Ahnentafel

Our next recurring theme is a return to an old one. All through 2024, my posts centered on events that had taken place on that same date in earlier years. So today we’re taking a look at the wedding of Martha Harriett McDonald, my second cousin five times removed, to Frank Swift. As an aside, it was also on this day in in 1883 that my great-grandfather, Charles William Montgomery, married Laura Maud Walker in a double wedding ceremony in Richland County, Illinois, in which his sister, Hattie F., married Martin V. West.

First, a little background on Martha. Born 15 August 1848 in Mackville, Washington County, Kentucky, she was the twelfth child of James and Martha Shepherd (Peter) McDonald.¹ Her mother was 47 when she was born, and her oldest sibling was 28. In 1850 the family was enumerated in Washington County and consisted of James, 52, a farmer with real estate valued at $5520; “Patsy,” 50; Dewitt, 21; M. J., 19; Marcus, 16; Joseph, 14; Josephine, 12; Maria, 10; Alice, 8; and Martha, 2.² Older siblings Richard, Milly, Martin, and James had either left home already or, in the case of Martin, died in infancy.

Sometime before 1860 the family moved to California. In that year they were enumerated in Sacramento.³ James died five years later and is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, having been moved there from the Masonic Cemetery in San Francisco sometime in the 1940s.⁴ Another five years after that, on 22 February 1870, Martha married Frank Swift at the home of her brother, M. J. McDonald, in San Francisco; she was 21, and he was 22.

I’m tempted to leave the story there with a happy wedding, and the attendance of both newlyweds at a St. Patrick’s Day Ball in Sacramento a month later.⁵ But instead I’ll move on to sadder things. Frank and Martha would have two children, both of whom died young. Jasper McDonald Swift was born 18 May 1871 in Sacramento and died 21 September 1874. Florence Swift was born 23 January 1873 and died in May 1877. Of cold consolation is the fact that Martha did not have to experience either loss; she herself died on 1 June 1874 in San Francisco, aged 25. And Frank predeceased Florence, dying on 6 January 1877, about four months before his daughter. Funerals for both Jasper and Martha were held from the family residence at 534 Ellis Street, San Francisco. A history of the McDonald family references Martha’s death “in her child-bed,” suggesting she may have been expecting a third child in 1874 and died of complications.⁶ Causes of death for the rest of the family remain a mystery. The family history also refers to Frank as a “handsome, successful, and popular young man.” Corroborating this account is the fact that when his will was probated, his estate was valued at $80,000.⁷ This would be worth roughly $2 million today.

1. J. Harvey Sweeney, Jr., Moses Sweeney Descendants (n.p: 2006, n.d). ↩︎
2. The National Archives in Washington, DC; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Washington, Kentucky; Roll: 221; Page: 154a ↩︎
3. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Sacramento Ward 4, Sacramento, California; Roll: M653_63; Page: 562; Family History Library Film: 803063 ↩︎
4. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120527749/james-mcdonald: accessed February 21, 2026), memorial page for Col James McDonald (16 Dec 1797–16 Mar 1865), Find a Grave Memorial ID 120527749, citing Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA; Maintained by Nancy Farmer (contributor 49834495). ↩︎
5. The Sacramento Bee, 19 March 1870, pg. 2 ↩︎
6. Supplement No. 1 to Edition B of the Macdonald Genealogy. Containing Records of the Descendants of Jesse Peter, One of the Pioneer Settlers Near Mackville, Washington County, Kentucky; Together With A Few Remarks on the Early History of the Peter Family, and Whatever Other Information of Value Concerning This Branch of the Name Could Be Collected Up to Feb. 25, 1880; Author: McDonald, Frank V. (Frank Virgil), 1852-1897 ↩︎
7. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144482560/frank-swift: accessed February 21, 2026), memorial page for Frank Swift (30 Oct 1847–6 Jan 1877), Find a Grave Memorial ID 144482560, citing Woodlawn Memorial Park, Colma, San Mateo County, California, USA; Maintained by Douglas Robinson (contributor 46999364). ↩︎