A couple of months ago I tagged along with Leen while she met with a potential supplier for her clinic (which, God willing, she’ll be opening in early October). I didn’t really want to be there, but there I was, watching the supplier pull shiny metal instruments of torture out of his briefcase. He was [...]
Categories: Life
Tagged: Cape Breton, immigration, MacVay, Malay, Malaysia, Nova Scotia, photos, Sydney
- Published:
- August 27, 2010 – 12:27 pm
- Author:
- By Jordan
Our second child, Aaron Yusuf MacVay, was born in the early morning hours of March 7th, after a lot of pushing and an emergency C-section. Mother and baby are both doing fine now. As for Alisdair, well he really loves being a big brother.
We had a few names in mind but Aaron Yusuf came out [...]
Categories: Life
Tagged: Alisdair, family, MacVay, names, parenthood, photos
- Published:
- March 17, 2010 – 2:16 am
- Author:
- By Jordan
The death of her husband at noon on the 2nd of June 1937 was a harsh blow to my great-grandmother, Susan MacLeod. But if she thought that day couldn’t possibly get any worse, she was wrong. After the funeral, Father MacGillivray showed up at the door of her small apartment on Intercolonial Street with two [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: Canada, Cape Breton, Duncan MacLeod, English, family, Gaelic, genealogy, history, language, migration, names, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, photos
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- January 27, 2010 – 12:06 am
- Author:
- By Jordan
My great-grandfather, John Rory MacLeod, was born in July 1889 in the area of Cape Breton island which contains the small communities of Glencoe and Upper Southwest Mabou. (There are several distinct places up there associated with my family, such as Glencoe Mills, MacLeod Settlement and Upper Southwest Mabou, but my grandfather always refers to [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: Canada, Cape Breton, Duncan MacLeod, English, family, Gaelic, genealogy, history, language, migration, names, Nova Scotia, photos, Scotland
- Published:
- January 26, 2010 – 12:03 am
- Author:
- By Jordan
With all the family history stuff I write here in my blog, one might begin to wonder why I don’t write about my wife’s family history. Well unfortunately genealogy is a very difficult endeavour here in Malaysia. A lack of accessible records (and in many cases a lack of records, period) means you’re forced to [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: family, genealogy, history, immigration, in-laws, Indonesia, Islam, Java, Javanese, language, names, photos, Religion
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- January 14, 2010 – 6:41 pm
- Author:
- By Jordan
Most people who know me (and probably most people who read my blog) know that it really annoys me when someone spells my last name wrong. Actually, it annoys me a little less these days, just because I’m so used to it. But it’s still annoying. No matter how many times I tell people it’s [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: English, family, Gaelic, history, language, MacVay, migration, names, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, photos, Scotland
- Published:
- November 10, 2009 – 5:52 pm
- Author:
- By Jordan
As I mentioned in Part One, my great-grandparents, William and Fanny MacVay, had several children. The first, Robert Franklin MacVay, was born barely nine months after their marriage. Next came Alexander MacVay, Alice Maude MacVay, Elizabeth Armour MacVay, and finally William Kirk MacVay. Most records I’ve found say that all were born in New Brunswick [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: Cape Breton, Freemasonry, genealogy, history, MacVay, names, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, photos, Sydney
- Published:
- April 15, 2009 – 1:21 pm
- Author:
- By Jordan
While I’d like to consider myself a fairly competent, experienced amateur genealogist, and have unearthed a great deal of information about my family history, I have to admit that it’s impossible to write a complete family history. The further back I go in time, the more ancestors I had: two parents, four grandparents, eight [...]
Categories: Heritage
Tagged: Armour, family, genealogy, history, Ireland, MacVay, migration, New Brunswick, photos, Scotland, Ulster
- Published:
- April 9, 2009 – 4:31 pm
- Author:
- By Jordan
I shot this a few months ago in Kuala Kangsar, Perak with my Sony DSC-P10 in Sepia mode. The kid pondering his life is my brother-in-law, Iwan. I don’t know why I like this photo, but I do.
Categories: General
Tagged: photos
- Published:
- June 26, 2004 – 12:40 am
- Author:
- By Jordan
Malaysian Cops Deserve a Raise 0
I’m not a big fan of the Royal Malaysian Police. As far as I know, none of the police reports I’ve made since coming to Malaysia have resulted in anything resembling a thorough investigation; no one I’ve ever made a report against has ever been held accountable for whatever it was they had done. I’ve [...]
Categories: Commentary
Tagged: Canada, Cape Breton, family, MacVay, Malaysia, Nova Scotia, photos, police, Sydney