Page 87 - With Jessie Morrison of Cape North - A Cape Breton to Alberta Pioneer

ISSUE : Issue 66

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1994/6/1

• Jessie's Ancestors • At Cape North on the Cabot Trail TO START AT THE BEGINNING, my maternal and pa? ternal great-grandparents came to Cape Breton, and the date • which is uncertain • was prior to 1830. Both families came from Harris which is, as you know, part *'' r of the Isle of Lewis, at the outer Hebrides. Now on the -r • >- ' ,'-??*'- maternal side, Great-grandfather Norman MacKinnon ' • .?? married Rachel Campbell of Harris, and my Grandfa? ther Francis was one of their five sons. I am not clear whether Grandfather MacKinnon was born before they came over or soon after. But it was around that time. Most unfortunately these dates are lost in the time. They landed at Baddeck Forks. And they stayed there for a short time before moving north to Cape North, which is really called Aspy Bay. The whole area is called Aspy Bay. And that is the maternal side. Oh yes, I should have mentioned a bit about my Great-grandmother Rachel Campbell MacKinnon: Ri9ht: sign at the crossroads at Cape North. Above: the old Mother said that she was a bit formidable. The grand- church at Cape North, viewed from the manse. children were somewhat in awe of her. But it wasn't that she was a little, cranky old lady. But when you think of the difficult times that they lived through, you wondered if any one of them had enough left • enough love and compassion • 'to nurture their families. Their very existence was just so difficult. But anyway, she had a great deal of music and Mother said that she was considered a well-educated woman for her time because she had both English and Gaelic. And in their limited luggage space she brought books, both in Gaelic and music books, which I presume would be the psalm tunes • the tunes to which they sang the psalms. Now accompanying my great-grandparents was Great-grandmother's broth? er Donald Campbell. And when the MacKinnons moved to Cape North, he remained in Baddeck. And he was one of the early schoolteachers in that area. He was also i a catechist. Now, a catechist filled in, as it were, for the clergy in the Presbyterian church. Of course a knowledge of the scriptures was essential to the good life, and the catechist instructed the people • in the absence of the clergy • in the teachings of the church. There was a book published (/n 7973) entitled Cape Breton Worthies, and Donald Campbell was one of probably a dozen or more that were written up. CONTINUED ON TOP OF NEXT PAGE pie--personally and also ambitious for the community. And various organizations were formed in time: the U.F.A. Locals--United Farmers of Alberta--and my father was very strong. He strongly approved or strongly believed in cooperative effort, bo he was a member of the U.F.A. He organized, actu? ally, our U.F.A. Local.... My father, I must say, worshipped at the shrine of Henry Wise Wood, who at that pe? riod was the president of the U.F.A. My father left his life-long affiliation with the Liberal Party when the U.F.A. became political and came into power in 1921. There was much movement in those days in the direction of cooperative effort. {Edi? tor's Note: Henry Wise Wood was born in Montana in 1860 and died in Calgary, 1941. He was president of the U.F.A. from 1916 to 1931, and considered the most powerful agrarian leader until his death in 1941.) And also when the Alberta Wheat Pool was in the process of organizing in the early '20s, my father worked hard to sign up the farmers in our district which [it] was necessary to get a certain percentage of the total farming in order for the wheat growers to organize and become operative. Locally he was much involved with that. In the late fall of 1912 the railroad was completed that ran from Calgary through to Winnipeg--the C.N.R., called the Goose Lake Line. Small villages were established MR. Fl's Custom Picture Framing specializing in Custom Framing • Needlepoint Framing • Paper Tole Framing • Dry Mounting and Laminating I Good selection of mouldings and acid-free mats at reasonable prices 308R Commercial St., NORTH SYDNEY (ACROSS FROM SCOTIA BANK PARKING LOT) MON-FRI 10-5 or by appointment 794-8826 '=U'- Nightingale Nursing Services ' {21 24 hours; 7 days a week service {2 R.N.'s - C.N.A.'s {21 Homemakers & babysitters {21 Care provided in home or hospital {21 Bonded & insured {21 Reasonable rates FULLTIME R.N. NURSING SUPERVISION 400"9 Iff Professionally Serving Ob''D' #4 DARTMOUTH Local Needs SYDNEY SERVING ALL CAPE BRETON ISLAND SUPERIOR OPTICAL LIMITED COMPLETE OPTICAL SERVICE ' r v Shirley Sparling Optician Owned & Operated JAMES DEAN Optician Znd Pair FREE Mon. *' Tues, - Sat, 10 am - 6 pm Wed. - Thurs. ' fri. 10 am??9 pm 564-8486 l/layflower IVlail

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