Person:Helena Unknown (66)

Name Uncertain

Trees traditionally show the name of John's first wife as Elizabeth McDonald, but there appears to be no evidence for either her first or last name. The International Marriage Index (IGI) has entries for John Beckstead and Elizabeth Mcdonald and also for John Beckstead and Helena Mcdonald. The estimated birth years given with the former marriage (1749 and 1751) are not consistent with the estimated birth years of their children. It should be noted that entries in the IGI don't necessarily come from actual records, but may have originated in someone's speculated family tree, and are thus considered to be unreliable.

Given that John didn't marry Helena Thomas until 1774 (although they were clearly together in 1773), and that John's son Alexander's 1769 baptism record says that his mother was Helena, it is possible that John's first wife was also a Helena.