Patchwork Stories, Patchwork Names

To mark National Tell a Story Day, Claire Hewitt and I will spend the afternoon at Moulin Hall, Pitlochry on Friday 26^th October with the patchwork and some of its stories.  Local schoolchildren will also tell their new wonder tale ‘The Spider that Spun the Golden Web’ created on Claire’s ‘Story Cycle’ this summer. 

We hope a few people with connections to the girls on the patchwork will come along and tell their stories over a cuppa and cake. 





The event is part of The Luminate Festival and The Scottish International Storytelling Festival.

Names on the quilt

The dates when Isabella Christie taught at each school and the relevant names are listed below.  The information comes from the census: 1881 for Heisker, 1891 for Lochmaddy and 1891 and 1901 for Kinloch Rannoch.  Sisters are together under one surname, names in full are for girls from different households.  Clearly there aren’t that many surnames (or first names for that matter), especially in Heisker and Lochmaddy. A few girls signed just with initials and, because I think they will be almost impossible to trace, I've missed them out.

Heisker, 1882 to 1887: Chrissie and Annie Macaulay, Maggie Macaulay, Effie Macaulay, Jessie and  Annie (Jannet) McCuish, Alexandrina Macdonald, Chrissie and Lizzie Macdonald, Maggie Macdonald, Maggie and Marian Morrison, Marion Morrison.

There is a second Chrissie Macaulay who I think was from Heisker, but I can’t be sure.  Katie Morrison, is listed in the relevant census for Heisker and Lochmaddy in two different families, so I don’t know which she belongs to.

Lochmaddy, 1887 to 1894: Bella Dingwall, Anna and Effie Dingwall, Maggie and Bessie Grant, Katie McDiarmid, Jeanie Macdonald, Bella Macdonald,  Shenac (Jean) Macdonald, Effie Macdonald, Mary Macdougald, Bessie McFarlane, Rachel Macgilp, Rachel and Marian Mcinnes, Lizzie Mackay, Flora and  Isabel Maclean, Maggie and Annie Macorquodale, Chrissie Morrison, Chrissie Kate Stewart.

Kinloch Rannoch, 1895 to 1897: Catherine Anderson, Euphemia Cameron McGregor, Jessie Campbell, Lizzie Dewar, Maggie Farquharson, Tina Forbes, Annie Fraser Stewart, Christina McEwen, Jeannie MacMartin, Katie, Bella and Gracie MacMaster, Maria Macpherson, Flora and Maggie MacSwan, Mary Munro,  Maggie Richardson, Bessie Robertson, Marie, Katie and Jessie Scott, Annie Sinclair, Mary Templeton, Maggie Thomson, Jessie Urquhart.

The following names weren’t located, though, given that the census for Heisker and Lochmaddy are a good match and most of them have surnames that were not found in the islands (apart from McCuish, Macdonald and possibly Macdougald), it’s likely they’re mostly from Kinloch Rannoch.

Maggie Clark Macdonald, Maggie Cooper, Katie Cramb, Mary Cramb, Isa Dott, Bessie Ferguson, Chrissie Macdougald, Bella McCuish, Annie McIntosh, Ethel Mackenzie, Madge Mackenzie, Barbara McColl McInnes, Jessie Maconie McInnes, Jeannie McPherson (twice), Katie McPherson, Elsie Stuart, Williamina Sutherland, Gracie Thomson, Maggie Todd Robertson, Tina Bell Turner Campbell.

The spelling of surnames is more or less standardised but the first names are as they appear on the quilt.  There’s a bit of guessing about which first name matches with the census records. Where there are different first names but it seems a plausible match the census recorded name is given in brackets.