Màiri, born 1841, was a daughter of Murdo Maciver and Mary nee Morrison, of Pabbay, 11 Kneep and later 25 Valtos. She emigrated to the United States and while there suffered greatly with homesickness and composed the song Och nan och, tha mi fo mhulad. According to tradition she lost her sight with the associated [...]
Read more →From the Stornoway Gazette, Local and District News. March 24, 1921 The cyclonic storm which burst over this district on Wednesday last left traces of destruction in its trail here as elsewhere. Fortunately, no lives were lost, though several instances of hairbreadth escapes from flying debris etc, have been mentioned. The roof of the Valtos [...]
Read more →John Macaulay (Iain Ruadh) was the eldest son of Murdo and Elizabeth nee Macpherson, Valtos, and a grandson of Angus Beag. He is remembered in legend for his ability as a hunter and as a poet. William Macpherson (Mac Gille Chaluim) relates the following in his History of the Macaulays: On one occasion he wounded a [...]
Read more →An Là TB was 18 June 1929, the day TB Macaulay, 8th in line from Domhnall Cam and then president of Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada, returned to his ancestral home. He spent the day in Valtos and it seems most of Uig turned out for him. While on the island he opened the [...]
Read more →Excerpts from Stornoway Gazette, Local and District News (Uig) April 5th, 1918 FRIENDS FROM ACROSS THE SEA: One of the few pleasurable results of this terrible and miserable war is the occasional opportunity offered to friends and relations at home of meeting and welcoming friends and relations from beyond the seas – friends whom, in the [...]
Read more →From the Diary of John Munro Mackenzie, Chamberlain of the Lews. Reef had been cleared of its 186 tenants a few years previously . In the end, Kneep was never cleared, though many did emigrate from both Valtos and Kneep. Wednesday 12 February, 1851 Wrote letters to Stornoway [from Callanish], afterwards proceeded to Reef and [...]
Read more →In years gone by, practically all the sheep belonging to Valtos and Cliff spent the winter on the hill grazings, out as far as the Morsgail boundary, but in those days they were all hardy Blackfaces. Nowadays some people are trying for bigger fatter lambs for the mainland market, and using Texel, Cheviot or Suffolk [...]
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