“Ah! Wae’s me. I hear the Duke of Hamilton’s crofters are a’gaun away, man and mother’s son, frae the Isle o’ Arran. Pity on us!” -James Hogg, writer
To tell the story of how the McMillan family came to Canada, we have to learn a little bit about Scotland’s history. For over a thousand years, Highlanders followed the clan system, where a collective of agricultural townships were ruled by, and tenants of, chiefs. People owed allegiance to the chief and would be called upon for military service if necessary.
In 1746, during the Jacobite Rebellion, the Highland clans fought against the English in an attempt to restore Prince Charles Edward Stewart (“Bonnie Prince Charlie”) to the throne of Scotland. At the Battle of Culloden, the Jacobites lost and the Highland clans were slaughtered, with survivors hunted down and killed in the months afterward. Following this, the British government enacted restrictive…
View original post 726 more words
Michael L. Butler 
Leave a comment