The 2014 season has opened with a well stocked shop, a cafe under new management, and a brand new exhibition in the Museum room.
Museum special exhibition John MacDougall
Museum Special Exhibition 9 April 2014 Gaelic bible John MacDougall
Homecoming Lismore 2014 tells the story of John MacDougall (1803-1888) a , cottar, weaver, churchman and founder of an Emigrant Family, although he himself never left Scotland. Two banner boards and an informative leaflet tell his family’s story with pride of place going to his Gaelic bible which has quite literally come home to Lismore, donated by his great grandson John Bollum MacDougall of Minnesota . The curators are truly grateful for this gift and to all at the MacDougall McCallum Heritage Foundation (USA) who have generously funded the display and the leaflet.
John MacDougall was born in 1803 in Balimakillichan township and married Catherine McCallum from Balure . They had eight children, all of whom survived childhood and all of whom left the island to find work. This family’s story will mirror many such families who left Lismore and found fulfilling lives all over the world.
John was a cottar, with a little land for growing potatoes, but he made his living as a woollen cloth weaver, one of the last on the island. Of great interest was his role in helping to build the Independent Chapel at Achuran in 1844, where he started a Sabbath School for island children. He continued as superintendent of the school ”without fee or reward”, receiving the Gaelic bible featuring in the display from the pupils in 1868 and a silver watch “and a sum of money” from the community in 1874, after 40 years of service.
John MacDougall
John MacDougall Emigration