For many years, there has been a shroud of mystery around the birth of Elmer Glenn MacDonald. Much of this mystery exists because of secrecy and misinformation. 

Until he was a teenager, Glenn believed that Angus (1848-1929) and Mary (1852-1947, nee McQuarrie) McDonald were his parents but he discovered that they were his grandparents and, as the story goes, one of the McDonald girls that he had grown up with was actually his mother. Over time, with the help of many researchers, we narrowed it down to thinking that it was Sarah McDonald (1880-1967) who had given birth to Glenn.

Family lore is quite clear that Martin Faunt (1875-1963) was Glenn's father. Martin married Sarah Ann "Sadie" McQuarrie in 1903 in Middlesex County, Ontario. The couple had three children:  1) John Basil Kirby (1903-1980),  2) Martin Allan (1905-1977), and Marion Florence (1908-1954). The fact that Basil Faunt bore a striking resemblance to Glenn was the evidence used to "confirm" that Martin was Glenn's father, too.

Then along came DNA testing and changed the narrative! We found no matches to people who we know are directly related to the McDonald family.....none! So, that eliminated Sarah McDonald as Glenn's mother. For a time, we looked for matches to Sadie McQuarrie Faunt thinking that, perhaps she and Martin had had a child before they married. Again....no matches. Where to look next?

Connections that Cathy Scott shares with cousin, Bill Walker, began to point us toward the Whitty family of Huron County, Ontario. Currently [December 2020], Cathy shares Whitty matches with 17 other Ancestry members who have had their DNA tested. This tree will help us to visualize where the connection to Glenn may be.

James Whitty and wife, Ann (nee Fitzhenry) emigrated to Canada from Ireland about 1843-45 with six children. They added three children to the family once in Upper Canada. This is where this tree begins.....

The strong physical resemblance between Ignatius "Nace" Martin (1915-1987) and Martin MacDonald (1975), son of Doug MacDonald (1946), gives us some confidence that we are on the right track.

NOTE ~ much of the information here is taken from others' trees on Ancestry. As much as possible, details are confirmed by records, images, and newspaper articles.