Cape Breton's Magazine

Cape Bretoners Who Went Away: Murdock Malcolm McPhee in Ontario "A Son of Cape Breton, 1853-1941" by his grandson, Murdoch J. McPhee Here is another example of Family History • an account based on research and on memories passed down, in this case, it is the sto? ry of a Cape Bretoner who went away and never came back. The ' roots are Cape Breton; the search for a place in the wider world is % ,m m- ' a common Cape Breton experience. Murdock Malcolm McPhee was another Cape Bretoner looking for work • and adventure. Murdock Malcolm McPhee was born on the Bad- deck River, second son of William and Mar? tha McPhee (McMillan). The following were his brothers and sisters: William, Flor? ence, Mary, Matilda, and John. Martha died and William married Ann, Martha's sister. They had two children, Angus and Belle. John I went to Boston and married and had two children, a boy and a girl. The son was killed in a car acci? dent and the girl nev- ; er married. Florence married and we think ' her name was MacDonald and she had five or six : children. One of the boys was Murdock. Ma? tilda married and we don but she had four sons. These two sisters lived somewhere in Gape Breton, maybe in Sydney, Mary married and lived in New York and had one daughter. The second family: Angus went to Boston and married, and Belle married and we don't know her name but she had five or six children and lived in Cape Breton, maybe in Baddeck. The above infor? mation I got from my aunt who visited these people with her father in the early 1920's. My grandfather told me his brother William left home and was never heard of again. Ann died and William left Cape Breton and went to Ontario to the town of Ripley to preach in a church there. He was a gradu? ate of a college in Scotland and a Baptist minister. There he married a widow (MacDo? nald) . They had one son William. We don't know anything about this son. William Sr. died there and was buried in the graveyard by the church. My grandfather (Murdock) left home at the age of nineteen and went to Boston. There he found work in a cotton factory. There was a Murdock Malcolm & Sarah MacDonald McPhee fire in the building. He escaped but saw people jumping from windows to their death and others falling back into the fire. This upset,him so much that he left Boston and travelled to Ontario. He found work with a farmer near Kincardin. He worked there a year or two. In the early 1870's the free grant and homestead act was passed. And he learned there was land available in northern Ontario. So he de? cided he wanted to have a farm of his own. The farmer told him if he found land to let him know and he would send him a horse and harness. He got passage at Owen Sound on a boat to Bruce Mines. Bruce Mines was a very busy place then. They had found copper there and the ore was being shipped to England for processing. He could have had work PiPER'S TRAILER COURT Featuring: Fully Licensed Dining Room Laundromat Mini-Mart Ocean-Side Campsites Swimming Pool 929-2233 929-2067 Indian Brook on the Cabot Trail (Halfway between Baddeck and Ingonish) From either direction on the Cabot Trail, plan for comfort and welcome Piper's Old Manse GUEST HOUSE with Bed and Breakfast . OPEN YEAR ROUND .