Person:Flora McPhail (1)

An obituary (Friday June 19, 1891)

An old settler gone - One after another the old settlers are passing away, severing link by link the chain of life and memory binding the present to the past generation. One of Brooke's first settlers, Mrs. Donald McLean, fell asleep in Christ last Sunday. She had been ailing for some years, and the end was not unexpected. Mrs McLean was originally from Inverness, Scotland, but many years of her old country life were spent in the Lowlands under the ministry of Dr. Norman McLeod, who baptized all her family. Coming to this country in 1849 with her husband and family they sojourned for a year in Aldboro township, and then settled on the 12th line of Brooke. The place was a veritable wilderness then. The howling of the wolves mingled with the deep growl of the bear, were the notes which thrilled the evening air and the settler's heart. Their(sic) was but clearance enough for a shanty in which to house their family. Their only neighbors were the McDonald and Marshal families. Many were the hardships and privations which they endured needless to recount, and many forgotten long since by themselves, in the increasing comfort and plenty of later years. She was a member of Mosa Presbyterian congregation, and the long distances was less a barrier to regular attendance than shorter distances now. Four boys as well as her husband died before her, one of them under most painful circumstances. An Aldboro farmer had come all the way as late as 1865 to secure the services of Lachlan in his employ. Lachlan went but had not been many days at work when he met his death from a falling limb while chopping in the woods. She leaves behind one daughter, who ministered to her in her years of feebleness, and four sons Donald, Archibald and Hugh, who all reside in Brooke, and Alexander, of 644 Lorne Ave., London, engineer on the C.P. Ry. .... cut .... Mrs. McLean was about 84 years of age at her death.

This obituary states that they Flora and her family lived several years in the Lowlands. The family of Donald and Flora McLean doesn't appear on the 1841 census of North Uist and there are no mentions of the family in the birth and marriage registries, although it is known that those represent only a partial listing of births and marriages on the island. So it is possible that they did leave North Uist for elsewhere in Scotland several years prior to emigration. On his tombstone, it is written that son Lauchlin (born about 1837) is a native of North Uist, but this is not specified for Mary (born 1843) and Hugh (born 1849). The family did however emigrate in 1849 on a ship that was carrying people from the island of North Uist.

1. ↑ Ontario, Canada. Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-ongoing. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario)
   575.

   Mrs Flora McLean/died 15th June 1891/Female/Age 80 years/ prof Farmer's wife/ Where born Scotland/ cause Old age/ duration 5 years

2.   Tombstone inscription, Kilmartin cemetery.

   In memory of Flora/beloved wife of Donald McLean/died June 15,1891 aged 80 years/ a native of North Uist, Invernesshire, Scotland