Margaret MacDonald was born on June 22, 1760, one of Duncan and Sarah MacDonald’s four children.1 Her father, described as “the old Scotch highland piper,”2 likely served in one of the British regiments sent to Carlisle during the French and Indian War. He settled in Carlisle when he left the service and is described as “piper” on the 1765 tax list of Carlisle.
MacDonald operated the “Sign of the Ship” tavern in the 1760s. In 1770, he purchased Lot #240 on the south east corner of Bedford and North streets3 where he kept a tavern until his death in 1777. Left with four children to raise, his widow Sarah applied for a tavern license in 1779. She likely kept the tavern with hired help until 1789 when she advertised to rent the “Sign of the Highlandman.”4
Margaret earned a living as a seamstress and continued to live in the family home after her mother’s death in 1795.5 In1808, Margaret, her brother Alexander, a Baltimore merchant, and her sister Catharine Sterrett of Lewistown, Pennsylvania sold the house and lot on Bedford Street.6
That same year, Margaret bought a large brick house with a stone kitchen and piazza on East High Street.7 She likely continued to work as a seamstress and may also have taken in boarders. Her niece, Sarah Sterrett Brisbane of Lewistown, was widowed in 1823. Left with three small children,8 Sarah and the children came to live with Margaret. The 1830 U S. Census records eight people in Margaret’s household.
About the year 1905, a Carlisle resident wrote reminiscences about the houses and the people who had lived on East High Street and recalled Margaret “Peggy” MacDonald’s family. “Next to the stone tavern was the large brick house that for many years was the home of the late Judge Samuel Hepburn. It was built by Mrs. Brisbane, who later became Mrs. Henry Duffield. Mrs. Brisbane’s maiden name was Sterrett. By her marriage she had two lovely daughters. Margaret who became the first wife of John Brown Parker; and Catharine who became the wife of J. Ellis Newlin. Alexander McDonald was a shipping merchant. His sister, Peggy McDonald, was an aunt to Mrs. Brisbane.”9
Margaret became ill, and on January 8, 1844 she wrote her will.10 She mentioned her nieces Margaret S. Duncan of Baltimore, Maryland and Mary S. Lyon of Erie, PA.11 to whom she willed $1,000. The rest of her real and personal estate was willed to her niece Sarah Duffield, including the $10,000 her brother Alexander McDonald had bequeathed to her in 1836.12
Margaret’s obituary stated, “Died on May 27 at half past 2 o’clock a.m. after a protracted illness of several months, Miss Margaret MacDonald aged 75 years.” 13 She is buried in Carlisle’s Old Graveyard next to her mother and her sister Catharine Sterrett. Her tablet stone reads “Margaret MacDonald, Daughter of Duncan and Sarah MacDonald. June 22, 1760-May 27, 1844.”
Dorothea McKenzie, the daughter of a Quaker ironmaster, became a widow at the age of 38, never remarried, and, until her death, ran a genteel boarding house in Carlisle with the help of her slaves. Dorothea’s father, Thomas Maybury, established the Green Lane Forge in the Perkiomen Valley in what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania as well as the Hereford Furnace. Her mother, Sophia Rutter, was a descendant of Pennsylvania ironmaster, Thomas Rutter.[1]
[1] The four children were Margaret (1760-1844), Alexander, a Baltimore merchant who died c. 1836, Catharine (1766-1825) who married William Sterrett, and William died pre-1808.
[2] A letter written by James Fleming, dated Carlisle, May 21, 1822 says that Catharine MacDonald is the granddaughter of “the old Scotch highland piper.” Egle’s Notes & Queries Series 3, Vol. 111 (1896), 187.
[3] Deed Book 1-T-20.
[4] Kline’s Carlisle Gazette, March 25, 1789.
[5] 1800 Septennial Census: Margaret McDonald, Seamstress
[6] Deed Book 1-T-20.
[7] Deed Book 1-S-308. Lot #205 in the original plan of the town.
[8] Sarah Brisbane’s three children were Margaret (1819-1853) first wife of John Brown Parker of Carlisle (1816-1888), Catharine S. born c.1818 married Rev. Ellis J. Newlin, and Col. William Brisbane (1823-1880).
[9] Unknown author of reminiscences c. 1905. Cumberland County Historical Society, P2-4.
[10] Will Book L-281.
[11] Margaret S. Duncan and Mary S. Lyon were Sarah’s sisters, and all were the children of Margaret MacDonald’s sister Catharine who married William Sterrett. Margaret Sterrett was the wife of John Duncan, the youngest son of Thomas Duncan and his wife Martha Callender. Mary Sterrett (1807-1857) was the wife of Rev. Dr. George Armstrong Lyon, (1805-1871) minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Erie, PA.
[12] Baltimore County, Maryland Wills, Will Book 16, p. 80.
[13] Carlisle Weekly Herald, May 29, 1844.