From the Isle of Skye
to
Cape Breton Island
Migration and History of a Celtic people
by Christine MacIntosh
Feb 19, 2006
Here on the Isle of Skye, An T-Eilean Sgitheanach in Scottish Gaelic, the largest and most northerly island of Scotland begins this story telling. Some legends associate this barren, rugged isle with the mythic figure of Scathach (shadowy) the female warrior-princess of the Land of Shadows, who trained legendary Ulster hero Cuchulainn in the arts of war. There ialso rumor this island was once referred to as Druid’s Isle. One can only dream it was so.
This remote island has some of the most dramatic and challenging terrain in all of Scotland, most notably the Red and Black Cuillin <http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/146/skye3re.jpg> mountain ranges. Skye historical sites show occupation by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, a cultural period of the Stone Age between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, marked by the appearance of micro lithic tools and weapons and by changes in the nature of settlements, about 15,000 years ago. To live in such a land required an equally rugged and tenacious inner strength, a will to survive anything.
My story will begin with Donald (b. 1805) and Nancy MacLeod and the birth of their daughter Catherine in 1828 CE, on this very isle. It is hard to imagine the difficult life on this remote island living day by day, season to season, in a ‘black house <http://img422.imageshack.us/img422/1345/blackhouse9du.jpg>’ generally built with double stone walls packed with earth, to keep out the bitter cold of winter. I can see wee Catherine cuddled up in her woolen blankets on her small wooden cot, with a straw-filled mattress, gazing up at the wooden rafters covered with a turf, or reed thatch roof, as she slowly drifts off to sleep to the sounds of Nancy singing a Gaelic lullaby.
I’m sure Catherine and her older brother Roderick had chores, maybe sweeping the flagstone or packed earthen floor with its central hearth for the peat fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape so they could sit and watch it spiral up and vanish through the roof. As the black house was used to accommodate livestock as well as people, the children needed to go through the partition between family and stable areas to tend the vital, life and heat producing animals. Growing your own food and stock-breeding to keep alive and healthy was a family affair, and everyone pitched in. Children learned early how to stay clear of hoof, horn and beak; and never to turn your back on a Highland bull <http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/3184/highlandbull3zt.jpg>.
Life was hard enough to eke out a living here without the political unrest and the rioting that followed. Scotland enjoyed the successes and the woes of economic expansion, and famine befell many families. By 1832 the Scottish Bill for Parliamentary Reform received the royal accent, a procession marched under a banner that said ‘ A United People makes Tyrants Tremble’, but it was too late for some, and the sons of Scotland went abroad. Donald MacLeod with them, young family in tow, a very pregnant wife, his brother (Red) John and sister Mary, boarded a ship <http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/5718/ship6uu.jpg>, destination Cape Breton Island in the new world; and freedom.
One can but imagine the difficulties of ocean travel in the early 1800's for the average person, let alone a pregnant woman. Somewhere between Scotland and Cape Breton Island Nancy gave birth to twin girls, who she named Christie and Flora. Thankfully, Catherine and her aunt Mary were there to help care for the bairns on such a long journey.
The whole family looked forward to reaching their new island home on the edge of the Atlantic ocean, on the east coast of Canada, its western side on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the St. Lawrence River empties. The captain said the island lies between 45 and 47-degree north latitude and between 59 and 61 degrees west longitude; his words were a complete mystery to a farming folk.
An older crewman who lived in Cape Breton for a while would sit with us in the evenings, when he could, telling us some delightful stories of the island. It’s 110 miles’ long and 87 miles wide. There is more than 650 miles of coastline which is an interesting mix of rocky shores, cliffs, narrows points of land and sandy beaches, even one beach where the sand is made of marble dust. In the middle of the island are the Bras d’Or Lakes, 50 miles long and, 20 miles wide. The French named these lakes and it means "arm of gold." When canoeing on the lakes and the sun sets it’s not hard to understand why they would give it such a poetic name. But there are rumors it was really named after a Portugese explorer named Ilabrador, which means "landowner" in Portuguese.
He loved to canoe down the many rivers and streams, the largest being the Mira River, fishing for trout and salmon. He preferred to fish as he learned long ago that most of the soil is not good for farming. It was rocky, with many bogs, and if left alone was quickly reclaimed by evergreen trees such as spruce and fir. Cape Breton is a land thickly covered with forests, where you will find balsam fir, red spruce, white spruce, black spruce, tamarack and pine. In the northern parts you will see a majestic scene of reds, oranges and yellows of the sugar maples and other hardwood trees, like the sacred oak. Once during a wilderness walk he found himself in a golden dale, all the trees were the same vibrant yellow, fluttering and murmuring in the soft breeze, a glorious sight that took his breath away.
The weather was unpredictable and forever changing. They say if you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes, it will change. The island has four seasons, but winter seems to be the longest, the cold hanging on and on and then suddenly, it’s summer. Spring hardly seems to happen at all. The old sailor said that summer and fall there are wonderful, winter is hard and spring is absolutely rotten.
All seasons are good for hunting, such a variety of creature to choose from, black bears, beavers, bobcats, chipmunks, otters and snowshoe hares are common, along with the white-tailed deer. Moose and caribou roam the rugged highlands. You can even find lynx living in the forests, and marten, known for its plush, thick fur, good for keeping you warm in the winter.
My aunt Mary loves birds so he told her of the many wee birds such as blue jays, yellow finches and chickadees, ducks and herring gulls, owls, even the great snowy owl, but the most impressive bird species is the great bald eagle. Once he was walking and day dreaming along a logging road when he came upon a small stream. Suddenly, the air was filled with dozens of eagles of all ages, taking flight in response to his sudden appearance. He had interrupted their spring feast of spawning gaspereau. While he had the chance, he stole some for his dinner, sharing it with his Mi’kmaq friend.
"Yes Catherine" he said, "there are red Indians there, in the flesh, red Indians!" A Mi’kmaw man became his friend and taught him how to live in the wild. How to build a home, a wigwam out of thin trees and birch bark, to set snares for the rabbits and squirrels, he liked to eat. Where to hunt, and trap for fur in the winter, and how to make snowshoes for easy traveling. Whenever he traveled to the mainland, he would bring back porcupine quills for the Mi’kmaq women to use in their crafts. The Mi’kmaq tried to bring porcupines to the island but found they can’t survive on Cape Breton. You can’t find skunks there either, but we really don’t mind that at all.
The tales of our ancient mariner made time go so much faster, and one day they arrived in the City of Halifax <http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/3326/halifax6cg.jpg>, Nova Scotia. The weary travelers disembarked with what belongings they were permitted to bring, and began the arduous land journey to Cape Breton Island, which became a part of Nova Scotia in 1820. First sight of Cape Breton would have been across the Gut of Canso, the deepest port in the world, at the base of Porcupine Mountain, dividing the mainland and Cape Breton; there a small ferry conveyed travelers across to the island as rugged as the one of Catherine’s birth.
By the time Donald and his family arrived their new home already had a very long history. This island was created approximately 750,000,000 years ago from volcanic rock that cooled. It had been under the ocean and pushed up above the water bringing sediment with it becoming part of the island. The land continued to change rising, falling and folding over itself many times, giving us our spellbinding mountains and valleys. The highest mountain, 1,747 feet high, is White Hill, near Ingonish.
The glaciers of the Ice Age changed the island even more, scraping the hills in Creignish, Boisdale, Mabou, Mira and East Bay until they were all the same size. Some areas were scraped clean of soil leaving bare rock. The massive weight of the glaciers also created the scenic Bras d’Or Lakes. In other places, glaciers moved boulders to new places, like at Mary Anne Falls in the Highlands there are large round boulders that are unlike any of the other rocks around them.
Alexander Graham Bell once said "I traveled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps, and the Highlands of Scotland; but for simple beauty Cape Breton <http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6578/margareevalley6wt.jpg> outrivals them all."
A brief time line for Cape Breton would be:
The estimated arrival of the native people who named this island U’Namakika, was 8000 BCE.
Vikings <http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/1659/vikinghut0ui.jpg> arrived in 1000 CE leaving behind tell tale signs for modern archaeologists to decipher.
The explorer John Cabot arrived in 1497, claiming Cape Breton for England.
Later came Breton fishermen from France in 1500.
Exploration by Gaspar Cortereal in 1501 and Joao Fagundes in 1520, both of Portugal.
In 1521 Portugal made the first permanent settlement on the island.
The island was partly mapped by Jaques Cartier in 1536.
Anthony Packhurts explored the island in 1578 and began the first fight for possession.
Captain Liegh lands at the future location of Sydney and explored in 1597.
Niganis now known as Ingonish was established as a settlement in 1604.
Baliene was settled by Lord Ochiltree of Britain in 1629.
The siege of Lord Ochiltrees fort by Captain Daniel of France in 1630.
Nicholas Denys established the island fur trade in 1636, became the first permanent settler and first governor of the island.
The Treaty of Utrect officially gave the island to France in 1713.
The Fortress of Louisbourg <http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/6131/louisbourg3bh.jpg>is founded in 1720 and still stands to this day maintained by Parks Canada.
North America’s first coal mine is built near Louisbourg in 1721.
The first siege and capture of Louisbourg by the English in 1749 and returned to the French in 1752.
Louisbourg and St. Annes recaptured by the English in 1758.
The settlement of Sydney is founded by Fredrick DesBarres of England in 1785.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, came to the island in 1885 and settled near Baddeck Bay, where his descendants preserve his mansion, Beinn Bhreagh, as a summer home. Nearby in the village of Baddeck is a museum in his honor. The first telephone message was sent to Boston and said "Mr Watson, come here I want you".
In 1902 from Glace Bay (Marconi) was the first wireless telegraph ever sent.
1909 was the first flight in the British Empire by Alexander Graham Bell. His airplane was named ‘The Silver Dart <http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/1413/silverdart6qr.jpg>’.
Because of it’s, exceptional location in the Northern Atlantic. Only 50 km from the St. Lawrence Seaway route linking it to many inland Canadian and American ports there was much turmoil and warfare over possession. These changes in ownership altered the island’s name, a myriad of times. It began as U’Namakika, became Terre des Bretons, Bacaillos, Isla de Cabo Breton, I’Isle Royale, Ile du Cap-Breton, Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Cape Breton Island and now simply ‘The Island’ . . . now the home of wee Catherine and her family.
The family of Donald MacLeod settled in Big Brook, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, and took up farming on the 275 acres he obtained from the county. Donald plowed the fields with draft horse and the best plow he could buy, in preparation for grain crops. Donald built a home from rough-sawn lumber salvaged from the boreal forests all around them, black and white spruce, hemlock, and pine; a house built strongly to withstand the Canadian winters. Furniture was made from oak, birds’ eye maple and beechnut. Nancy tended house and raised their four children, later giving birth to Ronald and oddly, another Catherine.
Life for them was very much like "back home," except lumber was plentiful; fur bearing animals provided extra warm clothing and money; wild game that the mariner spoke of was readily available for the avid hunter; hardwood for the fireplace was right at the doorstep, only needing an axe. Cattle, pigs and sheep thrived well on the pastures, providing meat, milk and wool. Then there was the sea, which provided its own riches.
Life was much easier, making plenty of time for recreation and gatherings known as ceilidhs and milling frolics, where the fiddles and pipes came out, the night resounded with the haunting sounds of Gaelic tunes, laughter and the foot patter of highland, square and step dancing. The ceilidh kept alive fiddle-playing and piping styles that later died out in Scotland. They played with a fierce passion the marches, airs, strathspeys, jigs and reels that make a celt a Celt. To leave their music and dance behind in Scotland was unthinkable.
Here at one of those ceilidhs, Catherine now grown, as children do, met a charming young Scot name Angus MacIntosh. She married Angus in 1855, set up a home and prepared to raise her own family not far from her parents home. Angus was a teacher by trade, the first in the Big Brook area. He also played the fiddle, passing the Celtic music legacy to his children and others who wished to learn. Angus and Catherine had four children, Roderick, John, Alexander and Flora Ann. If it wasn’t for his son Roderick, my great-grandfather, you would not be reading this now, as none of Angus’s other children had issue.
Roderick grew and became a carpenter by trade. He traveled to the ‘Boston States’ as many young Capers tended to do at that time. There he found and married Susan Pratt. Their children were Chester Ronald, Catherine, and Edward Roderick and Donald ( Dan ). Edward grew, married Sarah and had Neil and James Bryon. James grew, went to war for his country and met Margaret Ruby in England, married and had Lynda, Bryon and yours truly. James just survived a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. You can’t beat that rugged Celtic stock.
All through these times and generations the Celtic legacy continued. Even today our unique fiddle music is still closely tied to both the Gaelic language and pipe music. The tunes were sung in Gaelic, a style called "mouth music," if a fiddler or piper was not available, and as easy to dance to as the real McCoy, the feet of the spectators keeping perfect rhythm. Many fiddlers who could not read music learned their tunes from the mouth music, incorporating the flowing sound of Gaelic into the cuts and ornaments that make up the Cape Breton style. Gaelic speakers say they can tell by the way a tune is played as to whether the player learned directly from the Gaelic.
Pioneer bards like Allan (The Ridge) MacDonald wrote songs about exile, and love for a place that became home. Dan R. MacDonald who is said to have written nearly 3,000 fiddle tunes took up the gauntlet and continued that musical legacy. Dedicated people like Dr. Helen Creighton and Pere Anselm Chaisson have found and collected song lyrics gleaned from centuries of Cape Breton culture.
Families continue to pass down the music of our ancestors. Modern fiddlers like Buddy MacMaster; still play in pure Cape Breton style. Others like Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, the Rankin Family, The Barra MacNeils, and Rawlins Cross have woven the old with the new, creating their own unique, lilting style. This style has taken the music world by storm. Years ago while visiting the Shetland Isles, I had a chance to attend a Scottish concert. During the intermission I approached a fiddler asking for his autograph. Hearing my accent he asked where I was from, when I told him his face lit up and with much animation praised the Cape Breton fiddling, wishing he had the chance to learn from our masters. When he stopped for breath, he noticed the other fiddlers around him were nodding in agreement.
You won’t find fiddling contests here as the styles are so personal and unique, there is no competition. How can there be? When Archie Neil Chisholm, the 90-year-old dean of Cape Breton folklore was asked who was the best fiddler, he replied "It would be wiser to swallow a keg of dynamite and chase it down than to answer that question in Cape Breton."
All summer in Cape Breton you will find musical experiences, from weekly ceilidhs in Inverness, Mabou, Margaree or just about any fire hall with a dance floor and stage, featuring step-dancing, Gaelic songs, and the best of the best local fiddlers. Several annual Celtic concerts, the largest in Broad Cove <http://img437.imageshack.us/img437/6939/broadcove3xx.jpg>at the end of July, where some quiet farmers field is transformed by a sea of 10,000 people, and for nine days in October, Cape Breton Island is home to a unique celebration of music and culture as the Celtic Colors International Festival <http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8934/celticcolors4cb.jpg> present dozens of concerts all over the island, an equally extensive line-up of workshops, a school’s program aimed at Elementary and Junior High students, a visual art series of exhibitions, and a nightly Festival Club.
Throughout the island are year round workshops teaching and displaying the old world arts. Some public schools are now teaching basic Gaelic. At the only Gaelic college in North America, at St. Annes <http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3739/gaeliccollege9et.jpg>, you will find crafters willing to share their knowledge of the Gaelic language, cooking, herb lore, the weaving of tartan, spinning, carving, and boat making. If they can’t help you, they know someone who can. The Celtic legacy must go on.
Conclusion:
In the 1700 - 1900 thousands of Scottish people came to Cape Breton Island fleeing the crushing dominance of the British crown, people who brought with them an ancient Celtic heritage and way of life, who were tenacious enough to eke out a living on this island, this rock in the sea. Because of their efforts this modern generation, my generation, can say, we are a people, as proud as can be. The home of our hearts, is Cape Breton <http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8180/capebretongroup0on.jpg>."
Sources:
<http://www.littlemac2.com/> - my sister Lynda’s genealogy site
www.dictionary.com <http://www.dictionary.com/> - various words
Celtic Colors International Festival brochure
Quick Facts About The Island - unknown lost the link
<http://www.cbisland.com/index.php>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Skye>
Musical Legacy, 200 years of music on the Ceilidh Trail, by Frank MacDonald, local Partici-paper
<http://www.angelfire.com/ok/Failteville/history.html>
How we became a County, by Mary Anne Ducharme, local Partici-paper
A History of Scotland by J.D. Mackie
Lyric of "We are an island".
Note: all words in Blue are hyperlinked to a picture, if they don’t work they are listed below.
Hyperlinked pictures: here and there
Cuillin - <http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/146/skye3re.jpg>
Black house - <http://img422.imageshack.us/img422/1345/blackhouse9du.jpg>
Highland bull - <http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/3184/highlandbull3zt.jpg> 
