From the People’s Journal, 27 September 1958. It’s a while now since Dr Donald Macdonald [Dolly Doctor] of Gisla in Lewis practised at his profession. But the jovial, big-hearted doctor is still a cure and a tonic for many folk not only in his native island, but in many other circles. Take the old folk in Stornoway. He has taken them under his wing, brightens up their eventide with his cracks and joviality, and they, in turn, just dote on him. The doctor has such [ » read more ]

Angus nam Beann was a well-known figure in Uig at the time of the Revivals, and ever since.  The following is from John Macleod’s History of the Church in Uig. Angus MacLeod’s father was a shepherd in the hills of Uig towards the border with Harris, and this is where Angus was born. So it is not difficult to understand why everybody in the area knew his as Aonghas na Beann, Angus of the Hills. Angus was caught up in the great Revival in uig [ » read more ]

Another grisly story about our Uig hero, Dòmhnall Càm, who has a much less heroic reputation in other parts of the island. This is from Capt FWL Thomas’s Traditions of the Macaulays (1880) and he notes that “this tale is certainly mythical”. We ought in our own day to be very thankful to that Divine Providence which has dispelled the barbarous darkness and depression from our land, and shed upon it the light of the Gospel, for there are many things related of the hero, [ » read more ]

From the Stornoway Gazette supplement, 18 December 1959. Wedding bells have been ringing in Mangersta for the past year. Cupid started at one end of the village leaving a spate of marriages in his trail. The most recent of these was solemnised in the East Church, Inverness, on the 10th November when Mary Morrison, eldest daughter of the late Mr and Mrs John Morrison, 13 Mangersta, became the bride of Alexander Smith, only son of the late Mr and Mrs William Smith, 9 Kneep. The [ » read more ]

The Reverend Aulay Macaulay was born in Brenish in 1669, son of Dugald, grandson of Angus Beag Macaulay, he of the big stone and the critical wife, and brother of Donald Òg.  Aulay started his career in Tiree and Coll and was minister at Scarista, Harris from 1712 until his death in 1758.   He was married to Margaret Morrison, daughter of Rev Kenneth Morrison of Stornoway, and they had fourteen children; one of them, Rev Kenneth Macaulay, Ardnamurchan, wrote an account of St Kilda, [ » read more ]

Dr Duncan Maclennan served as the doctor in West Uig from 1935 to 1945. A native of Stornoway, he studied at Aberdeen and Uig was his first post. He was greatly liked throughout the district, as this piece from the Stornoway Gazette on the occasion of his leaving demonstrates: 20 July 1945 On Tuesday, 3rd July, in Crowlista School, Dr and Mrs Maclennan were met by a large company of friends who had gathered to present them with a token of appreciation of Dr Maclennan’s professional services in the [ » read more ]

Rev Norman Morrison, with his wife, sister (behind him) and children.  Rev Morrison was minister at Baile na Cille from 1931 to 1950. He wasn’t the first of that name in Uig; the third known minister in Uig was also Norman Morrison, 1742 to 1777, who was a grandson of John Morrison, tacksman at Bragar – known in the archives as Indweller.  He studied at Aberdeen and St Andrews and from his ordination in 1742, spent his whole working life in Uig.  His church was [ » read more ]

Cha robh cam, nach robh crosda. The following is an account of a familiar tale of the island – perhaps the most famous told of Donald Cam, the chief of the Macaulays in Uig, as given by Capt FWL Thomas in his Traditions of the Macaulays of Lewis (1880). In 1597 some degree of peace was enjoyed in Lewis under the government of Torquil Dubh Macleod, son of Old Rory. Torquil Dubh had been fostered in Uig under the guard of Donald Cam and twenty-eight [ » read more ]

We’ve mentioned before the story of William “Big Bear” Maclean, who was born in Scaliscro in 1837 and, after his family moved to Gisla, went on to an eventful career with the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada.  His HBC record has recently come to light (thanks to Donald Macaulay, Stornoway) and it gives much more detail of his positions and stations. 1859        Sailed for York Factory on the Prince of Wales 1859-61  Apprentice Clerk, York Factory, York District 1861-63  Apprentice Clerk, Lower [ » read more ]

Another item from the endlessly entertaining Lewsiana, by W Anderson Smith (1874/1886). From the fact that every crofter owns a few sheep, wool is naturally the first and most important article in use [in clothing]. This is often torn from the animal, Shetland fashion, in place of being clipped. More wretched looking creatures than these poor little sheep, hanging in rags, cannot be conceived; and one wonders if it is a source of satisfaction to the cotter children to see something more hopelessly ragged than [ » read more ]

Fearchar (Farquhar) Macdonald, son of Angus, was about born about 1809 at Capadal, roughly on the site of 3 Ardroil. In 1832 he joined the Hudson’s Bay Company, as a “slooper” – a crewman on HBC decked vessels.  According to the Company’s personal records, he boarded the Prince Rupert IV on 23 June 1832 for a passage from London to York Factory, on the west shore of the bay, where he arrived on 24 August.  He worked at York until 1834, travelled overland to Fort [ » read more ]

From the Inverness Courier of 25 March 1846: A correspondent has favoured us with some further particulars relative to the late patriarchal Celt, John Martin, who died at Urgay [Urgha], Island of Harris, at the ripe ate of 112. The old man was able to walk about till within twenty-four hours of his death.  When a boy, he was engaged as herd to Malcolm Macaulay, then tenant of Dirikil, with whom he remained for upwards of twenty years, and during the that time his wages [ » read more ]

Ciorstaidh Mhòr, Christina Matheson, was born in 1861 in Enaclete, a daughter of William Ruadh and a sister of William Dearg.  Her father came with his family to Geshader in the late 19th century and built this house at 2 Geshader, on the hillside overlooking the loch on the right as you drive into the village – though there was no road then, of course.  Ciorstaidh, a notably tall woman, married Calum Macleod of 8 Geshader in 1883, remained at No 2, and raised four [ » read more ]

Calum Macaskill (Calum Iain ‘ic Asgaill) was a postman and lived at Luachair. Latterly he would walk into Morsgail every day, take a cup of tea there, collect the mails which had come in from Kinloch, and return to Luachair. John Macdonald of Ard Bheag would come to Luachair every other day to get the post for Hamnaway and Ard Bheag. Calum’s was one of the last blackhouses in the district with a peat fire in the middle of the floor, with no chimney. The [ » read more ]