AN AMERICAN descendant of Lismore’s last weaver, John MacDougall, returned to her ances tral homeland this month to thank Lismore Historical Society for helping her compile a book of letters between John and his son, who emigrated to Minnesota.
Margaret Miller, John MacDougall’s greatgreat-granddaughter, published her book last year, entitled: ‘My Dear Son: Letters from John McDougall (weaver), Isle of Lismore, Scotland, to his son, John, in America’.
The 37 letters, handwritten between 1870 and 1888, give an insight into the life and thoughts of a landless cottar whose children had either died or left Lismore to begin new, more prosperous, lives in faraway lands. They include news about people and events on the island, in Port Appin, Oban and neighbouring communities.