Hector MacDonald

Island story

Hector MacDonald is commemorated at R8-006 in the Pioneer Cemetery, where the memorial records 1861–1936. PIHS family records identify Janet, also recorded as Jessie E. MacCallum MacDonald, as his wife. William Creighton “Bill Cole” MacDonald’s delayed birth and 1922 marriage name Hector MacDonald and Janet McCallum as his parents; the 1911 Island census independently records William as Hector’s son. The existing family reconstruction also identifies Janetta May MacDonald Volpe as their daughter. The memorial and family sources serve different purposes; the inscription alone does not establish the entire family history. In the 1921 household headed by Hector, Dorothy and Ralph are recorded as his granddaughter and grandson; the 1931 household again records them as grandchildren. Their immediate parents have not been identified. The records identify their place in Hector’s household but do not identify the intervening parent generation.