Who was Mary Anne MacLeod, Donald Trump’s mother who arrived in the US with US$50 in her pocket and managed to become part of the New York elite

Mary Anne MacLeod only brought with her about US$50 (about US$950 today) when she landed in New York on May 11, 1930.

The woman who years later would give life to magnate Donald Trump – who has just become president of the United States for the second time – entered that country legally from her native Scotland.

But contrary to the widespread idea that she first traveled as a tourist and then returned to marry builder Fred Trump – the son of German immigrants and one of the most eligible bachelors in New York -, customs documents indicate that from the beginning she had intentions to stay in the country.

His name appears in the immigration records of the time digitized by the Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island Foundation, which preserves the data of more than 51 million travelers who arrived in the United States between 1892 and 1957 through said island and port of New York.

According to these documents, MacLeod embarked on May 2, 1930 in the port of Glasgow bound for the United States, where he arrived nine days later aboard the ship Transylvania.

“He came with an immigrant visa to have a permanent residence,” Barry Moreno, historian at the National Immigration Museum on Ellis Island in New York, told BBC Mundo after analyzing the passenger record of the boat.

His visa #26698 had been issued in Glasgow on February 17, 1930, just three months before the trip.

The customs document states that MacLeod did not plan to return to his home country, but rather intended to permanently reside in the US and obtain citizenship.

“If from the moment she arrived she saw herself living in the United States permanently, that is called immigrating. There is no doubt about it,” writer Gwenda Blair, author of the book, told BBC Mundo. The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate (“The Trumps: three generations of builders and a presidential candidate”).

The media in the US point out that Trump – the fourth of Mary Anne’s five children – has always maintained that his mother initially traveled to the country as a tourist and not with the intention of residing there.

For some it is an important distinction, given the rhetoric against immigration – illegal and even legal – that has characterized the magnate’s speech in both presidencies.

One of his first actions upon assuming his second term was to sign executive orders to declare a “state of emergency” on the southern border with Mexico and to limit the right to automatically acquire U.S. citizenship by birth, something that is protected by the Constitution (which is why experts believe it will be difficult to reverse it).

Domestic employee

Originally from Tong, a town on the island of Lewis, north of Scotland, at the age of 18, Trump’s mother followed in the footsteps of three of her sisters who were already in the US: Christina, Mary Joan and Catherine.

The authorities noted the name and address of the latter in Astoria (Queens) as the information of the person who was going to receive it in New York.

As for her trade or profession, the customs document records MacLeod as “domestic.”

“Domestic can mean several things: a person who worked at home; someone who works in a family home, cooking and cleaning for others; or someone who works in domestic service in a house as a maid,” Moreno explained.

In this, MacLeod also seemed to follow the path, at least, of her sister Mary Joan, who had worked in domestic service when she met her future husband, Victor Pauley.

Whatever meaning he gave to his definition of “domestic,” the truth is that MacLeod used it again in September 1934, when he entered New York Harbor for the second time from Scotland.

The customs document from this second trip, this time aboard the ship Cameronia, reveals other relevant aspects of his first years in United States territory.

Firstly, he remained in the country uninterruptedly from his arrival in May 1930 until June 1934 and designated New York as his permanent place of residence.

Moreno highlights that, before traveling to Scotland, MacLeod processed a permit to re-enter the United States, which would have facilitated customs procedures during his second entry.

humble origins

“She came from a very poor family. There was a large emigration from the town where she came from because at the end of the First World War most of the men in the town died when a ship that was bringing them back sank,” Michael D’Antonio, author of the book, told BBC Mundo. book Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success (“Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Search for Success”).

“It was a great tragedy. Many women decided to emigrate when they saw that they would not have anyone to marry. “They went to Canada and the US,” he added.

D’Antonio also mentions economic reasons for emigrating, as many farmers from the Isle of Lewis were expelled from those lands and had to move to the town.

“They were very poor because they could no longer grow their own crops,” he said.

Judging by documents from MacLeod’s voyage aboard the Transylvania, Moreno believes that his financial situation was not entirely precarious at the time.

“I had enough money to pay for second class traveling in a shared cabin with another woman and avoid third class. Obviously, he had some money, he was not poor, but he did come as an immigrant,” the historian told BBC Mundo.

Genealogist Bill Lawson, who has traced Mary Anne MacLeod’s family tree to the early 19th century, says that her father, Malcolm, ran a post office and small store in his later years, and that financially, the family would have been slightly better than the municipality average.

Lawson highlights that she “belonged to a very large family, with nine siblings,” and that on the island “there were not many prospects for young people.”

“What else could I do?” he says.

“Nowadays, you might think about going to the continent, but back then most people went to Canada. It was much easier to make a living in the United States and many people had relatives there.”

Immigration fees

The descendants of the immigrants who came to the United States through New York during the last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century are equivalent to almost half of the country’s population, according to the Estatua de Fundación Foundation on its website. Liberty – Ellis Island.

However, although the US has historically been open to immigration, when MacLeod emigrated from his native Scotland there were some restrictions on the entry of foreigners.

“At that time, quotas were assigned to admit only a limited number of immigrants from each country. Between 1921 and 1955 there was a limited quota of immigrants from the United Kingdom. As a Scot, she fit into it,” Moreno said.

The historian indicated that MacLeod also had to apply for a visa to obtain immigration permission.

In the ship’s passenger control sheets, called Manifests, all the data of each one was recorded, including their personal characteristics (eye color, hair, race, etc.).

Each passenger had to answer the question of whether they had at least US$50 and prove that they had it.

That was the exact amount Macleod brought with him on each of his two voyages.

“If you had less than US$50 there were doubts about whether you could survive in the United States while you got a job or could join a family member who could take you in,” Moreno explained.

Intelligent and ambitious

Trump’s mother became a US citizen in 1942.

In his book “The Art of the Deal,” Donald Trump refers to her as a “very traditional housewife who was fully aware of the world beyond her.”

The magnate describes a scene in which his mother is absorbed in watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on television.

“I was totally captivated by the pomp and circumstance, by that whole idea of ​​royalty and glamour,” she wrote.

D’Antonio refers to MacLeod as a woman with a lot of spirit, very intelligent and ambitious.

“That’s what Trump told me about her, that she was very competitive and as ambitious as her father. The only thing is that I don’t think I could express it in the same way because I was a woman. “At that time it was difficult for women to have a career and be as ambitious as they can be today,” she said.

Apparently, MacLeod found in charitable activities that space to leave his mark on the world.

After his death in August 2000, at the age of 88, the newspaper The New York Times He published an obituary in which he describes her as a “philanthropist.”

“Mrs. Trump was the main supporter of the Jamaica Women’s Auxiliary Hospital (in New York) and the Jamaica day care center,” the text reads.

He adds that the Trump family also contributed to the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts of America, among other organizations.

“A pavilion at the Jamaica Medical Center bears his name and they also donated buildings to the National Kidney Foundation of New York/New Jersey,” the obituary adds.

Nothing inconsiderable for an immigrant who arrived in the United States when she was only 18 years old and had US$50 in her pocket.

*This story was originally published on BBC Mundo in 2016 and was updated in 2017 and now for Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2025.