John A. Kennedy, CD, FSA Scot mailto:jak.cb@sympatico.ca, who kindly wrote to tell me one of the site’s pictures was mis-labeled read the book and sent this very nice email:
“Hi Robert,
I just finished reading your book on your grandmother it was very interesting to say the least. When I put it down I couldn’t wait until I read the next chapter. You never mentioned if she ever went back to Glendale in her later years.
My mother always said that Uncle David was her favorite. Neil C. (Annie’s brother) use to come to Inverness to visit Mom. I use to see him at my aunt’s in Mabou.
Recently I met a man from Glendale who knew the Gillis family. He told me Neil C. was a “moonshiner” and had some brushes with the RCMP. He was not much of a farmer. We laughed at some of the tales he told.
I noticed in Annie’s address book of Josephine Gillis, Mann Ave. Inverness. She was married to my uncle Angus Gillis. They had worked in Boston all their lives but retired to Inverness. They are both dead now and buried in Stella Maris cemetery in Inverness. There are stories of when they went home to Cape Breton Angus would park his car and he and his brother in Mabou would hitch up the wagon & drive to Glendale to visit Neil C. and his moonshine.
There were fourteen in my Mother’s family, seven boys & seven girls, the last of the family Margaret died in Millnocket, Maine last Christmas. She had lived there most of her life.
Again Robert thanks for the book. It was a good read.
Best regards. John”