The Donegal man who shared the trip to New York with President Trump's mother

With Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the White House as part of his St Patrick’s Day itinerary in the United States, an interesting story regarding President Donald Trump has been publicised.

The Moville Heritage Facebook page, which is run by Dr Don McGinley, has always been a source of useful information in both Inishowen and farther afield.

He explains that Trump’s late mother, Mary Ann McLeod, was born in Scotland in 1912 and eventually emigrated to the United States. She travelled on the SS Transylvania to New York and records show she shared the journey with a gentleman from Ardara.

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“Mary Ann McLeod, mother to President Donald Trump, came from Tong, Stornaway,” Dr McGinley writes. “She was the youngest sibling in a large family. Aged 18 years of age, she emigrated to New York in May 1930, aboard the SS Transylvania, from Glasgow to New York; the liner calling into Lough Foyle for passengers.

“Mary Ann McLeod was described as a domestic servant, height 5ft 8 in tall, fair complexion, fair hair with blue eyes. She was to join her sister Catherine in New York. She had $50 in her possession. She was descended from Iain Ruaidh McLeod, who had red hair. Some of her family ancestors were fishermen and were lost at sea.

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“In America she got work in the Carnegie household and she met Fred Trump, a construction developer, whom she married in January 1936. She visited home in Stornaway quite a few times and brought her family, including Donald J, on a trip there.

“A Gaelic speaker, she spoke Gaelic when she returned home to Stornoway. She returned in 1934 prior to her marriage to Fred Trump. James Molloy, a tweed merchant, from Ardara, was on the Transylvania on the outward journey, 1930, on a business trip - establishing an export business to the States for tweeds and knits, likely boarding at Moville. The Molloy weaving establishment is still thriving, in Ardara.”