Isabella Maxwell and William Dunbar Maxwell were born in Todholes, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, to sheep farmer Robert Maxwell and Isabella Dunbar, in the late C18th.

The Maxwell family later relocated north to Achindrean, Lochbroom. From there, William emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1833 (see The Maxwells of Mount Thom), while Isabella Maxwell remained in Scotland, became an innkeeper in Ullapool, and married ship owner John MacKay.

Isabella and John's MacKay descendants became merchants, farmers and teachers, settling in Scotland, England, Canada and the USA, some of them witnessing turbulent times in the histories of those countries.

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