Five years ago, Oscar (my husband) and I visited the Museum in St. Albans, Vermont and were deeply moved by the number of books that Elizabeth Brainard wrote and the history of the Vermont Central Railroad. We were so excited about our family history that we named our youngest son Donald Sage Mackay! Then this past September my husband and I stayed in Julie Nicholson’s apartment in Cambridge for one night as we were attending a wedding there. Julie left out Great Aunt Annette (Granette’s) diary and I was fascinated by it. Then I started to think how wonderful it would be to have all these artifacts scanned (or typed up) and posted on a website for all to read.
The purpose of the website is for ALL sides of the Mackay clan (in Scotland, California, East Coast cousins etc.) to post photos, diaries, newspaper articles and family trees of the family so that we can ALL learn more about the history of our most intriguing family. I just finished reading Aunt Olivia’s (Aunt Bo’s) diary and some of her descriptions of living on the top floors of hotels in Rome, Italy are amazing. Her description of her servants, Helen Smith’s suitors and the night that her mother died are so engaging. It would be such a gift to ensure that everyone has access to these stories before Mom and your generation go to Heaven. Turn to List of Pages on the HOME PAGE and you can tap into all of Aunt Annette's diaries.
The website includes the family trees that Graham Tate did for the Scottish side and the family tree that my sister Sybil did for the U.S. side. The Mackays have been updated with the help of Graham Tate, and Fiona (née Mackay) and Allen Skinner. From there, we could work our way down the family tree starting with J. Gregory Smith and Elizabeth Brainard and on down. We will post PDF files of the most interesting newspaper articles about Donald Sage Mackay. There is little need to write articles as Annette, Olivia and Winifred have already written beautiful accounts of their lives, but there are many details about life in New York and Europe in the early days of the 19th century and before, that would be of great interest.
Then each branch of the Mackay family—Annette Mackay Pyle (Butler, Coit, Nicholson families). Donald Sage Mackay (Mackay, Parrish, Ratcliff families. Winifred Mackay Hutchinson (Neidecker, Hutchinson Families). Stewart Mackay (Levy Family), Olivia Mackay Johnson (Johnson, Baker families) could have links to the main website with all their information.
I think ALL of our family members will be THRILLED to read this website. We have posted an updated family tree, originally created by Graham Tate and Sybil Neidecker Heine and updated with the help of Graham Tate and Fiona and Allen Skinner on this web. The home page is set up and we request submissions. Julie Pyle Nicholson is initiating another website that will eventually be linked with this one, of all the grands and greats - 5th, 6th generations and on down, with room for family photos, articles and stories.
