As written by her Granddaughter, Catherine (Dineen) Greaser...

Isabella "Bella" McDonald met John Angus Gillis when he was down in her area (Pugwash) doing ship building.  He was about 20 years older than her.  When she arrived in Georgeville at the house with older ones in it, they only spoke Scotch Gaelic, and she spoke English.  She learned to read and speak Gaelic.  In fact, my mother (Elizabeth Gillis Dineen) and her sisters spoke it when they didn’t want us kids to hear what they were saying.  My Grandfather, John Angus, built a new barn around 1895.  It had pegged boards and hardwood floors.  When we visited Nova Scotia with the family in 1962 we took  on 8mm movies of it. (Catherine did a hand sketch of their farm in her handwritten document, which I will try to put on-line at some point).

My mother, Elizabeth Gillis, remembers picking up rocks on the ground to make it smooth for their plowing.  They piled rocks along fence rows.  They had an apple orchard below the house and grew barley, oats, potatoes and turnips. They also raised sheep, colts, chickens and young cattle. The cows were milked by hand in those days.

While in her 80’s, my Grandmother, Isabella (McDonald) Gillis could still milk cows. She sold butter & eggs. A record could probably be found in Pugwash, Nova Scotia area at the Presbyterian Church with her birthdate & her siblings. Ann and Neil, two of her siblings were younger than Gram (what I called my Grandmother when growing up).   Gram was only about 5 ft tall, also Ann with pale blue eyes. My sister Anne (Dineen) Ducharme has a snapshot when both were younger. I have a silver kerosene lamp that belonged to Isabella’s sister Ann.  When Boston, MA got gas lights & electric, Ann sent it to her sister Isabella to use on the farm.  Jennie Gillis, a sister to my mother, brought it back up to Boston for for me after Gram died.   Margaret (Gillis) Heffernan got the farm and land when Donald died and sold it.   I heard a lawyer from Halifax has it now.  Gram had a lot of land with timber still on it when Donald (Dan Joe) died.

Gram (McDonald) had relatives in Egerton, Pictou Co, Nova Scotia, Canada. That is where they stayed a few times on trips to Nova Scotia.  They were close to John, Mary, Janet & Jim McDonald who were all siblings. John worked for railroad in the area.   Mary worked & lived in Boston, MA. She was tall & thin and worked for families. She died in a nursing home in Antigonish, NS, Canada. Their sister Janet lived in the farmhouse & took care of their two brothers John & Jim.  None married and they were all very good looking.  Jim was big & heavy and raised prize pigs, big horses & farmed.

They had a beautiful home, nice things. Down mattresses, perched on a slight hill, the back overlooked marshes. Front of house way down was small railroad station.  Next stop up was New Glasgow, down was Antigonish. It was about 30 miles from Georgeville. While there one time, a cousin & wife of theirs (Civil Engineer) talked about working on the Panama Canal.

Near Gram's, about 8 miles, in Arisaig or Maryvale, my grandmother had a relative (on her side) called Danny Martin.  Now maybe his name was MacDonald, son of Martin MacDonald, not sure.  He ran an experimental farm in connection with the government. He had a new barn for cows, all cement in the 1930’s.  Check records who ran that farm and you’ll get his name.  He had a sister who lived in South Boston named Katie Martin who married a Mr. Amour.   My mother, Elizabeth Gillis Dineen, used to visit her, plus another sister Peggy (Margaret) Martin, who also worked for families in Boston near Beacon St (Back Bay) as a cook.

You will probably be seeing McDonald in Scotland and Nova Scotia...last names were the same, so they went by son of ____ or daughter of _____ .  See Aunt Criddy’s kids were known as Jean Big Allan, Angus Big Allan, because their father’s first name was Allan and he was tall. Get it!! <s> Same might be true with Danny Martin. Anyway, they were cousin’s (pretty sure), on Gram’s side.

Danny Martin was small, pale blue eyes like Gram's.  Katie (Martin) Amour’s daughter Marion, had red hair.  She was Virginia O’Meara’s (Jennie Gillis's daughter) Maid of Honor when she was got married at St. Cecelia’s Church. This is the same church that we (Virginia & I) made our First Communion & Confirmation (abt 1938/39).  She was married and buried from this is all that Catherine Dineen knows.

Check the name Cameron for relatives. Gram gave one of her sons (Dougald) that as a middle name. It might be in that Pugwash area in Pictou County.  Pugwash is outside New Glasgow, in Cumberland  County, Nova Scotia.  Family involved with Wallaces also, I heard that a lot. Check old Church records. Do not know Gram's mother & father’s names. (Side note: As a result of my searches, I located her family on census records, they were Neil & Mary Ann (Morris) McDonald and they lived in Wallace).

Possibly one brother had her father’s name.  It seems my  Great Aunt Ann (Gram’s sister), was in touch with Wallaces. Could be around Salem, Quincy, or Lynn, MA areas.