When the Brig Alexander arrived at the head of the Hillsborough River, Prince Edward Island, in June of 1772, Donald Gillis and his fellow Scots glowed with excitement as they looked ashore and saw lush green virgin timber and low rolling hills, the land which would be their future home. This was where they would become permanent landowners after they had worked off their indentures with Captain John Mac Donald, Lord of Glenaladale(A copy of Donald's indenture can be found as a link on my home page). No longer would they be poor crofters working out a bare existence under the heavy thumb of rich clan lords as in the Scottish Highlands. That first winter was a harsh one for, due to their date of arrival, their crops were late and meager. Many almost starved waiting for promised shiploads of food, sustenance that never arrived and apparently ended up in the holds of Atlantic privateers. But in spite of these hardships and the difficulty of carving out homes for themselves in these cold wintry lands, they did endure and the small community of Tracadie began to grow and become their permanent residence. Nevertheless, depression began to set in when they were not able to acquire their own land, land which they had been promised. They were still tenants. Their land leases were for 30 to 40 years and they were afraid when that ran out the land would only go to those who were able to come up with the required rent.
When the succeeding generation heard of crown grant land to be had in Nova Scotia, a large number of them started to make plans to settle in Cape Breton.
In the spring of 1812 Donald Gillis II and his friend Duncan Curry crossed the narrow straight to Cape Breton in order to scout out land for a possible settlement site. They liked what they saw at the head of Saint Andrews' Channel, now East Bay, and they were followed in 1814 by the Mac Eacherns, Mac Donalds, Mac Phees, Mac Isaacs, Mac Gillivarys, Mac Varishes. Mac Adams Mac Kinnons, Mac Phees and Mac Innises. Many of their descendants can be found in this small community today. (Eighty of these people joined my wife, my sister, my brother-in-law and me for a family reunion at the Northside East Bay Firehouse two years ago).
The East Bay settlers acquired land grants from the Crown. The grants ran from the water's edge back about one and one quarter miles to include an area of 200 acres. As the land around the bay was used up other lots ran back from the first lots but these had no water frontage.
Donald Gillis' land, which he called Gillismore, was at a place which the Indians called Tweednooge, at the head of the channel. Donald acquired 350 acres and was bordered by Donald Mac Isaac and Duncan Curry.
When the settlers first arrived they found an immense task before them. The forest covered the land to the waters' edge. They had to conquer the great forest, till the soil and make a living and a home. Unlike our kin, many of the settlers were ex-soldiers who were more familiar with the sword than the plowshare. Like Donald Gillis and his neighbors Mac Isaac and Curry, many of these settlers acquired their land near the water for they had become accustomed to fishing and the use of boats in Scotland and PEI.
The only local inhabitants were the Mic'maq (MicMac) Indians who lived along the sea coast from the Maritimes into New England. The nearest white settlement was Sydney to the east. Of course there were no roads but a trail ran up along the shoreline of East Bay.Contrary to what is stated in some of the stories told about the local inhabitants at the time, the MicMacs apparently were docile people who were cordial toward the pioneers.
The Bras d'Or Lake was surrounded by trackless forests and the place teemed with fish and virgin soil. Soon cargo ships visited Nova Scotia from Scottish ports. They brought lumber back to Scotland, along with mail from the new immigrants to their relatives at home.
Before the immigrants lay weeks and months of weary labor and of lonely winter days when cold and hunger could hardly be endured. Their first work was to build houses. These were miserable little huts built of round logs cut on the spot and covered with bark. There was generally only one room and the children slept on mats on the floor(Think about the Gillises and their eight children!). The winters were tough and fires had to be kept going night and day. Many of the pioneers would lose their way in the dense forests, perishing in the snow.
The general dress of women was a blue cotton print with a white spot of sprig and a cotton handkerchief on their head. They spun and manufactured their own clothes. During the winter months, women in every home were busy weaving clothes for family needs, a worksuit of heavy grown homespun for every man and boy, a finer weave of half-cotton and wool was made into dresses and petticoats for women and girls, also shirts and underwear for men and youths. Many skeins of yarn were spun to be knitted in summer months. They were their own tanners and cobblers. Both men and women wore homemade shoes boots or moccasins made from hides. They kept a pot of tallow on the stove. They used this for candles and dipped their socks in it to waterproof them so they could be worn in snow and wet weather.
Nothing but root vegetables such as potatoes and turnips could be raised for the first two years, owing to the limited extent of their fields. They planted the potato crop with a hand hoe in burnt wood. They milked cows, made cheese and churned butter. Meal was scarce and they had to live on potatoes or fish alone. Potatoes were boiled separately in their skins and, being mealy, were more palatable when added to the boiled dinner. Salt cod with fat pork scraps and onions was a tasty meal. Salt herring and potatoes was a staple diet much like the food in their Scottish homes. They gradually developed herds of sheep and some swine.
A round covered oven, much like a Dutch oven, was used for baking bread and bannocks. It was set on live coals and other embers were placed on the cover with a heavy ash packed on top to control heat. They had no matches and had to keep cinders alive to start a fire. If not they had to go to a neighbors for ashes and hot clinkers. They made a thick crusty wholesome bread. Usually one daughter did all the cooking, toasting oat cakes, as well as attending the dairy work. If the best farms could make two barrels of meal in one year it was considered very good. Most raised a little wheat but it was kept for sacrament purposes.
There was a real communal spirit. They often had "raising bees" wherein they helped a neighbor to construct his log house. Community life in early East Bay more than made up for the long hours of planting, cultivating and harvesting crops. "Frolics" were held in neighbors' homes to celebrate the harvest. Violin and, of course, bagpipe music were played while square dancing, step dancing, sword dancing and the Highland Fling were enjoyed, activities which are still popular today in East Bay. There were many local musicians to play at celidhs (parties).
The women contributed to the welfare of the community. In the spring they sheared the sheep and washed, combed and made rolls with the wool. The wool they spun into fine yarn with their spinning wheels, dyed it the desired color and then they set up their looms and all winter the sounds of the shuttles could be heard in each home. The whole community joined hands in singing heartily and at the same time rendering the homespun cloth thicker and better in quality.
The workmanship and craftsmanship of these people was astonishing. East Bay was the home of some of the best carpenters of the time---Mac Eacherns and Mac Donalds.
Saint Mary's Church, which still stands today, is pictured above. It was built around 1841 and served as the hub of most community activities and their strong Catholic faith helped them to endure the extreme hardships of their first few years.
(To be continued)
In the next issue I will talk about, spiritual needs, taxation, schools, and the monetary system.
1. "The Glenaladale Pioneers" in "My Island, My People" Lorne C Callbeck. PEI Heritage Foundation, 1979.
2. "East Bay, Cape Breton, People and Priests" John Mac Kenzie," An Essay Presented to the History Dept., Faculty of Arts, " St Francis Xavier University, April 1966.
3."East Bay Settlers" Unpublished manuscript published by Ed Mac Donald.
Someone once referred to genealogy as the hobby of collecting dead relatives. I won't be that crass but instead, will talk about this as an avocation dedicated to collecting surnames. Of course its much more than that but, for the time being, please allow me to talk about surnames which in themselves can be quite interesting.
Currently, I have 6154 of our relatives in my database and 15 percent of them are Mac Donalds. Six hundred and thirty eight spell it with an Mc prefix and three hundred and fourteen with a Mac. For a long time there has been a running battle as to which is correct, Mac or Mc. Many people have told me that their father or grandfather insisted that it be Mac for he believed that was the traditional form. This does not seem to be true for I find in that our ancestors spelled it both ways as far back as the 19th century. In fact, I find many families where one generation used one form and the next used the other. Incidentally, we have one branch of our family which spells it with a small "d" Mac donald. Now there are some rebels!
The second most prevalent name in my db is Mac Adam but in this case the Macs win over the Mcs--two hundred to forty nine. Next in line are the Mac Kinnons, there are one hundred and nine of them followed closely by the Mac Isaacs at one hundred and seven, Mac Gillivarys at fifty nine and the Campbells at fifty.
We have twenty seven Smiths, five Blacks, one White one Green thirty two Browns, thirty eight Pecans, one Wong, and two Wrights (but one Wong still don't make a Wright, unless they wed!)
We have a surname starting with every letter of the alphabet from Abel to Zuckerman, one X, two Ys and Q's and five Zs.
In summary, out of 6145 people in this family, there are 1,116 distinct surnames. Perhaps we can rent a stadium for the next reunion. But don't plan on bringing a gift for everyone. Some are no longer around to attend.
