McDonnell vs. McDonald

Last Updated: Thursday, 13-Sep-2018 20:00:56 MDT
Additions/corrections appear in red



McDONALD or McDONNELL?






Information for Rose Ann McDonald's family has been very limited. It is believed that Rose's father died when she was a child, and that her mother was struck by a run away team of horses pulling a milk wagon and killed when Rose was a teenager, possibly 12 to 16 years old. Rose had a brother, Edward, and a sister, Margaret (later Erman). It is thought that Rose was taken in by a woman who owned a boarding house, and that Edward and Margaret were sent to an orphanage. Some of this has been substantiated. See below.

Burial information received from Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis raises the question whether Rose's maiden name was actually "McDonnell". The family plot was purchased in 1867 by Mary McDonnell for the burial of Patrick McDonnell. The St. Louis Death Register also lists Patrick's entry as McDonnell. Below are the names of individuals interred in the family plot at Calvary with age at death and date of burial:


Patrick McDonnell
Edward McDonnell
Jeremiah Delworth
Lawrence Delworth
Kate Murray
Mary Murray
Rose Ann Delworth
Cora T. Keehne
Unknown child
35
28
83
33
 1
35
63
 0
 ?
12 December 1867
23 March 1895
14 October 1929
14 December 1918
 7 January 1878
29 March 1879 *
 3 March 1937
22 July 1918
13 February 1931

Cora T. Keehne (misspelled "Keelne" in the burial index) is the infant granddaughter of Rose Ann and Jeremiah Delworth, daughter of Mary Rose Delworth and William H. Keehne. Lawrence Delworth is the son of Rose Ann and Jeremiah.



NOTE: 1879 vs. 1897

My friend, Ed Schmidt, contacted me in May of 1999, to let me know that entries in the St. Louis Death Register could now be photocopied. I also learned through the St.Louis Metro mail list that the county library had a number of new records available, including inquests. Ed asked if I had any dates I would like him to copy. While looking for the dates, I stumbled upon a typographical error in the Calvary cemetery records that I had missed last year.

The computer print out for the Delworth family plot at Calvary Cemetery lists a Mary Murray, age 35, date of interment 3/29/1897. This particular set of data would not have matched what I was looking for in terms of Rose's mother.....this Mary would have been too young.�� As I was glancing down the entries on the copy of the actual cemetery card the year 1879 jumped out at me! The last two digits had been reversed when the data was entered into the computer!��� The listing on the original record fits perfectly with the approximate year of death for my gr-gr-grandmother.

With this new information I asked Ed to check for any inquest material that might be available for a Mary Murray in March of 1879. And find it, he did. The report, dated 28 March 1879, included the statements of two witnesses, listed Mary's residence, the location of the accident, the details of the milk wagon which hit Mary causing damage to her skull, and the indication that, as of the date of filing, the person driving the wagon remained unknown. The statement of Mary's landlady was particularly poignant. If possible I would like to search newspaper records of that time period to see if there is any reference to this accident.

Three of Mary's children survived her: Rose, Edward, and Margaret. Based on the Calvary records there appears to have been a fourth child, Kate, who died in 1878, at the age of one year. It would seem that Mary remarried after the death of Patrick, father of Rose and Edward. While re-reading letters from the late 1970s I was reminded that family members thought that Mary had remarried. Margaret and Kate would have been children from her second marriage.




The mystery regarding McDonald versus McDonnell continues....The monument marking the family lot at Calvary Cemetery has, unfortunately, fallen face forward and so is unable to be read the front of the memorial. However, on the side is inscribed the name: McDONALD - a good indicator that the family thought that Rose's maiden name was McDonald. That spelling also appears on Jeremiah and Rose's 1882 marriage certificate. And yet, in the obituaries for Jeremiah Delworth, dated 1929, Rose's maiden name is spelled McDonnell. Since her parents died when the children were so young, it is possible that the spelling of the name was altered from McDonnell to McDonald. With a heavy Irish brogue it may have been difficult to distinguish one pronunciation from the other.


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The information found here is not necessarily complete but is accurate to the best of my knowledge. Primary sources have been used when possible to verify names, dates, and relationships. This continues to be a site in progress. Additions/corrections are welcomed.

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