38088: Donald Mackay

Donald (born 1842) was a son of John Mackay and Ellen Clunash, 2 Valtos. His patronymic reflects the early death of his father – Domhnall Eilidh.

Donald married Christina Macrae, Timsgarry Farm and they lived at Mangersta Farm. According to Bill Lawson’s Croft History they had five children: Flora born 1876, lived in Capetown;  Andrew born 1878; Helen born 1880; John born 1882, worked in the Transvaal diamond mine before settling in Johannesburg and Jamesina born 1888.

There was also Farquhar (born c1894) who, as it states in the report on the Grana rescue in 1896, was the little 2 year old placed in a crevice in the rocks while his mother went to rescue the sailors. Farquhar owned the Sarbola gold mine in Bulawayo, Rhodesia. The destination of some of the children, Andrew, Helen and Jamesina, is unknown. One lived in Pretoria.

Mangersta Farm was split into crofts in 1911. The family moved to Kintail, from where the Macrae family had originated.