The story of my MacDonald ancestor’s emigration from the Scottish Isles is one that is no doubt shared by thousands of other people around the world. Donald MacDonald (1797-1886) and his wife Annabelle Black (1817-1885) left the Isle of Tiree in 1851 due to a combination of forces reshaping the highlands and islands of Scotland. Shortly after the Census of Scotland was taken in 1851, Donald, his wife and their 7 children packed up and traveled to Glasgow, where they boarded a ship departing for Quebec, Canada.

After arriving in Canada, the family continued their migration westward. Pioneers in the true spirit of the word, in 1882, Donald and Annabelle’s daughter, Sarah Christine (Tena) MacDonald and her husband, Richard Wickham left Tiverton Ontario for the wide-open planes of Wapella, Saskatchewan. As a result of the recently passed 1872 “Dominion Lands Act”, homesteaders there were given 160 acres of land, with the stipulation that they farmed at least 40 acres, and built a permanent house within three years. Tena and Richard raised their family in the log cabin they built there in 1882. This book contains a number of letters written by Donald MacDonald to his daughter Tena from 1882 to 1884. These, and several other assorted letters, provide a window into the past, giving an intimate look at pioneer life before running water, electricity, or automobiles.

Although I originally recorded this story for my own children and grandchildren, I have realized there are many others that might find parallels between this story and their own family’s personal history of immigration during the 19th century. A continuation of this story can be found in two additional books titled, “History According to James Ronald Wilson”, and “World War II Memories”.