A DNA match on 23andme.com to Anna Newton of Moss Point, Mississippi, has revived my interest in my McDonald line (my maternal great-grandmother). Anna married several times. Her first husband was Samuel McDonald. Her last was Emanuel Bang. The DNA match is a descendant of Emanuel, so it didn’t help any with my McDonald line (although it will help with the mysteries of Anna’s mother or paternal grandparents).
The only reason we know the name of Anna’s first husband is through her children, specifically my great-great-grandfather Samuel McDonald III, whose death certificate (and name) verifies his father as Samuel McDonald II. Their marriage record likely was lost in a fire in Pascagoula. But what is strange is that we cannot find Samuel on any census. Ever. Or any other document.
What we do know is that Samuel and Anna likely married in Mississippi or Mobile, Alabama. She was aged 16-20. She had Samuel III in February 1870 in Kreole, Jackson County, Mississippi. Assuming the typical circumstances (parents were married, mother carried him full term), Samuel and Anna had married by late spring 1869. Son John was born April 1871. They also had Lovenia May and Ora Edwin by 1877. Samuel was deceased before the 1880 census.
There are many family stories about Samuel:
Story 1: He was a stowaway on a ship from Scotland. He hid out in Mississippi but enlisted in the Civil War. He was shot in the war but survived. In 1879, he was working on his farm and a tree branch fell on him, dislodging the bullet and killing him. This story means that (a) Samuel should be on an 1870 census with Anna and Samuel (which he should regardless of his history, but we can’t find them), (b) he enlisted in the war (no such record exists), and (c) he was born before 1845. Some also say he had a twin brother named John or was Samuel John.
Story 2: His family was from Canada. He was in the Canadian militia but fled the country, traveling down to Mississippi and meeting Anna. There are too many Samuel McDonalds in Canadian military records to prove or disprove this.
All I know is that even his own children seemed confused about his origins. They claim he was born in Mississippi, Canada, France, and Scotland. His wife and children have been listed as McDonald, McDonnell, McDannell, and McDaniel.
I don’t know if anything besides DNA will help us figure Samuel out, but hopefully some McDonald (or McDaniel or whatever) from the Jackson Co., MS/Mobile Co., AL area can say “I have Samuel in my family records!”
Unending Branches 
Keep looking the answers will come when you least expect them to.
I hope so! I took a look at your blog–those letters and the other info you’ve gathered look like they could be the beginnings of a very interesting book!
I think you forgot the part where Samuel’s grandkids (our GG-GF Samuel and his brother John) didn’t know each other or didn’t know they were related, as best we can tell, although they lived in the same town just a few miles from each other. The only thing we have linking Samuel and John are their death certificates which list the same parents.
Considering growing up in the same area, we knew our cousins, even the distant ones, and in the 90’s couldn’t have avoided contact if we wanted to, it’s weird that these people who are buried in the same graveyards and likely attended the same churches didn’t seem to know they were related.
I don’t know that John and Samuel didn’t know that they were related, just that their great grandkids (Nanny and her siblings) didn’t know. I’m not sure if that means they had a falling out or what. I’m still confused why Samuel III wasn’t with Anna and the other kids in 1880, but we know he had Anna’s DNA at least!