HERE WE ARE AGAIN

I believe I have a lot of particularly good material to share with you in this issue, cousin. In particular, I hope you purchase the new CD. It contains the results of 25 years of family research.

AERIAL VIEWS

While reading an aviation magazine recently I came across an interesting tidbit that I thought you guys would enjoy. This piece featured Tony Le Vier, a famous early-day air race pilot. When he was quite young Le Vier had taken another flyer for a flight over an airshow in Glendale, California. Here is what the article said:
"The crowd was huge, and Le Vier, unwilling to risk ground-looping the brakeless Waco into its midst, elected to view the program from on high. They circled for an hour or more. The program included a troupe of Fox dancing girls cavorting on the wing of a new Foker F-2 then the largest airliner in service."
Regular readers of this Newsletter will know we knew one of those "cavorters"! ==========================================================================

Let Johnny Do it!

Times weren't always easy for Loughlin and Murdock. In addition to cattle, they raised pigs for market. Because of hard times, the brothers weren't always able to afford to feed them properly. They would sometimes feed them charcoal and take them down to the river to fill them with water just before shipping, thereby adding weight for market! Roddie recalls that his younger brother, John, was responsible for taking the pigs down to the river for bloating them.
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YOUR LEGACY ON CD

In 1977 I wrote a book entitled, "From the Bras d'Or to the Estrella" which told the history of our family as I knew it then. It told about the Gillises who came from Scotland to PEI, and then East Bay, Nova Scotia. It also related the tale of the Mc Donalds as they came directly from Scotland to East Bay. Finally, it covered the blending of these two familys and how they came west to California. Some of you purchased this book.
Recently, I updated the book, had it scanned and entered it onto a CD along with several dozen photos, many being the new ones I talk about later on this page.
I am offering this CD for my cost which is $3.00. Just send me an email with your address and I will send you a copy as well as my snail mail address so you can pay me.
If you want, and you have a CD burner, you can make copies for others in your family. I think this is a great way to share our family legacy with your kids and/or grandchildren.
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SEEDS FROM THE SNOW WAR

Regular readers of the Newsletter may recall a story I wrote in one of my first issues about Dougal Mac Donald who died in an avalanche at Rogers Pass in the Canadian Rockies. This article was recently republished in the Newsletter of the Cape Breton Genealogy Society.

Click Here for Snow Wars ===============================================================================

"Estrella Grammar Pupils Will Organize this Week. Estrella, August 19, 1899."

Webster's defines a Lyceum as,"an organization that sponsors public programs such as lectures and concerts". The Phillips students held lyceums on a regular basis such as this organizational meeting reported in the press in the Fall of '99.
"The pupils of the Grammar Department of Phillips School met Friday, to organize a school lyceum. After a few words by the chairman on the steps necessary, a committee consisting of Joe, Agnes, and Ronald McDonald was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws and was directed to report at the next meeting.
It was decided to elect officers at the next meeting and a committee of Francis, and Allen McDonald was appointed to prepare the necessary ballots, etc. The society then adjourned until Friday, August 25.
Joe McDonald Secretary Pro Tem

The meeting may have looked like this picture taken from the "Treasure Trove" mentioned below. The young man in the back wasn't the teacher's boyfriend. Probably just one of those late in graduating because he missed so much time in school to work on the harvest. I should explain. the children mentioned were as follows:
Children of Lauchlin: Allen (15), Agnes (17) and
Chlldren of Cousin Ronald: Ronald (10), Francis (14) and Joe (15)

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TAKE THEIR LAND AND THEN MAKE THEM MOVE (Sound Familiar?)

Our Gillis ancestors left their homes on PEI for they found they wouldn't be able to acquire their own property there. When the arrived in East Bay they petitioned the Crown and were granted their own Grants.
Life was not easy for they were the first white settlers and besides having to build their homes in the middle of heavily forested terrain with harsh winters, the natives were very hotile. That is why the settlers collectively petitioned the Crown for land upon which a mill could be built. The signers of this petition included Don Gillis and all his neighbors, all signing with an X for they wrote and spoke only gaelic:


"Item no.: 854
Mfm no.: 15791
. Grantee: McNab, Charles
Year: 1812
Petition to Nepean: Petitioner, together with the whole body of Scotch settlers on the Bras d'Or Lake ask that land reserved for the Tomwa Indians on the Tomwa Indian River be granted to McNab as a mill site, and that the Indians be induced to settle elsewhere. This calls, too, for a general survey of the district as the Indians have been giving trouble to new settlers twelve miles distant. McNab asks 1000 acres in certain defined lots."
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TREASURE TROVE

Just when I thought I had collected all the old family pictures that still existed I found a new horde of them. They belong to the Wapple family who live in Yuba City. When Louchlin forfeited his wheat business and moved to Hanford ar the turn of the century, his brother was able to keep his own homestead and continue raising his family there. Of Michael's five children, only one of them married. Alice, Belle, James and Ronnie spent the rest of their life in Estrella. The two thousand acre spread is currently under the ownership of Michael's great grandchildren. One of these, John Wapple, met me on the ranch rcently in order to share the pictures. It was a delightful day. The sun was out, the sky was clear and all one could see for miles was rolling farm land and an occasional deer. When I arrived John was off pig hunting but he left the album for me to peruse. I guessed they would mostly be picture I had obtained before, but I was vastly mistaken. Here was a trove of aproximatly 200 snapshots taken on the Mc Donald ranch in the early 1900s. I was thrilled and am in the process of placing them into a CD slide show. I have shown a few of my favorites down below. For your information Bern was the city name Michael gave his property in order to establish a post office there. The population of Bern was nine. I will try to show some more of these in future Newsletters.
Be patient cousins while these pictures open.They will take time.

Estrella Musicians	Older Convertible	Newer Convertibles
Michael Murdock Mac Donald	Michael and Family	Bern Post Office

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