Betsy McNeill is a true daughter
of Islay. She was born 1915, and brought up on Islay, daughter
of Malcolm McNeill (1864), (/Malcolm/Duncan/Neil), and Marion McKinnon
of Portnahaven,. She left Islay to train as a nurse (RGN, SCN, RMN,
RMPA), at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow. She married her
husband Fred West in 1950 and lived in Fraserburgh until Fred died of
cancer in 1976 . She returned to the island to nurse her brother
Malcolm, at the McNeill family home in 'Kishmul',
Queen Street, Portnahaven until his death in 1992 (It is interesting
that 'Kishmul Castle- on the Isle of Barra, Scotland' is the ancestral home of the McNeills, and
title of folk-song "Kishmul's Galley",
relate to the family home?)
Betsy then moved to Port Wemyss in
1992, where she is today, one of the oldest residents on the
island. She has a comprehensive, and with many, a personal
knowledge of many of the families in the Portnahaven / Port Wemyss
area. From an early age, she pestered relatives for details of
her family, and has, over the years, accumulated a wealth of knowledge
of her wider family lines back to Donald McNeill, 1740 and Catherine
Shaw, whom he married c. 1780.
Betsy is a Islay Gaelic speaker
who clearly supports the notion of the difference between that of the
true Islay Gaelic, which evolved from Irish Gaelic, and that of the
northern isles, which has been shaped by the Norse influence.
Many a heated discussion has taken place on this subject on and off
the island.
When I was first introduced to
Betsy in 1996, I was immediately invited into her home in true island
style. Over a cup of tea, and 'something to eat', she hauled out
a supermarket carrier bag full of 'written on the back of' envelopes,
sheets and scraps of paper, containing information received from
related families all over the world. She led me through my
connection with the McNeills and the wider family, sharing what she
had in the true genealogist style. I pulled together her data in
a computer program (which we are still 'making adjustments to') of the
McNeill, McKinnon, Ferguson and McAllister lines, as well as the
inter-marriage between families from the across the Rhinns.
Her
'Photo Album' was created out of photographs, old postcards, paintings
and illustrations, scanned from her collection, which she kept in a
cardboard box. The photographs were taken by family and friends
over the years, along with others donated from far off family members
across the UK and the World.
At the age of 88 years (2003),
Betsy still has an unrivalled enthusiasm for 'sharing', and can't
understand those who request information and fail to return the
compliment. When Steve first suggested the idea of a web album,
I thought she might not be interested. "Why not?", she
said. "Who would be interested in me and my life?"
"It's really the older generations that I'm interested in.
When I go, I want to know who I will be meeting. . . The next
generations can record themselves!"
I have recorded Betsy's
recollections and family records on 'The Master Genealogist' for
future generations, and in Betsy's true style, will share them with
all . . . who are prepared to return the compliment! She loves
to talk to people interested in her family line, and the world they
lived in.
Regards, Iain MacIntosh
iain.macintosh@bigfoot.com 25th November 2003
