Leaving Tiree

Location: Hynish pier     

Story:
‘But they left one fine summer’s day, and my father’s brothers and his brother Archie, told me how well they remembered the day of their going. 

‘And many went with them, most of them walking, until they reached Hynish. And the women who went with them were riding in the carts and the men were walking. And they got the boat, in which they left in the port of Hynish. And so they left, and many people saw them off. And something that made us wonder, and it needn’t have when we’d thought about it, some of them carried bundles of straw so that they might have comfortable beds on the boat. Because at that time beds were not provided on board the ships which were taking them to North America.’ 

Sources:
Christine MacLean talking to Dr Margaret MacKay on SA1975.090. Recording at https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/102599?l=en Transcribed by Flora MacPhail

John MacLean, bard for laird of MacColl

Location:  Coalas

Story:
John Maclean, or Am Bàrd MacGilleathain, meaning "The Bard MacLean," Scottish Gaelic poet (b at Caolas, Tiree, Scot 8 Jan 1787; d at Addington Forks, NS 26 Jan 1848). At an early age, he displayed a talent for composing poetry, a skill which earned him the patronage and friendship of Alexander 15th Maclean of Coll. Apprenticed to a shoemaker at age 16, he later went to Glasgow to work at his trade but returned to Tiree about a year later. Shortly after the publication of his first book of poems he decided to emigrate to Canada and he and his family left Tobermory, Mull, in 1819 on the ship Economy. They settled at Barney's River, Pictou County, and removed, in January 1831 to Glenbard, Antigonish County. The hardships which he endured as a pioneer are graphically depicted in the most famous of his poems "A' Choille Ghruamach" ("The Gloomy Forest"). His songs constitute an important source of information on the way of life in a 19th-century Scottish Gaelic community.

Sources:

General emigration sources:

AP 1209/912/11 1878-1:885. Improvements made for crofters including compensation for houses on possession for tenants emigrating to Canada, to drainage improvements, erecting fences and building dykes. Includes (for emigration); 1878: Lachlan Maclean, Cornaigbeg; John Maclean, Caolas; John Maclean, Balephuil; AP 1209/925: 1885-1892. Correspondence and reports concerning repayment of advances made by the Canada North West Land Company to two crofter settlers [Duncan MacDougall and his son, and Donald Black] from Tiree who settled in the Moosomin District in Canada, having received financial assistance to emigrate from the Marquis of Lorne; AP 1209/926: 29 Nov 1890. Rev John MacKay of Manitoba, Canada, on Tiree, - has been preaching and lecturing in Gaelic with success, encouraging people on Tiree to emigrate.