Caroline Edwards
1. What is your object and how did it come to be in your possession?
My object is a very lovingly tended little piece of Skye as pictured. It has been with us now, down in Somerset, since May 2018. It came from the earth in a subtle non impactive spot near to the Battle of The Braes monument at Gedintailor.
2. Why have you chosen this object for the Macphersoniana project?
You see, Neil MacPherson was a part of this important bit of history having been involved in the subsequent Napier Review and writing a song about the plight of the crofters in their community. Neil was my great great grandfather. My grandfather was Donald Neil MacPherson(born 1904 in Halesowen’s), son of Neil’s third son Alexander MacPherson (born Lower Ollach 1868 died 1910 in Newcastle upon Tyne). Like many Scottish crofters, he was forced to move away from Skye to find alternative work.Neil gave evidence at the Napier Commission on 8th May 1883. First to speak was an Angus Stewart, also of the Braes. A bit of research led to me knocking on the door of the old girls school in Upper Ollach in the grounds of which is the old chapel where the hearing took place. Who should be living there, but the great great nephew of Angus, Aonghas MacDonald. Quite a shiver went down my spine as we realised that 135 years down the line, we as strangers, had ancestors who most likely knew each other well.The pulpit in the chapel is no longer there, but someone has drawn an outline of where it stood. Apparently it went to a chapel in Oban in the 1980’s.
3. Why is this object important to you and what does it mean to you?
It means that the Clan MacPherson is very much alive and kicking, the land where we lived, quietly getting on with growing and changing with each season; even after the attempts to put the clans down in the Highland Clearances in the aftermath of Culloden , which went on for generations. It is so important to know where you came from, it ‘roots you’, and in the Braes, I cannot think of a better place to be rooted to.
During my 2018 visit, I was fortunate to meet Andrew MacPherson in Portree, of Bosworth Terrace. He informed me that he was no relation (sadly) as he was a descendant of Laughlan MacPherson; many of his branch can be found in the old churchyard in Portree. Rather wonderfully, Andrew remembers his mother talking about Neil MacPherson, who lived until 1924 reaching the grand old age of 90, dying at Stormy Hill, where he had spent the last few years of his life living with his daughter Rachel (b. 1875 m. Widower Samuel Cumming late in life.) Apparently ‘our’ MacPhersons were known locally as the ‘Jukes’ . I have no idea what this means and if anyone can enlighten me, please do! This piece of ‘land’ represents, for me, all that I am proud of in my Scottish ancestry. With Covid 19 restricting any further visits during 2020, it sits in our back porch where I see it every day, quietly linking me in mind to Skye, if not in body.
4. What does this object tell us about what it means to be a Macpherson?
What it means to be a MacPherson is to be proud of of our heritage and to have an enormous sense of belonging to a wonderful Clan. I wish I knew more.
Macphersoniana 