In August of 1822, a young and single 24-year-old Alexander MacDonald arrived in the port of Pictou on a ship the identity of which had never been found. He was not alone as a few settlers around Earltown and West Branch appeared that same year. Several of his fellow passengers likely went east to join relatives in the Upper Barneys River area.
In his native Clyne, he would have been known as Alex MacAdie, (son of Adam), part of the Cadaich MacDonald clan that were small tenants at Aschoilmore in mid Strath Brora and with ties to other holdings further back along the Blackwater River. He was the son of Adam MacDonald and Mary MacKay.
This MacDonald family was very much in the center of events surrounding the near total removal of inhabitants from the upper two-thirds of the Parish of Clyne. Adam MacDonald was one of the negotiators on behalf of a number of tenants seeking to find an alternative to removal. Adam, his brother-in-law Mad Donald MacKay, and others approached the Sutherland Estate through their minister, Rev. Walter Ross, and secured what they thought to be an extension on their leases. A year later they learned that they were destined to be removed. Rev. Ross, who drew his stipend from the Countess, denied witnessing such an extension. MacDonald, MacKay et al then offered to match, pro rata, whatever rent the large sheep farmers, would be paying. The offer was rejected. The estate was adamant that Strath Brora would be totally cleared in 1821. Many of the subtenants had already booked subsidized passage to Pictou and were glad to be done with the Estate factors and the less than scrupulous Rev. Ross.
A few families chose to stand their ground including the MacAdie MacDonalds and Mad Donald MacKay.
Mad Donald, whose descendants in Barneys River share DNA with MacAdie descendants in Earltown, appears to have been a brother to Mrs. MacDonald. Mad Donald earned his name while working as a trapper/trader with the Hudson Bay Company in Manitoba, the Dakotas and elsewhere on the prairies. He retired back to Clyne with sons born to his indigenous wife[1]. His legal wife, Mary MacKenzie, had remained in Clyne those years and might have had something to say about this unexpected expansion of the family. Hardened from years of adventure and independence in the wilds of the prairies, he was not going to walk away from his lease in Aschoilmore without a fight. Yet despite the resolve of Donald MacKay and Adam MacDonald, among other tenants, to stay put, they had already secured small farms in Caithness to which they could retreat if they were unsuccessful.
When the authorities first arrived to enforce removal, they were met by a mob armed with sticks and stones. A request for help was sent to London and a very reluctant government sent troops to enforce a peaceful removal. Resistance was attempted once more but was unsuccessful. Several of the ringleaders fled to Caithness. The township of Aschoilmore and others were burned and destroyed.[2]
Having missed the voyages of the summer of 1821. The MacDonalds, MacKays and likely others of that group spent the winter in Caithness[3]. The following spring many sailed for Nova Scotia. Alexander’s parents are believed to have stayed in Caithness but he and his MacKay kin chose to leave Scotland.
Alexander was given a location ticket for a 200 acre grant on the Tatamagouche River[4]. Compared to his fellow Clyne emigrants, he lucked out. His grant, surrounding the intersection of the Balmoral Road and Highway 311[5] at The Falls, is a gentle sloping strip gradually ascending the front slope of the Cobequids. This would be his home for the next 60 years.
New Beginnings
Alex MacAdie constructed his homestead on the bank of the river near the house known locally today as that of the late Sterling and Odessa Matheson. His clearing extended down to the crossroads by the church and westward to the treeline you see today. (A map showing the homesteads for the family can be found here:https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1EINnzQcAQWh_ThMIVdQwrAVJUsIcW0k&usp=sharing )
One might envision a lonely existence for a single man in the wilds of Nova Scotia carving a clearing out of a dense forest while learning to use a not too familiar axe. But this was not the case as former neighbours were near at hand. Immediately across the river was the expanding homestead of William and Mary Sutherland “Ruidh” and William’s elderly parents, James and Catherine (Ferguson) Sutherland. They had arrived two years before. Donald Baillie of Dalfolly was looking down on Alex from his cabin on the summit of Spiddle Hill. Alexander Sutherland “Sawyer” and Elizabeth Baillie were established a mile upstream. Another single man, William Sutherland, aka Billy Ban, was settling a short distance away as was Laughing Sandy Sutherland and his brothers. To north was Fred Hayman. Although not a Sutherlandshire native, Hayman’s father was a Gael from Argyle and said to have been fluent in Gaelic.
Even more notable in this not-so-lonely quarter was a family of Baillies. A short distance downstream was a homestead occupied by Widow Elizabeth Baillie and three of her children, Donald, Janet and Christiana. One can only speculate whether Alex’s settlement at The Falls was a coincidence or planned as the following year Alex and Christiana were a newly married couple.
Despite Alex and his family being betrayed by their parish minister, Rev. Ross, and the Church of Scotland in general which encouraged parishioners to submit to the evictions, he remained a firm and unwavering adherent of the Church of Scotland in Nova Scotia. When the Church of Scotland formerly organized a congregation in Earltown, Alex MacDonald and George Baillie were elected to serve The Falls section as elders. This was considered the height of influence and power in a Highland protestant community and elders performed their function with zeal. These two men were instrumental in developing a preaching point at The Falls under the roof of St. Andrew’s Kirk which stands to this day.
In 1843, Christiana died at the young age of 46. She was laid to rest in the MacKenzie Cemetery at Earltown where several of the Clyne settlers are buried.
Alex married again, this time to Annie MacDonald. Her origins are a bit of a mystery. She was a native of Clyne but doesn’t appear to have any connection with other MacDonalds families living in the Earltown region. It is a possibility that she may have been part of the contingent that settled Upper Barney’s River in the early 1820’s. This was a later in life marriage to which there was no issue.[6] She died on December 28th, 1884.
Less than three months later Alex died on March 2, 1885 after leading a full life that witnessed one of the most turbulent and violent chapters in the clearances after which he was one of several to form a cohesive and distinctly Clyne community in the new world. He carved out a pleasing and prosperous farm and wide spread network of descendants.
To be continued with the next generations
[1] The country wife was Hannah Sutherland, a Metis woman from the Red River area. His legal wife was Mary MacKenzie.
[2] The complicated events surrounding the destruction of Strath Brora cannot adequately be explained in a couple of paragraphs. Intrigued readers are encouraged to read James Hunter’s detailed description of events in “Set Adrift Upon the World – The Sutherland Clearances”
[3] While the evictees were encouraged and expected to relocate to small coastal properties to staff the fishing and mining activities on the Estate, it is likely the ringleaders would not be welcome. Various researchers claim the extended Cadaich family settled in Caithness permanently.
[4] Today it is known as the Waugh River.
[5] This intersection didn’t exist before the 1980’s. The Balmoral Road turned north immediately off the bridge and followed the riverbank to the edge of the MacDonald grant before turning west to join the highway.
[6] An Ann MacDonald was one of four people arrested and jailed after the final skirmish in Strath Brora in 1821. She was later released without sentence. In that era there were advantages of not being an equal with men. Magistrates were reluctant to prosecute women, (witchcraft aside), as they were not held to the same degree of accountability. It has been suggested that this was the reason women were often found in the front lines of domestic riots or resistance. There is no evidence to suggest this is the same Ann MacDonald, second consort of our Alex, but given that this Ann and our Alex would have been “shoulder to shoulder” in the final resistance, it leads one to wonder.
earltown 