Monthly Archives: May 2009

Chronicles of Duncan MacLeod: The Gardener’s Crossing 5

My great-great-great-great-grandfather, John MacLeod, son of Duncan MacLeod, was born sometime between 1762 and 1770 in the village of Laig on the isle of Eigg and married a woman named Effy (short for Euphemia), who was born in 1771 in nearby Grulin (on an island that small, I suppose everything is nearby). John and Effy [...]

Chronicles of Duncan MacLeod: The Swans of Eigg 6

My maternal grandfather, Duncan MacLeod, whom I call Papa, once told me we were kicked off the Isle of Skye for stealing sheep. He told me this early in our talks about the family history a few years back, though they weren’t really talks. No, they were storytelling sessions, an important part of our culture, [...]

Five years of MACVAYSIA 11

Wow, so I’ve been at this blogging thing for five years now. May 14th marked five years since MACVAYSIA’s first post. My online home has gone through plenty of changes since those early days. It started out at Blogspot, then went to Blogsome, then briefly to a domain owned by a friend’s deranged husband (now [...]

The MacVays, Part Three 0

In Part One I told the story of my ancestors’ Irish origins, and about my particular branch of the family’s journey from Ireland to Scotland, back to Ireland, then back to Scotland again before they finally moved to Canada. Part Two covered the family’s departure from New Brunswick and their early years on Cape Breton. [...]