Dear Peter,

I received your letter a few days ago, at my sister’s home, here in Vancouver. It was pure delight.

I think I can help your project to some degree. To begin with, the "emigration of 1849" was not an emigration, it was part of the "Highland Clearances". There are two excellent books on that subject. I forget the titles and authors but they are easily available. My great grandmother, a widow with seven or eight children were in that group of 125 families. She was a Mrs. Neil Johnson. One of her boys (17 or 18 years of age), Angus Johnson, resisted so valiantly that it took six soldiers to put the handcuffs on him.

I don’t know whether they landed at Hamilton or where, but they eventually settled in the area you mention–Glenelg and Bornish. I always understood some or many of them lived in Park Hill near London, Ont. I know a good deal about the descendants of that Johnson family. Years ago I met John Angus Johnson in Toronto. Through him I met others in Toronto, Brampton, Thorold, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Chicago, Hibbing, Minn., Denver, Colorado, etc.

As to the MacInneses buried in Clandonald–that was my father Angus, my brother Neillie and there is also Neillie’s oldest boy (Angus) buried there.

But the MacInneses you have on your chart are not our branch. They may be related to us on the MacInnes side, but they certainly are on the Johnson side. The Flora MacIntyre who married Michael MacInnes had a son Angus. His wife was a Johnson–a first cousin of my mother’s. I visited this Angus MacInnes at his home in Thorold, Ont. many, many years ago. At that time he was very old, hummed Gaelic songs but I could get little information from him, except that his father came from Benbecula, South Uist. He did understand that he was my mother’s first cousin on the Johnson side. He had two sons, Jim and Jack MacInnes. There were, to the best of my recollection, two daughters–Mary and another one. I think they are all dead now. Jack MacInnes (the old man’s second son) was married and had a family in St. Catherine’s [sic], Ontario. Some of that family must still be around. Jack was very active in the labour movement.

Mrs. Johnson, the widow with the Johnson family, was born Anne Campbell and is buried in Paris, Ont.

Our MacInnes line goes like this:

Donald Innes - Ireland
Angus Innes (no Mac) - Ireland
Duncan MacInnes who came to South Uist
Donald
Michael
Andrew
Angus (my dad)

The first two in that line remained in Ireland. But Duncan came first to Edinburgh, Scotland, and was engaged by the Lord of the Isles (Clanranald) who had his main Castle in South Uist - Ormaclete Castle. Duncan went out there as a metal worker–tin, silver or gold if there was any there at that time.

His son Donald married ?
I
Michael
I

Andrew, Donald, Angus Ban, Iain (John) another Angus–a common practice in those days to have two brothers of the same name, distinguished by "Ban" (Fair) or "Dubh" black, "Red" etc. One Angus (not Angus Ban) came out to Cape Breton. I met several of them down in Cape Breton.

So nobody in my direct line came to Canada at that time. The Angus MacInnes I met in Thorold might very well have been related to us. Benbecula is just across the South Ford, from Ardmore where I was born. My grandfather Andrew MacInnes was reputed to be the best piper in South Uist. He died when my father was only three months old. The names Donald, Angus & Andrew suggest a connection. So the MacInneses on your side are to be looked for in St. Catherine’s [sic] Ont.

On the MacIntyre side I think I can help you. There were MacIntyres in what I thought was Park Hill and Glenelg who came from South Uist in 1849. They were related to some of the MacIntyres who came out in 1923 and 1924.

The group that came out in 1923 settled, not near Red Deer, but in Westlock, north of Edmonton. All of that Westlock group, including MacIntyres, MacInneses, Campbells etc. did very well. There are still some MacIntyres in Westlock. I can easily check on them. I have an old friend here in Vancouver who knows them. I know or knew all the MacIntyres who came out with us in 1924 to Red Deer. I stayed there one night and got a job on a farm the following day.

One of those MacIntyres is one of my dearest friends. He is Patrick MacIntyre, Edmonton, alberta. He is a highly intelligent man, who knows every Gaelic song you can name. He also has two sons who are top-notch pipers.

I will be visiting Patrick in Edmonton around June 24^th. I am sure he can tell me a lot of MacIntyre lore.

I have three very important questions to ask him.

1. Is he related to Donald MacIntyre, the best Gaelic bard Scotland has produced in centuries. Donald not only composed incomparable Gaelic songs. [sic] I have one of his comical ones here on my desk. It is about a bar on Paisley Road, Glasgow. I knew that bar– "Buth Dhomhnail ‘ic Leoid". I knew this Donald MacIntyre. He translated into Gaelic some of the best poems of Robbie Burns. The Gaelic version is an improvement on Burns. I know–I read them both in Scots and Gaelic.

2. Second Question: are they related to Duncan Ban MacIntyre, one of the most famous Gaelic bards of the 18^th century. Duncan Ban MacIntyre was "out in the Forty Five" but had enough good sense to throw away his sword and go home to write poetry.

3. What he knows about the MacIntyres of 1849. I am sure he will know of Alex MacIntyre who came out in 1923.

By the way, the name Peter is Padruig or Peadair in Gaelic. Both are anglicized Peter or Patrick–it is the same name.

I hope this will be of some help to you. I have known so many MacIntyres both in South Uist and Canada. There are some in P.E.I. I met one of them, who was a Cabinet Minister in the Provincial Government. He knew little Gaelic–he could count up to ten in Gaelic. He was related to Bishop MacIntyre of Charlottetown, P.E.I. They were certainly originally from South Uist. I will try to check on that.

April 23

Dear Peter, I have just hit the Jack Pot. I phoned a friend & a relative of mine–Mrs. Jimmie MacLean. She was a Mary MacDonald from Toronto. Her uncle ..... MacIntyre, was from South Uist. I knew him very well. He made me promise him ten years in advance to say his funeral Mass. I did.

He was one of the strongest and gentlest men I have ever met. He has two daughters living in Toronto. They are all familiar with the MacIntyres in Park Hill, near London, Ont. They often visited a relative Columbus or Columba MacIntyre in Park Hill. They saw letters there going back to the 1800s. I am enclosing their address and that of their first cousin of theirs in Toronto. All you need to do is mention my name––Fr. Allan MacInnes. I am related to them in several directions. Here are the addresses:

1. Mary & Chrissie MacIntyre/

This used to be Mimico. Now I think it is Toronto 14.

2. Mrs. L. (Red) Anthony

These are all good friends and relatives of mine.

I am getting a wee bit old–74, but I have been pretty well over the world. Europe (I lived in Rome for five years), Southern Africa, South America, and of course Canada and the U.S.

I forgot to mention that the Mary O’Henley on your chart is a well......South Uist. I knew many of them in South Uist and Cape Breton. There is one here in Vancouver whom I know very well– Peggy O’Henley, now Mrs. Colin Leblanc. That, too, is an interesting line of investigation.

There still remains a question in my mind. How did you find my sister’s address? This is the second request for genealogical help I have had in three months. Genealogy is not my line. I was a theologian and philosopher. But I did pick up wee bits of information here and there. If you knew Gaelic it would make things so much easier. Some day I hope we shall meet. I can’t quite picture you in my mind, but I think you are a very determined person with the patience and meticulous care demanded of a scholar.

I hope this helps. With all my kindest regards,

Fr. Allan MacInnes O.M.I.

P.S. Forgot to mention that I taught in our seminary in Ottawa for almost 30 years–also St.Paul’s University, Carleton University etc. That is why I know Ontario so well. A "wee boy" from South Uist,

Fr. Mac

&&&&&&&&&&

On another occasion, he said to me, "Tha toimseachan agam dhut." (I have a charm for you.) Years later I used this charm as the basis for an article which appeared in the Winter 1993/94 edition of the magazine Am Bràighe. It is reproduced here.

The charm below was given to me in the early 1970s by Father Allan MacInnis, O.M.I. Father Allan was born at Ardmore, near Loch Skiport in South Uist, in 1907 and came to Alberta at the age of seventeen with the "Clandonald Settlers". A brilliant educator and an expert in canon law, as well as an accomplished linguist, he always retained a deep love of his Hebridean home and his Gaelic traditions. Father Allan died in Vancouver, B.C., on May 6, 1983.

Father Allan learned this incantation from an old woman near Loch Skiport to whom he and another young lad had to bring a horse with a sprained leg. The woman, who was regarded locally as something of a ‘white witch’, took a string which she knotted again and again and then either tied it on or passed it around the affected limb. The knotted string or "snaile’ was passed around the horse’s leg while the cailleach intoned this charm:

As can be seen, the successive layers of animal tissue are mentioned from the outer to the innermost: gaoisid (hair), craichdean (skin), feòl (flesh), cnàimh (bone), smir (marrow). When asked if the charm worked, Father Allan chuckled and replied, "As far as I can remember, it did!"

Charles Dunn mentions in Highland Settler that a similar charm was recorded from Neil MacDonald of Albert Bridge, Cape Breton, whose grandfather came from North Uist. His version, which is called "Eolas an t-Sniomh (Charm for the Sprain), is:

(Mr. Dunn’s translation: Christ came out; He found the bones of a horse broken apart. He placed blood to blood and flesh to flesh; as He cured that, so cure this.)

It is interesting to note that Calum Cille (Columba) effects the cure in the South Uist charm while Christ does in the Cape Breton one. For the Catholics, Calum Cille would be a representative of Christ. Also, in most versions I have seen, the charm is used only on animals. However, the late Alex Angus MacEachern of Creignish, Inverness County, told me that a similar charm was used locally to cure a person with a sprained ankle. He had never heard of it being applied to animals. Mary L. Fraser also refers to this custom in her Folklore of Nova Scotia:

"Sprains were cured by an old woman saying a rhyme over the injured member, or by placing around the sprain a string made from white spool thread knotted with seven knots, The person who is responsible for this bit of information asserted that she had actually had a sprained ankle cured in this way."

In Margaret Fay Shaw’s Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist there appears another use of a piece of knotted wool: the "snàithlin" was supposed to remove the curse of the Evil Eye on cattle. In the same volume there are other cures for sprains and strains: "Skin an eel in long strips and wrap it round as a bandage with the fat side in. The eel fat soothes the skin and, being elastic, will not bind too tightly. Put sprain in a running stream."

Further information on Gaelic incantations can be found in Volume XVII of the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness (1890-1891). Another variant of the charms above appears there in Gaelic. As well, this paper gives examples of very similar charms from the Orkneys, Norway, Denmark and Germany. There is even an example from the Sanskrit Atharva Veda:

As can be seen, charms of this type were once very widespread. The only other mention of a ‘snaile’ that I have seen in Canada was in a Newfoundland booklet for tourists, under the heading "Quaint beliefs and practices". It reads as follows:

"Sick calves had peculiar knot tied over them. It was tied nine times and pulled clear; if it became tangled, the calf was certain to die."

The number of knots (9) is also specified in several of the Scottish descriptions of these cures. It makes one wonder if this Newfoundland remedy was collected from the Scots Gaels of the Codroy Valley or from their Irish compatriots on "The Rock". I also wonder if any of these charms were known in Glengarry County, Ontario, or the Lake Megantic area of Quebec or, for that matter, in any other areas of Canada.

The second obituary appeared in the The B.C. Catholic, Week of May 23-29, 1983

The lines of the Scottish poet of long ago reveal the mystery of the indomitable heart of that frail son of the Hebrides, Fr. Allan MacInnes, Oblate of Mary Immaculate, whom God called to his eternal rest during the night of May 5, 1983, after a long and painful illness.

"From the lone shieling of the misty island,
Mountains divide us and a waste of seas. .
Yet the blood is strong, the heart is Highland–
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides."

It was on the isle of South Uist in the Hebrides that Allan MacInnes, second youngest of a large family of seven boys and two girls, was born to Angus MacInnes and Euphemia Johnston on March 15, 1907.

In the warmth of that deeply Christian family, his unwavering faith and almost defiant Highland heart were forged. And it was here too that his great gift of brilliance was first detected and acknowledged by being granted a scholarship while still in grade school.

With his family, at the age of 17, he left Scotland to settle in Red Deer, Alberta. And "Clandonald", as the area was known, became almost an island of Scottish tradition in the prairie waste.

Fr. "Mac", as he was later affectionally to be called, continued his education in Edmonton and entered St. John’s Juniorate in 1925. His long and dedicated Oblate life began when he entered the novitiate at St. Laurent and took vows on September, 8, 1928. He had barely begun his scholastic studies when his brilliance was again recognized and he was sent to the Angelicum in Rome to finish his studies and where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1934.

Fr. MacInnes had a great love for youth and gladly accepted his obedience to St. Patrick’s College, Ottawa, where he spent the first five years of his priesthood. But it was in 1935 that he began what was to become his life-time commitment, a Professor of Dogma, Moral and Canon Law at the Oblate Seminary, Holy Rosary Scholasticate, where his deep faith and keen intellect helped to nurture the vocation of many an Oblate priest and brother. Even when he became superior of Holy Rosary in 1953, he still retained his extraordinary empathy with youth, whom he captivated with his quick wit and almost endless patience and compassion. He was always the gracious host and sought after by many people from various walks of life. And he even lists as one of his "hobbies" during those years at Holy Rosary his nearly 30 years of service on the matrimonial court. Little wonder that his funeral was a living memorial to his great contribution to the Oblate priesthood in Canada. Nearly 40 of his former students, from all across Canada, joined with Fr. Allan Noonan, provincial of St. Paul’s Province, Fr. Roy Boucher, O.M.I., provincial of St. Peter’s, and Fr. Joe Rossiter, pastor of St. Augustine’s, to con-celebrate in the presence of Archbishop James F. Carney and one of his former students, Bishop Hubert O’Connor of Whitehouse.

The Gaelic quotations of Fr. Larry MacLennan, O.M.I., who preached the sermon, brought memories and tears to the eyes of his two sisters, Mrs. Annie McDonald and Mrs. Marion May.

As Fr. Mac’s body was carried through the doors of St. Augustine’s, the lament of the bagpipes drowned out the noise of the city streets and spoke of his great reverence for his Scottish tradition and the yearning in his heart for his homeland.

***********

The third obituary was printed in Oblate Missions, p. 25, No. 153, June, 1983.

On May 5, Father Allan MacInnes, OMI, died quietly during the night, finding release at last after a long and painful illness. He was seventy-six. His death in Vancouver brought to an end the life of a brilliant theologian, a renowned and revered teacher and a beloved friend to many, particularly to the members of his Oblate family.

Born on one of the Uist Isles of the Outer Hebrides, he emigrated with his family from Scotland while he was still a boy. The family homesteaded in Alberta. His Catholic upbringing and his own deeply religious spirit led him to choose the life of an Oblate of Mary Immaculate. He made his high school studies in Edmonton, boarding at St. Mary’s Home with the Sisters of Providence while attending Third Street High, the Catholic Secondary School of Edmonton at that time. He finished his high school studies at St. John’s Juniorate, Edmonton, before entering Noviciate at St. Laurent, Manitoba, in 1927. He pronounced his Final Vows as an Oblate on September 8^th, 1931. He pursued his philosiphical studies at Lebret, Saskatchewan, and his theology at the Angelicum in Rome, where he was ordained on July 15^th, 1934.

His first obedience, to Holy Rosary Scholasticate, set the course for his career. There he served variously as Professor of Philosophy, of Dogmatic, of Moral, and of Ascetical Theology, and of Canon Law. In 1953 he was appointed its Superior, a post he held for three terms till 1959. After his terms as Superior he taught at St. Patrick’s College in Ottawa. For a year he was a visiting professor at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland in South Africa. At the end of the Second Vatican Council he undertook the preaching of parish missions to facilitate the renewal of the Church.

Father "Mac" will be remembered as a scholarly professor of broad erudition and profound wisdom, qualities which made him much sought after by people in all walks of life. He was equally a kind and fatherly confessor and director of souls. He had an extraordinary empathy with youth who admired his wit and intelligence as much as they were captivated by his gentleness and compassion. He never failed to show himself a friend of unbounded generosity, a convivial host, a man of warm and kindly jest and great good humour. Always there was in him the memory of the Isles of Uist, a pride in his Scottish ancestry and a love of the bagpipes whose music carried a wistful and moving reminder of his roots in Scotland.

The contribution he made to the education of Oblate priests here in Canada, more than anything else, is his monument, his gift to the Church and to posterity. He communicated to his students the image of a full and joyous humanity that will long endure in the hearts of his beloved Oblate family.

His deeply regretted passing brings to mind the words of the Scottish poet, Robbie Burns:

"When Nature her great masterpiece designed,
And framed her last, best work, the human mind,
Her eye intent on all the wondrous plan
She formed of various stuff the various Man."

***********