Duncan Smith

Biography

updated 6 November 2024

Duncan Smith was born about 1808 in Isle of Lewis, Scotland, and died 5 September 1855 in Tong.

He married Henrietta MacSween on 7 January 1832 in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. She was born about 1810 at Lochs Ross, Druimtong, Scotland, to parents Angus MacSwane and Margaret Campbell, and died on 26 March 1882, "age 72," in Stornoway.

"He was the only man in the family not to have the dual occupations of crofter and fisherman as he was described as a woollen weaver and cottar. His widow, Henrietta, worked the croft after his death."

Henrietta and Duncan Smith had nine children:

1. Murdo Smith
2. Donald Smith.
3. Ann Smith
4. Angus Smith
5. Catherine Smith
6. Annabelle Barbara Smith
7. Margaret Smith
8. Malcolm Smith
9. Isabella Smith

Death record

On www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. Also on microfilm at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, FHL film 0103480, ref. Stornoway 1855, 088/74.

Death of Duncan Smith, age 57, born at Tong. Parents: Malcolm Smith, cottar, deceased, and Isabella Smith m.s. ?, deceased. Married to Henrietta Smith m.s. MacSween. Children: Murdo age 22, Donald 21, Ann 18, Angus 16, Catherine 13, Annabella 11, Margaret 7, Malcolm 5, and Isabella 2. Died September 5th at Tong of inflammation of the bladder. Buried at Sandwick. Informant: Henrietta Smith, her mark, wife.

Family notes

(Son) Donald was said to have been a fisherman and the son of Duncan Smith and Henrietta MacSween Smith. A note of tragedy creeps into the family tree here as Donald was lost in Broad Bay off Vatisker Point, Stornoway when a squall of wind overturned his open boat in 1868. He was aged thirty-four and left his widow to carry on the family croft after his death and to bring up their four children, the youngest of whom, Mary, was only a year old. Donald's father was the only man in the family not to have the dual occupations of crofter and fisherman as he was described as a woollen weaver and cottar. His widow, Henrietta, worked the croft after his death.

Sources

1. (National Records of Scotland (NRS). Statutory registers - Deaths (Scotland's People, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk : accessed 9 Jul 2021) Statutory register of deaths. Year 1855. Reference: 088 /74. RD: Stornoway)
2. Bannerman, Alexander, Julie Helen Otto and Gary Boyd Roberts. "The ancestry of President Donald John Trump: an initial investigation." American Ancestors 18, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 50-1. < membership needed to view >; (document attached)(accessed June 26, 2019). “28. Duncan Smith (b. Stornoway ca. 1803); married Stornoway 7 January 1832 29. Henrietta “Essie” MacSwane/ MacQueen (Lochs Ross, Druimtong, Scotland ca. 1810–Stornoway 26 March 1882 “aged 72”), daughter of Angus MacSwane and Margaret Campbell”
3. https://www.scottishroots.com/people/donald.php
4. https://www.familysearch.org/service/tree/tree-data/pdf/family-grou...
5. https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LB6H-GJR
6. WikiTree contributors, "Duncan Smith (abt.1808-1855)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-86513 : accessed 07 November 2024).