Highland - Adapted from the writings of Dr. Donald Neil MacMillan

Kenyon has more than the normal share of unique features. Nearly all of the first generation came from either the Scottish Isle of Skye or neighbouring mainland area of Glenelg. This is evident in the names of the places from which they emigrated, as recorded on their tombstones and in the names they gave to their new homeland – Dunvegan, Skye, McCrimmon, etc. Sir Walter Scott’s rendering of MacCrimmon’s Lament, the well-known but mournful pipe tune with which emigrants from the Western Highlands and the Isles usually took leave of their native shores is particularly appropriate to those who settled in the northern concession of Kenyon Township and the adjacent ones of Caledonia, Prescott County:

     Farewell to Dunvegan for ever!
     Farewell each cliff on which breakers are foaming
     Farewell lovely Skye – to lake, mountain and river
     MacLeod may return, but MacCrimmon shall never.

Not only were very few, if any, of the original settlers able to visit their kith and kin in the land of their fathers, but few of their descendants, until more recent years have viewed the misty isle or patriarchal fortress of Dunvegan, the ancient and romantic castle of the MacLeod Chiefs. Nevertheless, though far removed from the Ault Scotia, the hearts of the people in generation after generation remained “Highland”.

Adapted from the writings of Dr. Donald Neil MacMillan

Submitted by Betty (MacCrimmon) Bracken & Sandra MacPherson