Family history research reunites a lost family
The McDonald family reunion held at Pakenham recently was more than just a family get together.
It was an emotional discovery of siblings who had never met in more than 92 years. Not only had they never met but, until two weeks ago, they knew nothing of each other’s existence.
After a tip off from hobby family historian Margaret McDonald and persistent researching by daughter Sue Brown, the long-lost siblings have been able to contact each other.
Roy McDonald was given up for adoption in 1926. His mother, Elsie McDonald and father Alex Clay had a romantic tryst shortly after arrival in Australia in 1924. She lived in Melbourne with her siblings Janet, and Alec McDonald born in 1909 who was a long-time resident of Warragul and worked at the Warragul High School until his death in 1974.
As a single mother in 1926 and losing their father in a shooting accident, Elsie made the decision to give up her baby Roy to an orphanage in Melbourne. Roy was an orphan for 92 years and completely unaware that he had direct family so close by in Warragul and Melbourne throughout his whole life.
Roy was a machine gunner and crack shot in World War II. His father, Alex Clay, remained with his wife and children in Melbourne.
Roy, along with Alex’s youngest children Phoebe and Donald, have all survived the trials and heartbreak of war and losses as well as love and happiness. Phoebe is 99 years old and her brother Donald, who lives in Adelaide, is 92.
Around 1932 Roy’s mother, Elsie, moved back to England before being able to recover her baby Roy. There she married and had a daughter Dorothy who now lives in South Africa. Dorothy was also unaware she had a half-brother until earlier this year when Sue connected her with Roy. She communicates regularly with him over the telephone.
The gathering at Pakenham provided the opportunity for the youngsters of the families to witness the loving bonding of long-lost siblings Roy and Phoebe. He will be meeting his half-brother, Donald from Adelaide, sometime early in January.
Roy is cousin to: Laurie, Hugh, and Rosemary McDonald; uncle to Kim, Terry and Sue McDonald, Brian (deceased), Geoff (deceased), Trevor and Daren McDonald, Sally, Andrea, Caroline Byard and Alison Renwick, along with the younger generations that keep on coming.