Names - english and gaelic

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In 1977, we drove from Long Beach, CA to Antigonish County, NS.  While there, we visited the St. Andrews Parish Church, a nearby cemetery, the nearby "McKinnon" home once owned by my Grandfather,  Fraser's Mills where my Great-Grandfather once lived, and we bought a copy of the two volume "History of Antigonish".

Still Available after 23 years !

At the Antigonish Heritage Museum, $28.00

Thanks to Peter Fraser for this tip!

"History of Antigonish", A 1976, two volume 3rd Edition of the 1885-1892 Manuscript by Reverend Ronald MacGillivray.   First Printed in serial form 1890-1892 in "The Casket", 2nd Edition in 1943-1944, with new Volume 2 by Charles J. MacGillivray, then editor of "The Casket".  New material added in 2nd Edition Vol 1 by Reverend A.A. Johnston.  3rd edition was edited by Raymond A. MacLean, 1976, 132 pages (original MSS) and 208 page Volume 2 Notes on Volume 1 content).  Photographs, District Maps bound into Vol 1,  loose map of Antigonish Town.  Soft Cover.   Printed by the Casket Printing & Publishing Co. Ltd, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. 

"History" contains information about most of the County and its People.  (A companion book, "Drummer on Foot", was published in 1999.  "Drummer" is limited in scope to the areas south of the town of Antigonish but provides greater detail about that area than did "History".)  The author was also known as S.A. (Sagart Arisaig or Priest of Arisaig).  The book was compiled from notes or recollections from about 25 years of service as teacher, priest and historian.  (He was not the Father Ronald MacGillivray, Dhu, who married my great-grandparents Angus McDonnell (sic) and Mary Fraser on February 15, 1856 and baptized my grandfather Alexander on July 4, 1864 at St. Andrews.)  S.A. used Gaelic/Celtic names whenever he could and those provide clues as to ancestry.  He wrote about Upper South River and the Frasers Mills.  On page 109 of Vol 1, he mentioned a "... Donald McDonald, Alastair MacSheumais' son.  He was a native of Morar, Scotland, and came out here in 1814, and married Catherine Gillis, a daughter of Angus Gillis, Cape George.  They had five sons and four daughters.  His sons, Angus and Ranald, are on the old farm."   There, but for the spelling, was my ancestral family but I did not know it until February 1999; when "Drummer on Foot" clarified this point in a July 3, 1913 interview of that same Angus, who was my paternal great-grandfather.  22 years of ignorance with the answers at hand!

"History" and, to a lesser extent, "Drummer" contain many Gaelic words: the meaning of which I found to be helpful because they often encapsulate family history.  The list below contains many of those Gaelic words.  Volume 2, pp 206-208 of "History" contains a glossary which includes some pronunciations; many of which I have added to the list.  The original author of "History", Reverend Ronald MacGillivray, expected his readers to comprehend his usages as, in fact, many of his contemporaries did.  Additional sources are: "American Surnames" 1969 and "Dictionary of American Surnames" 1988, both by Smith.   Dewey Decimal section 929.4 will take you to the right shelf.  I have applied some of the old words to names not found in the Highlands; having the words, I wished to have some fun with them.   

Additions, Comments and Corrections are welcome: E-mail  "Sourdough"

A PARTIAL LIST OF NOVA SCOTIA SURNAMES CITED BY "S.A.". 

GLOSSARY

Based upon a study of the above, my name and that of my son might be written out in Gaelic as follows:

Dubh, 'ic Dubh, 'ic Alastair, 'ic Aonghais, 'ic Domhnull, 'ic Alastair, 'ic Seumais

Cearnach, 'ic Dubh, 'ic Dubh, 'ic Alastair, 'ic Aonghais, 'ic Domhnull, 'ic Alastair, 'ic Seumais

Please note how easily 7 or 8 generations are tallied. The Mac or Mc antecedant was attached to the 5th or 6th generation name as in McDonell.  Note how easily it could have been McAlastair instead.   In fact, Donald (Domhnull) was referred to as the "...son of Alexander MacSheumais.  Whaaaaaat?  Why mix English and Gaelic?   How about Alexander MacJames?   Scottish surnames are slippery and easily confused and misspelled.  Note the Gaelic origin of Connell; which looks a lot like that of Donnell but came from a different root name altogether.

Revised on:  Saturday, April 22, 2000

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