125312: The life of Johanna Mackay

Dusgadh received this fascinating account of the life of Johanna Mackay, all the way from Adelaide, South Australia.

Johanna Mackay (1881-1953) was born on 4th December 1881 at No 9 Achmore. As the registrar of births marriages and deaths for the district was in Keose, perhaps that explains why her birth was not registered till 17th January 1882. Her mother was Margaret or Peigi in Gaelic, she was a domestic servant and Johanna was listed as illegitimate.

Margaret, was the daughter of John MacKay (1817-1896) and Mary MacIver (1820-1892). Mary was originally from Nisrebahal, an old settlement between Achmore and Leurbost. They had six children: John (born 1842) Catherine (1844-1918) Isabella (1846-1883) Kirsty (born 1849) Donald (1852 -1901) who married Catherine Macleod and the family Croft No 9 was passed on to them. And last, but not least Margaret Peigi MacKay, born 1856, who gave birth to daughter Johanna (or Joan) in 1881 and another son John MacKay who died within days of being born in 1885.

In the 1871 census John and Mary lived with their son Donald age 19 and Peggy age 14. In the 1891 census Johanna “MacLeod”, is listed aged 9, with grandparents John and Mary MacKay and mother Margaret Peigi MacKay who was listed as unmarried.

By the 1901 census Margaret’s brother, Donald, had taken over tenancy of 9 Achmore shortly before he himself died aged only 49 on 10th April 1901. The croft was then passed down to his son, John MacKay Iain Dhòmhnaill ‘An Bhàin

Donald Stewart (1885 -1916) was born on 11th March 1885, in Upper Shader, Barvas, Isle of Lewis, to Hugh and Henrietta Stewart, both of a Highland Traveller family who were generally from the northeast of Scotland.

A few years earlier at the time of the 1881 census, Donald’s family, listed as Gaelic speakers, were living in what was described as the “Kiln” in the village of Eneclate, Uig on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis.

The Stewart family would most likely have used the “Kiln” as shelter at the time the census was taken. They lived on the road as tinsmiths, pedlars and followed seasonal work, so it seems they had a definite but not permanent connection to the Isle of Lewis. Donald’s family would have travelled elsewhere in Scotland, possibly returning regularly to the Hebrides. Donald’s mother Henrietta Stewart had also been born in Barvas, Lewis, around 1851, again from a Highland traveller family.

By the 1891 census, the Stewart family were in Keithall, East Aberdeenshire, with two children Rachel age 3 and Donald age 6. The father Hugh was a tinsmith, his mother Henrietta a hawker, and Donald himself was not listed as a “scholar” i.e. of school age as there was no rush for education which was sparse “on the road”. They were possibly working for local farmers. Hugh and Henrietta were said to both speak Gaelic and English, so young Donald would have grown up “having the Gaelic”.

Johanna meets Donald

We know little of how or where Donald Stewart and Johanna Mackay met, but it was possibly sometime between 1901 and 1903. In the 1911 census Donald and Johanna are settled with children in Jacks Brae, Aberdeen. Records Indicate that Donald had been part of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment since the age of 14, about 1899. His army number suggests that he could have enlisted in the main Gordon Highlanders regiment between 1908 and 1910.

But by 1903, it would appear Donald and Johanna were together. Johanna had a son born on 7th November 1903, registered as “Frank MacKay illegitimate” but in future records Donald Stewart is named as Franks father, which we could presume to be true. Frank's birth took place in St. Nicholas, city of Aberdeen, and for the first time Johanna is named as a “pedlar”, so though appearing to be more settled in the north eastern area, she was possibly already living the Traveller lifestyle with her partner, Donald. 

Johanna then had the following children registered in Aberdeenshire: Henrietta and Mary Stewart, twins (1905-1907) Margaret MacKay Stewart (1907). Annabella Stewart MacKay (1908), Lizzie Stewart MacKay, (1910) Johanna Stewart MacKay (1913) Donald Stewart (1915). Johanna then later had two more children Alexander Stewart, (1917), (a year after Donald died in Belgium), and Florence Buchan Stewart, (1921). From 1903 till 1921, at least at census and birth times, the family were fairly stable in location:

First World War – 1914

Donald and Johanna had already been together at least ten years. Donald had progressed through the army reserves and was a piper with the Gordon Highlanders. Whether they were somewhat settled in Aberdeen or lived the traveller lifestyle, their lives were about to become even more unsettled, like millions of people throughout the world. Days of war, uncertainty, no social security systems to give support of any sort. So Donald and Johanna decided to do something which was rather surprising in some ways, but in another way a very wise move. On 20th of October 1914 Donald and Johanna were married in Aberdeen.

Highland travellers tended to be not overly concerned with making their relationships “official”. So deciding to get married would have been a purely practical decision. Donald was going off to war in France just a few weeks later, and if as could have been predicted and actually eventuated, he never returned, Johanna would at least have been left with a War Pension and the financial help to support herself and her five or six children

Though Donald was a Highland traveller, he and Johanna seemed to have been somewhat settled between 1903 and around 1914. On their marriage Donald states he was a “Shore labourer, Private 3rd Battalion Gordon Highlanders Special Reserve”. And yet, on 20th October, 1914, it would seem that not even a month after his marriage, he was already in France on 11 November 1914. He would have been involved in the losses at Mons and Le Chateaux. Donald Stewart was killed on 2nd March 1916 in Belgium. He is listed on the Menin Gate Memorial.

As with millions of other widows and orphans, Johanna needed to survive, and therefore she made an application for a War Widows pension in 1916.

She would have received a small allowance for each child till they reached around the age of 16. A princely sum of 26 shillings and sixpence per week!

Johanna would have received some help for her oldest son Frank MacKay until 17 November 1919 –  his sixteenth birthday as he was born in 1903. It was quite a surprise to find that Frank – named as “Frank MacKay Stewart” birth year 1902 was listed as having applied to join the Royal Air Force in England, on 25 Apri 1919 “age 16 and half”. In fact he was only 15 and a half years old. We know for sure it is him as the “Person to be notified of casualties”, was in fact his mother, Johanna MacKay still living at Jacks Brae, Aberdeen!

Johanna lived on until 1953, and grandson, William (Bill) MacMillan Stewart had memories of visiting her in Aberdeen. She had worked in the fish processing in Aberdeen, and he remembered her as an old lady who could barely walk, spent a lot of time in bed, and lived in an old tenement building with wooden stairs. Johanna Stewart, widow of Donald Stewart, general labourer, died on 17th January 1953 age 71 years.

All details in the story have been verified by official documents by the family of the late Bill MacMillan Stewart Adelaide, South Australia, son of Frank MacKay Stewart, the oldest son of the remarkable lady Johanna Mackay.