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In the olden days, when the
Clan system was in vogue in the Highlands of Scotland, the Bagpipes held
the place of honour in the “time of peace and of war”. Its strains
inspired the Scottish warrior to deeds of unsurpassed valour, and down to
our own day, its war-blasts were sounded on every battle-field where the
supremacy of Britain was maintained, while it occupied its honoured place
as well in the halls of gaiety and festivity, and to its strains the dead
were mournfully borne to their last resting place.
It is not then surprising that the Chiefs of
the various Clans vied with one another in having the most accomplished
Piper. The MacCrimmons of the Macleods were probably the most famous, but
tradition has it that Roderick Macneil Piper to the Lairds of Barra was
possessed of musical gifts not excelled even by the McCrimmons.
Descended from this gifted Piper were the
Macneils, who came to Cape Breton from the island of Barra in the early
days of the nineteenth century, and who were then, and whose descendants,
scattered here and there all over the United States and Canada, are to
this day known as “The Pipers”. Roderick , the celebrated Piper, has a son
John. In the year 1805 two of John’s sons, Hector and Roderick came to
Pictou, N.S., and later to the shores of the Bras d’Or Lake, and settled
at a place ever since held and occupied by their descendants and known as
Piper’s Cove. A full account of these early settlers and their
descendants, noted for great physical strength and many admirable
qualities of head and heart that give them a standing in every community
in which they are, will be found at page 61 of Mackenzie’s History of
Christmas Island Parish. Later, another brother of Hector and Rory came to
this country and settled at Washabuck in the County of Victoria. This man
was Neil, commonly known as “Neil Geal” (White Neil). He had two sons and
four daughter, and the History of this well known family will be dealt
with in a later one of these sketches.
The Donald Macneil Family
In the year 1817, another brother of Hector and Rory, a son of John,
grandson of Roderick, the gifted Piper of the Macneil Chiefs of Barra
arrived in Cape Breton, and with Murdock MacKenzie, married to his only
daughter, Lucy, settled on lands at Washabuck. Although this family
received mention in the MacKenzie History, some of its members having
become prominent in several districts of the County of Victoria, it is
deemed proper to give its history more in detail than Mackenzie did.
Donald Macneil (Domhnull Piobaire) was married
to a sister of another Donald Macneil (known as Domhull MacNeill), who
came to Cape Breton the same yearand settled at Shunacadie, in the County
of Cape Breton on lands later occupied (in 1821) by the families known as
Clann Thearlach. Domhnull MacNeill sold his land to Tearlach (Charles), a
connection of his own, and went across the Lake to Gillis Point and there
settled on lands adjacent to those of his brother Eachunn Mac Neill
(Hector MacNeil). Domhnull Piobaire’s wife, sister of Domhnull and Eachunn
MacNeill, was a talented woman and it was her privilege to nurse more than
one of the family of the Chief, the sixth Roderick of Barra, the son and
ancestor of Roderick the 5th, who was killed at the taking of Quebec in
1759. The 6th Roderick was married to Jane, daughter of Ewen Cameron of
Fassifern, by whom he had two sons (one of whom was General Maxneil of
Barra, the last resident Chiefand three daughters, one of whom was named
Louisa, nursed by the wife Domhnull Piobaire, who named her first daughter
Lucy (already mentioned) after her. This name Lucy was and is to this day
found among the descendants of Donald. Mrs. MacNeil was held in high
esteem by the members of the family and household of the Chief, and one of
her descendants today (1937) has in her possession a souvenir of that
friendship, a sewer’s companion, gift from the maids of the household of
the Chief to Mrs. Macneil when she was leaving Barra for Cape Breton in
1817. Donald Macneil (Domhnull Piobaire) had one already mentioned and
eight sons; Murdock, Hector, Michael, John, James, Roderick, Charles and
Philip. The Family
of Murdock, son of Donald Macneil (Domhnull Piobaire).
This Murdock was generally known as “Murchadh Beag” (Little Murdock). He
was, as was his grandfather, John, son of Roderick, engaged as a page in
the household of the Chief. He married a maid in the Castle, a Miss Nellie
Robertson, whose father was the Secretary of the Kirk Sessions of Barra.
She embraced the Catholic religion. Hector the son of Murdock was known as
Black Hector. He was a ship-carpenter and was employed at Arichat, where,
in those days there was much ship-building. There he married Virginia,
daughter of Philip Marmaud. Leaving Arichat, he became a resident of
Baddeck, and he died at Washabuck in the year......
He had several sons and daughters, one of
whom, Jane, became a religious. When a mere child, Jennie, as she was
known, was adopted by her cousin Mrs. Josephine C. Macneil of Grand
Narrows, of whom reference will be here made later. The child received her
early education at Christmas Island, and later at St. Bernard’s College,
Antigonish. She entered the Novitiate of the Congregation de Notre Dame in
September1885. The greater portion of her religious life of forty six
years was spent on missions in the United States. In 1931, Sister St.
Joseph Copertino, as she was named in religion, took ill at St. Alban’s,
Vermont. In compliance with her own wish, she was rushed to the Mother
House in Montreal, where she died a beautiful death on the 31st . day of
July of that year at the age of seventy years. John, son of Murdock,
married Ann daughter of Roderick Macneil, son of Neil Macneil (Gael),
already mentioned . He died. Michael, another son of Murdock, was married
to another daughter of Neil Geal. He died at Christmas 1872. Both had
families, and particulars of these two sons of Murdock and their
descendants will be found in the sketch devoted to Neil (Geal) Macneil.
Ann, daughter of Murdock, was married to John
MacDonald (Soldier) of Grand Narrows. They had a family of sons and
daughters. Sarah married James Campbell (Son of Darby or Diarmaid) of
Jamesville in the County of Victoria, and particulars of the family will
be found in the chapter to that branch o the Campbells. One son of John
Mcdonald, Michael, was a draw-tender on the Grand Narrows Bridg, and in a
storm he was swept off and drown in the year ... Two other sons, Neil and
Dan B. are in Boston. Neil is married to Sarah, a daughter of the late
Donald Mackinnon (Allan)of Mackinnon’s Harbour. She died in Gloucestrer in
the year.... Their daughter is married to William, son of Michael Mcneil,
son of Angus Macneil (Eoin) of Washabuct. William is Superintendent of the
Engraving Department of the Boston Post, and Rev. Francis Macneil of
Roxbury is brother of William.
Dan R. MacDonald taught school at Escasoni, in
the County of Cape Breton, where he married a Miss Macphee. They went to
Boston where he became an expert house-finisher for his cousins, the
celebrated contracting firm of McNeil Bros. A son is a successful medical
practitioner in the city of Boston. There was another son of John
Mcdonaldand several daughters, all of whom are dead except Miss Nellie,
who is now (1937) living in the old homestead at an advanced age.
Mary, daughter of Murdock, was married to
Alexander Macneil commonly as “Sandy Mor” at Big Beach. Two sons James s.
and Stephen B. still live at that place.
Margaret, daughter of Murdock , married Paul,
son of Neil Maclean of Washabuck, while Sarah, another daughter, married
Hector, another son of Neil. Both had families and furthur particulars
will be found in the chapter devoted to the Macleans of Washabuck,
descendants of Lauchlin Maclean, one of the first settlers and to whose
memory a beautiful monument was unveiled, with becoming ceremony, at
Washabuck., in August 1934.
Lucy, daughter of Murdock, married Michael
Macneil (Eoin) of Washabuck. Of their family , John became connected with
the firm of McNeil Bros., already mentioned. In his latter years he
returned to Cape Breton and superintended the building of the Sydney
Lyceum and several other buildings in that city. He died in the year.....
He had a son Neil, a graduate of St. F.X. University, Antigonish, and he
is now (1937) and has been for a number of years associate editor of the
New York Times.
Family of Hector MacNeil
(Eachann Mac Domhnull Phiobaire)
Hector, son of Donald Macneil, established himself at Castle Bay, then
known as Aumaguadeen Pond, in the County of Cape Breton, where he carried
on a lucrative business in making wooden frames of ploughs. He married
Jessie, daughter of John Macintyre, of Big Pond in the County of Cape
Breton. He had one son and several daughters, all of whom are now dead. A
more extended notice will be found in Mackenzie’s History of Christmas
Island Parish.
The Family of John MacIntyre of Big Pond.
“John MacIntyre, a blacksmith by trade and better known Ian Gobha,
emigrated with his family, then consisting of one daughter one year old.
He emigrated from the island of Barra in the year 1802 and located at a
place know as Troy, in the County of Inverness. Twenty-six years later, in
1828, he with his family moved to Big Pond, in the County of Cape Breton.
His wife (name left blank) was a daughter of Hector MacNeil, known in
Barra as Eachann Og (Young Hector), who was Tanist and acted as Chief
during the absence of Chief Roderick at the siege of Quebec. Another
daughter of Hector Og was married to Donald Macneil, whose descendants are
at Big Beach, in the County of Cape Breton. A sister of this Donald
Macneil (Murdock) was married to Hector MacKenzie, to whom reference will
be made later in this sketch. A daughter of this Donald Macneil, Elizabeth
(Elassid Mhor) was married to Roderick Macneil (Ruairidh Mac Chalum
Phiobaire) of Benacadie, in the County of Cape Breton; while this
Roderick's brother, James (Seumas MacCalum) also of Benacadie (but later
of Low Point), was married to a daughter of Hector Bane (Eachann Bane), a
son of Eachann Og. Another daughter of Eachann Og was married to John
Macneil son of Donald Macneil (Og) of Big Beach, and thus became the
mother of Alexander Macneil (Sandy Mor) of Big Beach, already mentioned as
having married Mary, daughter of Murdock Beag.” Here follows is another
connection between the Macintyre family and the family of Domhnull
Piobaire. The
Family of Michael MacNeil (Michael Gobha).
Michael Macneil, son of Donald Macneil (Domhnull
Piobaire) was born in the island of Barra in the year 1803. He became a
blacksmith and was know as Michael Gobha. He was located at the Northside
of Grand Narrow, known since 1873 as Iona, in the County of Victoria. On
one occasion, in the autumn of 1833, he went on a visit to his brother
Hector at Castle Bay, and it happened that Hector’s wife sister, Jane
Macintyre, was visiting there at the same time. A match was made, and
before either had an opportunity of returning to respective homes, they
were married. The season of the year, when everyone was extremely busy at
harvesting, was not suitable for the real big wedding that was customary
at that time amoung the well-to-do. So it was in June following, when
planting season was over, that the wedding was held at the home of John
MacIntyre, Big Pond, and Banais Mhicheil Ghoba agus Sine Ian Ghoba. was an
event that was long remembered, it being attended by friends and
acquaintances far and near. It may here be mentioned that Hector, son of
John Macintyre continued until his death to occupy the old homestead at
Big Pond. One daughter is Sister St. Mary Hector of the Congregation de
Notre Dame,. One son, Hugh, is a prominent business man in Glace Bay, and
James is a steel-worker in Sydney and has been for 1935-1937 Grand Night
of the Sydney council of the Knights of Columbus.
Following the big wedding at Big Pon, Michael
Macneil (Micheil Gobha) and his bride made their home at Iona as already
mentioned, where they continued to reside until the year 1862, when the
family moved to Baddeck. It may be of interest to note that their
residence at Iona was situated on the lower side of the road at present
(1937) in front of the residence of Frank John S., within ten feet of the
dwelling of Arthur Campbell. The Forge was where the highway now crosses
the C.N.R. Michael Macneil Gobha , died at Baddeck, June 14th, 1866, and
his wife predeceased him at Baddeck December11th, 1862, at the age of 58
years. Both are buried with all members of their family at Iona. |
