceased), and Mary McDonald (also deceased). Mary’s maiden name is difficult to make out, but it appears to be McLean.

This is problematic, because there is an entry in Buchanan Parish Register which indicates that Catherine was baptised there on 22^nd May 1799. If this is the same person who was later the wife of John McIntyre, then she was 16 when she married him. Her parents names in this connection are given as ‘John McDonald & Mary McGrigor Spoufes in Cretworks (?)’. The discrepancy relating to the maiden name of Catherine’s mother therefore remains unresolved. It may be noticed that if the 1881 death certificate is a correct match for the 1799 baptism, then the aged quoted at death, 84, is almost exactly 18 months out.

One likely explanation is that the entry in the Buchanan registry is a red herring, as indicated by the information in the 1881 census that Catherine was born at Perth.