Fàilte! (Welcome!)

Fàilte! (Welcome!)
This blog is the result of my ongoing research into the people, places and events that have shaped the Western Isles of Scotland and, in particular, the 'Siamese-twins' of Harris and Lewis.
My interest stems from the fact that my Grandfather was a Stornowegian and, until about four years ago, that was the sum total of my knowledge, both of him and of the land of his birth.
I cannot guarantee the accuracy of everything that I have written (not least because parts are, perhaps, pioneering) but I have done my best to check for any errors.
My family mainly lived along the shore of the Sound of Harris, from An-t-Ob and Srannda to Roghadal, but one family 'moved' to Direcleit in the Baighs...

©Copyright 2011 Peter Kerr All rights reserved

Sunday 17 April 2011

The Two Houses of 'Kylis'

The 1911 Census of Harris records the following:

KYLIS
7 Rooms with Windows
Malcolm Macdonald, 41, G&E, General Merchant, Own Account, b. Obbe, Harris
Catherine Macdonald, 21, Wife, b. Finsbay, Harris
Roderick Macdonald, 3, Son, b. (unreadable), Harris
Sarah Grant Macdonald, 9 months, Daughter, b. Kylis, Harris
Sarah Macdonald, 70, Widow, Mother, G&E, Private Means, b. Grantown, Strathspey
Flora Maclennan, 18, General Servant Domestic, G&E, b. Finsbay, Harris
Malcolm Macleod, 18, Servant, Carter, G&E, b. Ardvia, Harris

13 Rooms with Windows
Norman Robertson, 29, G&E, Estate Factor, b. Portree
Jessie Robertson, 27, Wife, G&E, b. South Uist
Donald Norman Stuart Robertson, 7 months, Son, b. South Uist
Donald Robertson, 66, Married, Father, G&E, Railway Traffic Agent, b. Blair Atholl
Christina Kerr, 21, Domestic Servant, G&E, b. Harris

I'll get my family bit out of the way first:
Christina Kerr was a daughter of Direcleit-born Roderick Kerr Roderick Kerr and a decade earlier her brother Donald had been a Cattle Herd living with the family of Roderick & Sarah Macdonald at the Farm House. Thus she represents the most recent of a line of family members serving the Farmers & Factors of the South.

Returning to the two houses, I am unsure which of them is the 'Kyles Lodge/Kyles House' that was built for the McRa family and now wonder whether I was wrong to suggest that the family of Mrs S Macdonald had ever lived there?

If the smaller house was indeed the McRa residence, then what is the larger property?

My instinct is to suggest that the Macdonald's had indeed lived at the Lodge/Farm from at least the years1881 to 1901 then 'downsized' after Roderick's death and relinquished it to the new Factor, but I'd welcome some assistance in unravelling these residencies!

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