Hello Robert,
I came across your wonderful website this morning and plan to purchase your book soon. I have just realized that we have a distant connection. Nana’s brother Neil Charles married Flora Agnes MacPherson, daughter of DUNCAN MacPherson of Black River (from his second marriage to Maria Beaton). Duncan’s brother DONALD was my g-grandfather. Both Duncan and another brother JOHN were married twice, and both were married the first time to MacKillop women who were first cousins. John’s second wife was none other than Mary Anne Gillis, daughter of Donald, who was the brother of Angus Gillis (Neil C’s grandfather).
I tell you, those of us who serve as family genealogists for the old Cape Breton Scottish families have our work cut out for us. Just piecing together the above paragraph was making my head spin!
I was born in Sydney and raised in the East Bay area of Cape Breton. My father’s line is the one from Inverness County. My mother was a MacAdam from MacAdam’s Lake, near East Bay, and her mother was a Gillis from Gillis Lake, a few miles from MacAdam’s Lake. Those Gillises were from Morar and have distant connections to some of the Southwest Margaree Gillises and closer ones to the Ben Eoin (near East Bay) Gillises, as well as those in Mira. Cape Breton is still “back home” for me, even after 40 years away.
I lived in Boston back in the late 60s and early 70s. My late uncle, Duncan MacPherson (grandson of the aforementioned Donald) was living on Adams Street, near Field’s Corner in those days.
I think you’d enjoy Cape Breton. It’s a very beautiful place and has its own culture apart from the rest of the province. Mid-to late August is a good time to visit if you don’t mind getting swiped by the occasional hurricane. Except for hurricanes, the weather is generally better during that period of late summer.
I look forward to reading your book in 2012. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Keep in touch!
Best wishes,
Allene MacPherson Goforth
Viola, Idaho