Angus of the Divide
tune – Mountains of Kintail

Born in Craig near Torridon in the year eighteen sixteen
With family moved to Dingwall a new life to begin
Excelled in school and studies prowess with hunting skill
When Canada came calling it did to him appeal.

He loaded his belongings in a trunk secure and strong
His rifle and his bagpipes and Shakespeare’s works in song
Travelled north to Orkney to cross the ocean wide
The North West frontier beckoned land of The Great Divide.

He joined the Hudson company his vocation he did find
But always in his memory the land he left behind
Although across the ocean McDonald roots retained
Young Angus soon established promotion duly gained.

He married Catherine Baptiste a lass of mixed blood race
Her father half Indian but Scottish roots could trace
Her mother a proud Indian of the royal Nez Perce tribe
And they like many others traversed The Great Divide.

Secure promotion followed a Chief Clerk he became
Renowned for his wise counsel and deeds worthy of fame
Structured daring missions cross vast and wild terrain
Although his roots in Scotland this now was his domain.

The gold rush pace demanding the fur trade showing decline
The government relentless new boundaries did define
Tribal lands decreasing enforcement did impound
Increasingly his loyalties with the tribes were to be found.

Promoted to Chief Trader but North required to move
After consultation could not this post approve
He’d stay among his people the land he now called home
Pursued many interests his cattle free to roam.

With wars and bitter conflict across The Great Divide
Witnessed brutal carnage his sorrow could not hide
The government he challenged agreement doomed to fail
Their reservation policy at all costs must prevail.

Disillusioned with proceedings from his post he did resign
And with the Indian people himself he did align
Relinquished his allegiance to the land where he was born
A critical decision his loyalties were torn.

Formalities completed a Republican became
Among the Indian people synonymous was his name
Counselled tribal leaders more losses they’d sustain
Against superior forced their lands could not retain.

His name for aye remembered on Mountain, Lake and Pass
Where of the left his footprints on that untamed landmass
Although a US citizen his Scottish blood was strong
He’d play his treasured bagpipes and recite a gaelic song.

At rest now in Fort Connah since eighteen eighty nine
In his adopted homeland a memorial to enshrine
His legacy remaining across The Great Divide
On an obelisk of marble they inscribed his name with pride.

What caused emigration from the Gairloch area?
A simple answer to this question is poverty. It is recorded that people emigrated from the late seventeen hundreds.
Where did they go?
In the early years the majority of the Highland and Islanders emigrated to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In Canada the preferred settlement areas were places such as Ontario, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. In these the emigrants farmed and worked the land and upheld their previous way of life. Often the places in which they settled became designated with familiar names from Scotland, such as Inverness, Perth and Ross. Gairloch, sometimes spelt as ‘Gairlock’, can also be found. Gairloch in Nova Scotia was founded in 1805 and many of its first inhabitants were Gairloch, Ross-shire, settlers. Nova Scotia was ‘New Scotland’ and in the first half of the 19th century 59% of settlers from the United Kingdom were born in Scotland.
Angus was a relative of Hector’s maternal grandmother originally from Craig

The Great Divide traverses the continental divide between Alberta and British Columbia, which wanders through the vast wilderness of the Canadian Rocky Mountains for more than 1100 kilometres. So this was Angus’s destination.
The Nez Perce Tribe can be read about on the Internet and their history is fascinating. Catherine and her family, with roots both Scottish and Indian, must have been able to describe lives so different from Angus’s.
Fort Connah, Angus’s burial place, was at the southernmost post of the Hudson's Bay Company in Montana. This was established in the summer of 1846 by Neil McArthur as the Flathead Indian post.
So from Craig in 1816 to Fort Connah in 1889 Angus must have led an incredibly full life. Did he and Catherine have children? If so are there relatives who can trace their lineage back to those days