History Briefs

In the year 1762 Alexander MacKay was born in Sutherlandshire, Scotland.  He emigrated to Mount Dalhousie, Pictou County, in 1822, took up several hundred acres of land for farming, and died in 1847, the progenitor of a large family, many of whom became notable thoughtout Canada. 

Alexander's second son, John, was born in Scotland in 1810, and emigrated with his father in 1822.  Eventually, after travelling through the United States and Ontario, he came back to Pictou and settled down on the old homestead.  He married Barbara Maclean, who was born at Rogers Hill, the daughter of John Maclean, born in the west of Scotland, about 1758, who became a settler of Roger's Hill.

Seven boys and three girls were born to this couple, among them, Alexander Howard MacKay, B.A., Sc., F.S., Sc (London), the eldest, who was born May 19, 1848, and who became known in Canada and England as an Educationalist.