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Aeneas Macaulays's
birthplace is not known definitely, but it is believed to have been Skye
or Lewis. It is probable that he was kinsman of Lord Macaulay, and also of
the famous Lewis family to which belongs the great captain of finance, T.
B. Macaulay, President of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada.
Aeneas Macaulay was
graduated A.M. by the University of Glasgow, and later took a course in
Theology, probably in the same institution. For some years he was Chaplain
to the 1st West India Regiment. Later he took up the study of Medicine in
his Alma Mater, and in January, 1803, was graduated M.D. by that
University.
When the Earl of Selkirk
undertook his scheme of colonization in Prince Edward Island he chose
Aeneas Macaulay his Factor, and in that capacity he accompanied the
immigrants who arrived in the Belfast district in 1803. On the voyage he
was ship's surgeon on the "Polly." From the first Doctor Macaulay employed
all his skill and strength in an effort to improve the lot of his
neighbors and friends in the new settlement, and by them he was looked
upon as a wise counsellor and faithful friend. In as far as he could he
endeavored to ameliorate their position. His compassionate nature is
proven by a letter from the proprietor chiding him for being too easy with
the tenants in collecting the rents. He took a leading part not only in
local, but also in the larger affairs of the whole Island. In 1818 he was
Speaker of the provincial house. In 1825 he was leader in the movement for
Catholic Emancipation and Reform. Nothing could better show the tolerance
of this Presbyterian minister and the Highlanders among whom he lived,
than his stand on these contentious matters.
Prince Edward Island owes
much to Dr. Macaulay and his wife, and their memory is not forgotten to
this day by the descendants of the settlers of 1803.
The Doctor received a grant
of eleven hundred and two acres of land in the Point Prim district, from
Lord Selkirk. Some of this is occupied by his descendants at the present
time.
The wife of Dr. Aeneas
Macaulay was Mary Macdonald, daughter of Captain Samuel Macdonald of
Sartle, in Skye, who was born about 1739, and died 10th October, 1830.
"Captain Samuel," as he was always known, was a son of Alexander
Macdonald, of the Ardnamurchan family, who occupied Sartle in 1733, and
his wife Margaret, daughter of Somerled ("Soirle") Macdonald of Sartle,
fourth son of Sir James Macdonald, second Baronet of Sleat. Donald, a
brother of Samuel, occupied Boronos Kitag and Glensdall. Samuel Macdonald
emigrated to Carolina in 1770, and on the breaking out of the
Revolutionary War joined the Loyalists, and served under Allan Macdonald,
husband of the celebrated Flora Macdonald. In the battle of Widow Moore's
Creek Bridge he was taken prisoner. Being exchanged he rejoined the Army.
In 1787 he was in Shelburne, N.S. Shortly afterwards he returned to Skye a
ruined man, but with the rank and half pay of a Lieutenant. He acquired
Sartle after his return and lived there for many years. On leaving Sartle
for Quintolan the old place was acquired by John Graham, husband of Susan
Martin, who was grandniece of the old Captain. The mother of the Martins
of Beallach, viz:- Martin Martin, who was married to a daughter of Macleod
of Raasay, and the father of the late Mrs. Martin, Tote House; the Rev.
Donald Martin, Rev. Lachlan Martin (grandfather of Dr. L. M., Matheson)
and Rev. Angus Martin-was a daughter of said Alexander Macdonald of Sartle.
Captain Macdonald was a man of gigantic frame and herculean strength. When
he was about ninety years old he married Catherine Stewart, then
twenty-two years of age, who died in Kilvaxter in 1886. She was a relation
of his own. By this union there were three children. On the mother's side
she was niece of Adjutant Eon Macdonald, of Lord Macdonald's Regiment, who
latterly had a house and lands in Bernisdale. The Adjutant's grandfather
on the mother's side was Eon Mor, who walked from Edinburgh to Kilmuir,
Skye, in three days, and, before partaking of any kind of refreshment (for
he was under a vow) thrashed a bully who had maltreated a nephew of his.
The said Alexander
Macdonald's wife, Margaret, was sister of Captain Hugh Macdonald of
Armadale, stepfather of the celebrated Flora. Mrs. Macaulay was therefore
cousin of Annabella Macleod, wife of Dr. James Munro, who settled with his
family in the Orwell and Alberry Plains district, in 1840 and 1841. She
died April 9th, 1857, aged ninety-nine, and is buried beside her husband
in the Mount Buchanan cemetery, Belfast, which he had donated for the
purpose of a graveyard.
Dr. and Mrs. Macaulay had
six children who reached maturity:
I. CHARLOTTE, wife of Angus MacLean, Point Prim, with issue: Mary,
married; Margaret, wife of Malcolm MacLeod, Glashvin ; Angus, unmarried ;
II. FLORA, unmarried;
III. JOHN, unmarried;
IV. WILLIAM, Wisconsin, married Miss Henderson, Ontario, with issue: one
daughter;
V. EBEN, unmarried, died aged 22;
VI. ALICE, wife of Samuel Murchison, Pinette, with issue reaching maturity
:
a. CHARLOTTE, unmarried;
b. MARY, wife of Donald McLeod, Mount Buchanan, with issue :
1. ANNE, wife of Donald McKay, Montague Bridge;
2. ALICE, wife of John Martin, Whim Road;
3. FLORA, wife of John McKinnon, Point Prim;
4. M A L C O L M, Master Mariner, married Catherine McDonald, Point Prim;
5. ALEXANDER, Master Mariner, married Margaret Murchison, Point Prim;
6. MARY ANNE, married Samuel Murchison, Pinette;
c. CATHERINE, wife of Walter Ross, Eldon, with issue;
d. ANGUS MACAULAY, married Catherine, daughter of Roderick Mackinnon, with
issue who reached maturity:
1. ALICE;
2. JOHN;
3. LAUGHLAN ;
4. SAMUEL, Contractor, Vancouver, married Mary Anne MacLeod, with issue:
Alice; and Mary Kathleen, wife Leonard John Hovington, Honolulu;
5. CATHERINE, wife of James Fraser, Eldon, with issue: John Murchison; and
Alice, wife of George L. Telfer, New York;
6. MALCOLM WILLIAM. Pinette, married Margaret MacDonald, with issue:
Alice, Roderick, and Angus.
They live on the ancestral homestead;
7. RODERICK, Master Mariner;
8. FLORA MARGARET;
9. NEIL ALEXANDER;
10. MARY;
11. ANGUS. |
