My Grandads brother William C Macdonald went to America in 1927.
My grandad is "said" never to have heard from him again. Since his death I have found a little about what happened to William. This is his "story" so far.....

In 1929 William started working for the Sinclair Refining Company as a sign painter and stayed with the company for 30 years before retiring. He was a member of Sinclair AA.
From 1953 until he died in 1968 he lived at 541 Chelsea Road, Chelsea, Bethel Township Pennsylvania. (This area is near Marcus Hook where I think he is on the 1930 census and Aston the district his death was registered in).
He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery Aston by the Robert Moreland Funeral Home in Trainer. (A photo of his grave is on the site Find a grave.)
The information about where he worked and lived I gleaned from Delawares online newspaper archives. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get his death certificate...yet... I live in hope.

I hope one day a member of his family who were mentioned in his obituary but not named may find this post.

Teresa

Do you need instructions on how to request a birth certificate from PA?

I've tried to order the death certificate online through Ancestry but apparently you can't from England. William was born in Glasgow Scotland. I did email the Pennyslvanian authorities to try and order the death certificate by post as you have to obtain a money order (I could get an International money order which costs more than the certificate!! but I don't mind that) but they also wanted US photo ID which obviously I don't have so I asked them if a copy of my passport would be OKI...I haven't had a reply back yet.
I was going to put a query on the board to ask if you have Electoral registers in the US. We have them in England generally in the reference libraries and they list the people old enough to vote at a known address. This might be useful as I'm trying to find out if William had a family.
The address he lived in doesn't seem to exist now.
teresa

Hello
As a suggestion, try calling the funeral director. He likely would have all the information and perhaps even a copy of the death certificate he could mail to you.
Best wishes, Don

Thank you Don for the suggestion. I've emailed the funeral company (the name has changed slightly). I couldn't work out what time it was in Delware compared to here in England so decided to email rather than phone.
I'll let you know how I get on!!

Teresa

Hello
I called the funeral parlor for you and although they do not still have a copy of the death certificate, the lady said he did not have any relatives. The person who lived with him at that address made the arrangements. Her name was Jane Carrie. I tried to search for her in white pages and no luck.
Best wishes, Don

Thank you Don for phoning for me. I'd just emailed them!!
It really sounded as if he had a family from the obituary.
I was hoping we would find a long lost branch of the family.

Thank you again,
best wishes

Teresa

Hi Teresa
I live nearby, so I will try to find out more information and if I come across anything, I will let you know.
Don

Thank you Don for your offer.
Best wishes

Teresa

Hi I've managed to get in contact with the daughter of the family William boarded with and she has told me a lot that we didn't know. I was hoping that William married and had a family but sadly he remained single.
Thank you eveyone for their help especially Don who gave me the vital piece of information about the person organising Williams funeral.

Teresa