Posted: 6:04 PM - Nov 25, 1998
Sara Whitford
Hi Mike!
Wow... I didn't even know you had this discussion forum. Pretty cool.
You know I've got a little bit of Scottish ancestry. I don't know much about it, though. I've been to the river that my last name is supposed to have come from. It's called the White Cart River (just north of Paisley, Scotland).
For those of you who read this and don't know me, I'm a Tuscarora Indian from North Carolina. If you'd like to visit my website go to:
http://www.cybereast.com/~sara/
Take care, Mike.
O:nah~
Sara
Posted: 8:46 PM - Nov 25, 1998
Michael McKay
Glad to see you here. I'll have to look Paisley up and see what's there.
MacKays come from Strathnaver which is in the extreme north.
Not many left living there since the diaspora.
Posted: 4:42 PM - Dec 12, 1998
Leo McKay
Mike: nice going, you mention Strathnaver brings to mind what my wife and I encountered in Bettyhill (way up north)in 1985. I wanted to see the little museum there,inthe loft of an old church,so I looked up the custodian ,he was I think an art teacher in the schools in that area. He was not a McaKay by the way. But I asked him what percentage of his pupils were MacKays, he said"when I came here 16 years ago, it was about 75 or 76 pewr cent MacKays and now(85)? Oh' he said it's about 73 % MacKays. Cheers
Posted: 8:52 PM - Dec 12, 1998
Michael McKay
While we are aware of the clearances and how people were evicted off of the lands and how devastating it was it is always nice to know that not everyone left.
Not everyone ended up being forced off. Many found ways of remaining in the homeland and their descendants live there today.
I for one still would like to see the estates purchased by some of them or perhaps another MacKay elsewhere who has the means of doing it.
Posted: 7:20 PM - Aug 11, 1999
Angus Mackay
not only do we as a clan need to purchase as much of the clans land as possible we also some how must make the sutherlands where ever they are feel how our cleared ancestors felt....thats all...peace ....
Posted: 10:41 PM - Aug 28, 1999
Michael McKay
I thought I once heard that the Duke of Sutherland (if the title still exists) owns the Mackay estates in absence. That is, he doesn't even live in the region.
It was one of his predecessors who was responsible for a lot of the Mackay clearances.
Also, I remember reading once in an earlier edition of "The Mackay Banner" where some of the Mackay lands were given over to the locals (most likely Mackays) in the region. It's a start but I'm sure there is a long way to go.