Dear Ruth Macdougall,
In surfing the internet I came upon "A Macdougall in Mackay Country" and just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading all about the Island.
My father was born on the island and lived there with his brothers and sisters in the late 1890's and early 1900's. His father was a John Mackay, he was a John Mackay and I am John K. H. Mackay. My mother was a teacher on the island and also in Armadale. My mother was a Mackay before she married my father in San Francisco, California. My father was a merchant marine engineer that sailed through out the world and his ship came to San Francisco and that's when they decided to stay in the United States around 1926.
The picture in the blog is Katie Ann MacQueen, who is my cousin. We visited with many of the relatives last year when we were in the north of Scotland. My aunt Nan Drury who is 97 lives in Edinburgh and she was one of my mother's students when she was teaching on the island. I have a copy of the book "When I Was Young", authored by Timothy Neat. My grandfather is pictured on pages 72,76, and my cousin, Mina Mackay Stevens is pictured on page 62 and then her story on pages 63 - 89.
We love traveling to Scotland and probably have been there ten times over the last thirty years. One of the highlights was going to the island and actually visiting the area that my parents always talked about with wonderful memories and many challenges of living on Island Roan. I am interested in any and all the information I can gather about Island Roan, and would enjoy hearing about yourexperiences associated with the island. Thank you for your sharing your experiences.
Sincerely,
John K. H. Mackay
