After Allan MacIsaac had been living in PEI for a few years, his youngest brother Angus emigrated to Nova Scotia. The year was 1791and Angus was 21 years old and not married. By this time Allan who was the oldest was about age 40 and already had a large family at PEI. Angus arrived in Pictou harbor in late summer or early fall. There were two ships from Scotland that landed in Pictou around the same time, and one of them was called the Dunkeld. We don't know if this was Angus's ship or not because there were no passenger lists. We do know that there were a number of families whose descendants still live in Inverness came with him on that ship. Apparently the passage was very difficult and when they landed in Pictou they were destitute.
There is a letter written by Lieutenant Governor Parr to the Right honorable Henry Dundas dated Halifax, 27th September 1791. It reads.
I have the honour of informing you, that lately Six hundred & fifty persons have arrived at Pictou in the Northeast part of this province from Glasgow, in general they are in a wretched condition, the greatest part of them are at this time in want of Sustance, and that number will daily increase. As the funds of this Province are so afsign'd and Secured by Law for several purposes, that I could not from thence procure them any relief, I have been obliged on my own credit to furnish them with Provisions to save their lives, and to prevent their Emigration to South Carolina, whither they have been strongly solicited with considerable encouragement to go. And I flatter myself that the Expense which I shall unavoidably incur on this extraordinary occasion will be repaid. I have advised these people to disperse themselves in different parts of the Province, that by their labour they may obtain Somewhat towards their Support. And I shall endeavor to point out such places to them as are most Suitable. I have the honour of enclosing to you a copy of a Memorial presented to me in their behalf. And I request Sir to be inform/d what or whether any Allowance of Land shall be made to them. I have the honour to be, with the Utmost Respect Sir Your Most Obedient & Most Humble Servant Signed I Parr
Governor Parr sent along with this letter a list of his expenses and supplies.
When Angus and his companions arrived in Pictou, they expected to settle near the harbor but the Hector settlers and another group of settlers from Pennsylvania had already taken up this land. They could have gone inland but they had no knowledge of how to fell trees and they were terrified of the woods. There are no woods on the islands of Scotland. Governor Parr must have encouraged them to go to Cape D'or , because a large group traveled there—a distance of over 100 miles. This part of Nova Scotia had already been cleared and settled at one time by the French who were expelled by the British in 1755 (The Expulsion of the Acadians). This land was in good condition for farming because there had been a drainage system, dikes and canals there when the Acadians occupied the area. The decision to move here from Pictou must have been a difficult decision for Angus, because it was quite far from his brother on PEI. Perhaps he had already met the widow Catherine MacPhearson and she was his enticement. At any rate he married her about 1792, probably at Cape D'or.
Catherine and Angus had three children at Cape D'or, Mary (1793), Angus Og(1795) Donald (1797). Archibald (1801) and Roderick (1803) were born in Antigonish (Arisaig), and James probably in Inverness. While Angus was in Cape D'or he was authorized by a Fr. Power or Fr. Jones to act as catechist, administering lay baptism, witnessing marriages and teaching catechism. Angus was chosen because he was educated. He had been a schoolteacher in Scotland.
Among the families that left Pictou with Angus were the MacDonalds and the Kennedys from Canna who eventually settled at the Banks. And the MacLeods that settled at Dunvegan. There was another family of MacLeods from Eigg, probably cousins, that had a tremendous influence on Angus and his companions. This was the family of Neil MacLeod and his wife Mary Campbell. Mary was a native of the Isle of Skye and was born and brought up in the Protestant religion. Against the strong opposition of her parents Mary became a Catholic and married Neil at the Island of Eigg in Scotland. (a short distance by water from Canna). She is said to have had a vivid dream in which she saw five lighted candles, which she believed to be votive candles in a Catholic Church. There was one tall and four short ones. When she lived at Cape D'or, she and two other Marys used to walk, once a year, through the blazed trail of the forest, a distance of nearly 150 miles to Arisaig in order to fulfill their Easter Duty. On one of these difficult journeys she carried her infant grandson, William Bernard MacLeod, in order that a Priest might baptize him instead of the layman Angus MacIsaac. The child later became the first native Priest of what is now the diocese of Antigonish and his brother and two cousins followed him in the Priesthood. Another cousin Colin Francis MacKinnon eventually became the second Bishop of the Diocese. Mary and Neil had four grandsons who became Priests and one a Bishop.
All the families prospered at Cape D'or but Mary MacLeod and perhaps Angus MacIsaac, being concerned about their inability to practice their religion encouraged them to join their Catholic comrades at Arisaig and so after nine years they left the area for Antigonish. Catherine and Angus took their children and probably went by boat around the mainland to Antigonish leaving 12 milk cows in the fields. They arrived in Antigonish in the year 1800.
They stayed in Antigenic for 3 years and our ancestor Roderick (Roy) was born there. In 1803 they left for Inverness.
--Terry (Mac Isaac) Johnson