Westward Ho!

Shipping News

"Mandolin" to be sold

On her way to Ardfern last week, "Mandolin" came to a sudden stop, about 4 miles west of Corrievreckan; it turned out that the lift pump had failed, so Kevin and Frank would have been rather stuck had it not been for the good offices of Mike Murray of Crinan, whose powerful "Gemini" made light work of a tow through the Gulf. Sadly the breakdown, her first ever, must have been a portent.

"Mandolin" was due at Ardfern for an MCA survey in connection with a new maritime Code of Practice; unhappily, the surveyor has since declared that the work required to bring her up to the new level is not a viable option. She will therefore have to be sold for private use - interested persons should contact David Wilkie at Ardfern Yachts.

Every effort will be made to replace her. Under the new Code, trips to Loch Tarbert, guided walks up the Paps and trips across to Carsaig would become regularly available, and the Garvellochs, Port Askaig and Iona could be special options. Unfortunately, "Mandolin" will be expensive to replace and it is unlikely to be possible without special assistance. If she is not replaced, Colonsay will become almost unique in coastal holiday destinations, as the one such place without a single licensed pleasure craft.
The editor admits to special interest - "Mandolin" was his own boat.

Richard Prior Memorial - update

Spot the Balls!

Our picture shows a new and extremely expensive grid, about ten feet wide and of a gauge that would withstand a Centurion tank. An off-island organisation has installed two of these in Colonsay, and in both cases has provided "belt and braces" by way of a gate as well. Health and Safety considerations make it dangerous for a person to walk backwards across a grid to open or close such a gate, so the gate has been made wider than the grid, thus allowing the provision of a two foot wide path.

It is really a matter of "belt and braces" but no trousers… the path renders the grid useless if the gate is open, and if the gate is shut the grid serves no purpose. Each grid cost c. £4,000.

Snippets

Nature Notes

What's On in Colonsay

As usual, it is best to look out for notices at the shop and elsewhere; to add notices to this site make contact via the Editor.
Quiz night - every Wednesday at the hotel.
Religious Services are on certain Sundays at 11.00 in Church of Scotland and 12.00 in the Baptist Church. All are welcome. Please note that in winter there is usually a service once in a fortnight, and that it alternates between the two churches - see shop or hotel for details.
"The Club" begins again this Thursday and all children are welcome (3.45pm at the Baptist Church).
Tuesday 21st November at 9.00pm - the first AGM of Colonsay Community Development Company will be held in the Village Hall.
On Sundays 24 and 31 December there will be additional sailings to Colonsay, depart Oban 09.30hrs
N.B. All car and foot passengers on Colonsay/Oban route "must register at the port no later than thirty minutes prior to sailing time and be on board no later than ten minutes prior to sailing time". (This is emphasised in the Winter Timetable 2nd Version, just published.)

Nooks and Crannies: Dunan-a-Chullich

The Baptist Church in Colonsay (Part 1 of 3)

Mrs. Eleanor McNeill of Machrins has most kindly made available her copy of "The Baptist Church in Colonsay" by John McNeill, first published at Edinburgh in 1914. It is nowadays very hard to find, and it is definitely not possessed by the National Library of Scotland. Part of the information was incorporated in the "History of the Baptists in Scotland from pre-reformation times", edited by Rev. George Yuille and published at Glasgow by the Baptist Union Publications Committee in 1926. The latter work is extremely helpful for the general reader; chapter 3 "The New Dawn and Rise of "Scotch" Baptists" covers the period from the Commonwealth until 1800 and is a useful introduction to John McNeill's own publication.

"The Baptist Church in Colonsay" is a valuable historical work in its own right, and it includes important genealogical information that will be of interest to some of our readers. It is proposed to reproduce the entire text over the next three or four issues of "The Corncrake", and readers are invited to forward any relevant comments or additional information to the Editor as we go along.

From the text it is clear that the author was a nephew of Calum Ruadh (i.e. Malcolm McNeill), a brother of Duncan Ban McNeill whose obituary appears elsewhere in this edition. Alastair Scouller has kindly suggested that John McNeill is therefore the son of Angus McNeill (1802 - 1878) and Margaret Smith (1818 - 1859) of Garvard. His memorial is at Kilchattan, Row 8 No. 10: "In loving memory of John McNeill, died 10th October 1921; his wife Mary Ann McNeill, died 5th July 1936, also their niece Jessie MacLachlan, died 18th June 1948. Gus am briste an latha." John McNeill will have been a brother of the famous Dr. Roger McNeill, whose contribution to epidemiology and preventative medicine is without parallel in the Highlands.

"In reading Mr. Waugh's pamphlet giving an account of the progress of the Baptist Home Mission in the Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland, it struck me that it would be interesting to the younger generation of Colonsay to have some account of the progress of the Church in the island.

I have, therefore, in the following short sketch, tried to give a few of the events in connection with the Church, from the time of the landing of the first missionary to the present day [c.1910 - ed.] Some of the facts happened within my own recollection, and others I have gleaned from older members of the community.

About the year 1812 the Rev. Dugald Sinclair made a tour through a part of the Highlands and Western Islands, and after coming as far north as Tiree joined with Malcolm Maclaren (a member of the Independent Church ), and the two came over to Colonsay in a small sailing boat. They were well received by the people, and a number of meetings were held in different parts of the island. These were productive of much good, many being brought to believe in the Saviour.

After a stay of some days they left again in a small sailing boat for Islay, but before reaching the point of Rhu Vaal the wind had risen so much that they were compelled to turn back. Again they tried, but again failed. Three times, indeed, did they try, but were always driven back. This circumstance so impressed Mr. Sinclair at the time that he believed the Lord had need for him in Colonsay.

The following year the two returned to the island, when their labours were greatly blessed, many conversions taking place. One sermon, preached by Mr. Sinclair, so impressed the people that it has been handed down from generation to generation; many times did the writer afterwards hear his uncle speak of it in admiration. The text of the discourse was Acts xxviii.22: "But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest; for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against." Preaching Baptism by immersion from it - which was something quite new to the people and which no one had thought of - he made a deep and lasting impression upon their hearts. They began to search the Scriptures daily upon this point, for the people of Colonsay were very much like the Athenians and strangers of old we are told of in Acts xvii.21, who spent their time in nothing else but to tell or hear something new.

John McMillan , son of Angus McMillan , butler to the laird , spoke to Mr. Sinclair, afterwards asking to be baptized, and one after another came forward until there were eight of them. These were all baptized on the following Sunday in Loch Fada. McMillan was a fine young fellow, and afterwards went through College . He was placed as a missionary in Inverary. But after only a few years' ministering to the people he died, on 10th April 1820, at the early age of twenty-seven . His illness was only of a few days' duration.

Notes: John was born (1793) before the Old Parish Register was commenced, but "Angus McMillan & Pegy McInnish" baptized daughters Mary (June 12 1796) and Annie (Feb 4 1800).
Angus died before the 1841 census, when his widow Peggy McMillan (70yrs) and daughter Ann McMillan (40yrs) were living in Scalasaig, with Flory McMillan (14yrs) and John Brand (6yrs). Flory had been baptized May 2 1828, the daughter of Angus McMillan and Mary McNeill; Angus (b. 1794) was presumably Ann's brother and his son was very likely another Angus: "Angus McMillan died 5th May 1915 aged 85…" (Kilchattan Row 3, Grave 9). John Brand was baptized August 24 1835, the son of Keith Brand and Janet McMillan.
In 1813, the laird was John McNeill (1767 - 1846), the "Old Laird".
The college gone through by young MacMillan was probably Rawdon College (formerly Horton), where Rev. Sinclair had been trained himself. It would be good to know if his gravestone exists in Inveraray. He was probably born after his brother Angus, whose fine memorial at Kilchattan reads: "…. Angus McMillan, for forty years crofter in Colonsay, aged 92 years, died 20th May 1886".

Another of the eight, Neil McEachern , was desirous of becoming a missionary, but feeling his education deficient he determined to go to Mull, where there was a better teacher, to improve himself for the work. Taking advantage of a small boat which was leaving for Mull at the time, he embarked with four others, but alas! they were destined never to reach the other side. While still a long way from land, the weather became so tempestuous that the boat became unmanageable. It eventually filled and sank and all on board were drowned.

Notes: Finlay McEachern and Annie McLean baptized their son Neil Oct 16 1801, also daughters Cathrine Sep 10 1796, and Lucy Aug 16 1808. Cathrine was to be the mother of Calum Ruadh McNeill, a leading Colonsay baptist, and was also the grandmother of John McNeill, the author of the "Baptist Church in Colonsay".
It would be interesting to know if any reader can obtain details of this tragedy, possibly from the "Oban Times" or other archives.

The following year [c. 1814? - ed.], when Mr. Sinclair came round again, he brought with him a young man from the Ross of Mull, Duncan Fergusson, to be baptized. In those days the Church was very careful in selecting its members, and after a consultation it was decided that the young man would not be baptized that year. Mrs. McVane , a member of the Church, spoke, saying that they made her wonder, as he was a promising young man. Why not baptize him now, for how did they know he would be alive next year? They agreed to baptize him there and then. This was the first Baptist of the Ross, and he afterwards went to Edinburgh to fit himself for missionary work. He was sent home to spread the Gospel among the people of his own district, where he laboured hard for forty years.

Notes: Mrs McVane was Annie Amos, who married Donald McVane Jan 15 1803, and whose daughter Flory was baptized Oct 11 1812. The Amos family was a very significant one in Colonsay, and Annie's brother Malcolm married Nelly Gillise on 9 Feb 1806; of their eight children two married the same man, James Ferguson (Margaret, b. Colonsay 1817 and Janet b. Prince Edward Island 1819). One wonders if James Ferguson (b. 1806, son of James Ferguson and Catherine Fox), was related to the Duncan Ferguson sponsored by Annie in 1814?
Duncan Ferguson went on to become pastor of Bunessan from 1835 - 1882, and "his name is still fragrant there" (1926).

After a good many years, during which he paid his annual visit to our island, Mr. Sinclair left this country altogether and went to America, where he continued preaching the Gospel.

Mr. Sinclair, who was a cultured man, was one who bore the heat and burden of the day. In his time travelling facilities in the Highlands were not what they are nowadays, so that the traveller very often had to undergo many hardships. Much opposition and prejudice had also to be met and overcome. The lairds of some of the places visited by our missionaries were not all in favour of these visits, as the following incident will show."

To be continued

Duncan Ban McNeill d.1896

As promised, we reproduce the obituary of Duncan Ban , which was written by Prof. Donald MacKinnon and originally published in "The Scotsman" c. 1896. The original document has been misfiled, so this text is taken from a transciption made by Oscar W. Bingham, June 1988. A photograph of Duncan Ban was published in "The Corncrake" # 17 and may be accessed from the archives (see link below masthead).

"There died on the lonely island of Colonsay, a couple of weeks ago, an old man who merits a passing notice, not only for his moral worth, but because he was the last of a large family of 9 whose united ages make up the remarkable figure of 787 years. The register of Colonsay does not go back further than 1796 and 4 of this family were born before that date. But the baptism of the five youngest is duly recorded, so that the ages of the others can be verified with substantial accuracy.

The family consisted of 6 sons and 3 daughters. 5 emigrated to Upper Canada, 4 lived and died on Colonsay. The 9 were all married and left families, many of them large, and the descendants living in Scotland and Canada number several hundreds.

Those who emigrated attained fully to the age of those who remained in Scotland, and on the whole the women lived longer than the men. 2 sons died at the age of 77 and a daughter and a son at the age of 81 and 86 respectively, a daughter and son at 91, 2 sons at 93, and a daughter at 98. The first death in the family occurred in Sept. 1873 when Duncan, the youngest, was at that time 68 years of age.

The family were descended on the father's side from a McNeill who removed from the Island of Barra to Colonsay, some 250 or 300 years ago . The mother was a Brown, whose forebears belonged to Lochbuy in Mull. On the voyage from Barra, a son was born who became known in Colonsay afterwards as John "of the Ocean" - an epithet applied to his descendants for many generations. The Barra settler flourished in his adopted home . Nearly two-thirds of the present [1896] population can claim descent from him in the male or female line, while his descendants in Canada are still more numerous.

The family possessed, in a marked degree, the physical and mental characteristics commonly attributed in the isle to the Norse strain in the blood. They were large, loose-limbed men and women, with long backs and broad shoulders, fair and yellow hair, fair skin, blue eyes and small ears. The late Hector McLean, a noted anthropologist, reported that a descendant of John "of the Ocean" was the most perfect type of woman with Norse characteristics he had seen in 30 years. They all had the gift of a good memory, and sound judgement - with a distinct touch of humour and an appreciation of music and song.

Duncan, who died at the age of 91, was distinguished in his youth for his remarkable eyesight. He could see the stars in daylight and on one occasion he described to his companions the rig of a vessel bearing down upon them under strong press of canvas, fully 15 minutes before any of the crew could see her.

He was born in 1805, a few years after the late John McNeill of Colonsay succeeded to the estate. He paid rent to 5 successive proprietors - John McNeill, his 3 sons - Alexander, Duncan (Lord Colonsay) and Sir John; and ghis grandson, the present proprietor Msajor-General Sir John McNeill V.C., K.C.B. etc.

Duncan's two grandfathers, McNeill and Brown, were out in the '45, but the grandson saw neither of them. The immediate forebears evidently did not attain the age of the descendants.

When Duncan Ban was born, the most common name on Colonsay was Currie, the next being McNeill. At the present time [1896] half the population is McNeill and there is not a Currie on the island, the last who bore that name being Duncan's own wife, who died some ten years ago ."

Notes: "Ban" means "fair-haired". John of The Ocean arrived in Colonsay c. 1520. Note that this account of his arrival suggests that both of Iain's parents were flitting to Colonsay; cf. the more widespread version that the mother was wife to the McNeill of Barra and was coming alone to Colonsay, where the yet-unborn child was to be fostered amongst the McPhies. The late A.S.MacNeill mentioned that Duncan could see the individual deer on the hill across in Islay (almost 5 miles from Oronsay). In the year 2000, more than 10% of the population is descended from Duncan Ban himself. An exact figure would be welcomed by the Editor.

Building a House in Colonsay - Chapter 10

So the kitchen is nearly complete. Quarry tiles have been laid in the Utility Room and Front Porch. The fireplace and hearth are taking shape. The staircase is in.

Painting is progressing well inside and so far I haven't thought "O Lord why did I say that colour!"

Bruno is well on with adding the sockets and so on to the electric's, and has laid out all the bathroom fittings to check that they are all there and are undamaged. The only missing items are some draw knobs and two baths. But the baths are due in Oban this week, we shall see!

Outside things are not quite so good. This is entirely due to the weather. There is no point in roughcasting in heavy rain and strong winds as the whole lot would get removed by nature very rapidly. The window frames are in most cases now weather-tight, despite rumours of serious flooding. Also a concrete plinth is in place for the oil tank, and foundations for boiler and garage have been discussed.

After the strong winds (gusting to over 75 miles per hour last night) I checked today to see if the garage, which came a few days ago, was still there down by the pier, and it was. Also a quick look from ground level didn't show up any missing tiles on the roof. So that is good news.

As outside appearances have not changed much I have added two pictures of the inside. The first is of the kitchen and the second of one of the bedrooms.

In the kitchen the part of the wall that has not been painted is that behind the hob unit and will be tiled as a splash back, as will the wall below the window sill.






The figure at the bedroom window is Mickey Brown working on the rendering round the window.

The visit to Glasgow achieved most of its aims in that curtains and living room ceiling light fitting were organised, but I didn't find all the other small things I needed and will have to go back again in a week or so.

A.McG.

Before mentioning our featured site, readers are reminded that the new ferry timetable is online at http://www.calmac.co.uk It prints out perfectly, and is accessed via Adobe Acrobat. (If you do not have a copy of Adobe, a link from the Calmac page enables a painless download.)

One wonders if readers are aware of "spyware", in which alien software is secretly downloaded to their computer? This software will try to contact its own homesite whilst the victim is online, reporting on the software they use, the websites they visit and establishing a personal profile for commercial targetting. If this matters to you, go to http://www.lavasoft.de/free.html to get a free copy of AD-aware. It will tell you how many spies you are hosting, and enable you to zap the lot. (The editor found 27 such spies on his own system).

Finally, we come to the website of the week, suggested by Gary and Mary Snyder: "Here is a GREAT "new" website, in case you've not seen it before: Take a look at the transcribed Old Parish Register files for Argyll, Bowmore, Kildalton - Marriages,baptisms." Find it at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/rawdata/

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