Black and white photograph of the MacDonald family of Balemartine.
L-R: Maggie Campbell`s aunt Hughina (Veendy), her mother Mary Ann MacKechnie nee MacDonald, Jean MacDonald (Mary Ann`s and Hughina`s mother) and Maggie herself in the foreground, taken around 1927-8.
Mary Jane and Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine
Photograph of Mary Jane and Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine feeding a calf.
Courtesy of Mrs Maggie Campbell
Home on holiday from service in Pollockshields, Glasgow in July 1929, sisters Mary Jane and Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine are pictured in their Sunday best feeding the family’s three month old calf.
Calves were separated from their mothers immediately after birth to ensure a supply of milk for the house. When old enough, they would be tethered in the summer pasture at Hynish, three miles distant from the croft house, and fed milk from a pail supplemented with meal.
Calves were fed in this manner for up to eight months and sold three or four months later, providing the family’s main source of income.
Black and white photograph of sisters Mary Jane and Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine.
Sisters Mary Jane and Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine feeding a calf in Hynish in July 1929.
Black and white photograph of the wedding of Donald MacKechnie and Mary Ann MacDonald in 1929.
Wedding in Balemartine in 1929.L-R: Best man Hugh MacKechnie (groom`s brother); groom Donald MacKechnie of Kilmoluaig; bride Mary Ann MacDonald of Balemartine; bridesmaid Mary Ann MacDonald (bride`s sister).
Black and white photograph of the MacDonald family and friends in Balemartine in the 1920s.
Balemartine in the 1920s. L-R: Neilina MacDonald, Jean MacDonald (mother of Neilina and Sarah), two visitors, Sarah MacDonald.
Black and white photograph of the MacDonald family of Balemartine in the 1926.
The MacDonald family of Balemartine in July 1926.
The seven MacDonald sisters of Balemartine
Photograph of the seven MacDonald sisters of Balemartine in the 1920s.
Courtesy of Mrs Maggie Campbell
The seven MacDonald sisters Chrissie, Mary Ann, Sarah, Mary Jane, Neilina, Mairead and Hughina are pictured outside their home in Balemartine in the late 1920s. To supplement the family income, the first six daughters left home aged between 14 and 16 to work on the mainland, mainly in service in Glasgow.
It was believed that a seventh child had healing powers in their hands to cure scrofula (tuberculosis of the neck glands) also known as ‘tinneas an rìgh’, the King’s Evil. The disease was so called because it was formerly supposed to be healed by the touch of a king.
On Tiree, the healer would cross their hands over the swellings three times the first day, four times the second day and seven times the next. They could not be paid in money but were later often given a gift by their grateful patients.
Black and white photograph of the seven MacDonald sisters of Balemartine in the 1926.
The seven MacDonald sisters of Balemartine in the 1920s. L-R: Chrissie, Sarah, Mary Ann, Mary Jane, Neilina, Mairead and Hughina (Veendy).
Black and white photograph of Alec MacArthur`s grandfather and May and Ann Eoghainn a` Bhuth.
L-R: May Eoghainn a` Bhuth, an Ciobair (grandfather of Ailig MacArthur, Heylipol) and Anne Eoghainn a` Bhuth taken in Heylipol in the 1920s.
Black and white photograph of Ruaig School around 1918.
Ruaig School around 1918. L-R: (front row) Helen Reilly, Milton; unknown; unknown; Mary Ann Lamont, Caoles; unknown; Morag MacDonald, Milton; unknown; (second row, behind second girl) Donald Archie Cameron, Caoles; unknown; unknown; unknown; unknown; unknown; (third row) Neil MacDonald, Skipnish; Donald MacDonald, Mull View, Caoles; Neil MacArthur, Milton; unknown; John Donald Lamont, Caoles; unknown; Hugh Archie MacKinnon, Ruaig; unknown; unknown; unknown; Hector MacKinnon, Caoles; (back row) Iain MacKinnon, Ruaig Post Office; headmaster Mr Rankine; unknown; unknown; unknown; Church of Scotland minister (?); Mr Taylor, Baptist Church (?); United Free Church minister (?).
Black and white photograph of the gravestone of Hector Cameron and his wife Anna MacLean.
The gravestone of Hector Cameron (d. 23/9/1923) and his wife Anna MacLean (d. 28/1/1925) and their children Mairi Anna, Flora, Margaret Christina, the Rev. Hector (co-author of the Tiree & Coll Handbook) and Mairi.
Black and white photograph of the mail boat `The Plover` coming in to Gott Bay pier.
The mail boat `The Plover` coming in to Gott Bay pier in the late 1920s or early 30s.
