Mitchell Addendum

Another explorer, writing in 1893, says that Forty Mile was the most remote mining town in the world and that the mail only came once a year. So we are talking of only a handful of times the mail even arrived at the Mitchell Post Office, no matter whether it turns out to have been a miner's cabin over the U.S. Canadian border, or the counter of Captain Jack McQuesten's store. No wonder it is such a sought after postal cancellation.

Mitchell, Alaska

Followers of my writing may remember the controversy over where the Mitchell, Alaska, post office was located. The mail received there was almost always for U.S. citizens living in Canada. The Mitchell Post Office cancellation is one of the most sought after postal stamps in the postal collectors' world because its location is such a mystery.

One old writer said it was actually in Captain Jack's store in Forty Mile (in Canadian territory). Others have said it was about 70 miles over the line. Ed Jones surmised that there was a miner there at the time, in Alaskan territory, named Mitchell, and Jack may have been using his camp as the pseudo post office "office."

Well, in the new book I just purchased of old writings about the Yukon a contemporary writer describes how U.S. mail would enter Canada over one of the passes south of the Yukon, and be sailed through lakes and streams northward, passed Dawson and on to the U.S. post office back in Alaska.

What this means is that mail destined for Mitchell would have been off loaded from the mail boat at Forty Mile regardless, and so it is likely Jack just passed it out there rather than travel over the border and back with it just to make it official. When he filed a report with the postal service, he was extremely vague on the actual location of Mitchell.

I think it was a matter of convenience. Circle City wasn't founded by Jack yet, and the next closest U.S. Post Office would have been so far away as to make it impractical to go there on any regular basis. This way, he had the U.S. postal service bring the mail right up to Forty Mile, whether or not it was carried across the border and back, or not. Even coming in this way, the typical trek for mail into the Yukon could last months, especially in the winter. So any postal worker in his right mind would be thrilled to have Jack take the mail at Forty Mile instead of walking or sledding the additional 70 miles or so to a mythical post office, just to see it returned to where they started at Forty Mile.

Some verification for my Yukon theories

In my Captain Jack book and on my www.fatheroftheyukon.com website I proposed two theories not found elsewhere but based on an awful lot of research. These are as follows - 

The Han First Nations, along with other Native groups in the Yukon region, principally those who raised sled dogs, seem to have Asian origins and in fact, Han is also the name of a Chinese dynasty. In some very old writings a monk stated there were "two Hans" - the one in China and another one in a place that well could have been Alaska and the Yukon Territories.

My theory is simply that the Han natives of the Yukon were Asian in origin. One bit of helpful evidence is a study done in Europe that virtually proves that all modern domesticated dog species had their start in Asia. On my website, under the "Dogs of the North" link, I show the Han man who took us down the Yukon, comparing him to a modern day Chinese Han descendant. They look like brothers or father and son.

A book I just purchased includes a letter written by a fairly well-known Harper's Magazine writer named Tappan Adney. Adney had written an article in which he quotes Hans as referring to Captain Jack McQuesten as "Injun Papa." Of course, others called him Father of the Yukon and Father of Alaska.

In a letter Tappan wrote to his employers he tells  a story that supports the Han/Han theory to some degree:

"As we draw near, it proves to be a party known as the "Christie" party from the Skagway trail. They have a Japanese cook aboard. The Indians on Lake Labarge would not believe (he) was not an Indian "You Injun?"  "No!"  "You mama Injun?"  "No!"  "You papa Injun?"  "No! No!" -"

So it appears that even the natives of that period could not tell a Japanese man from their own tribesmen, adding considerable support to my theory. I know there is a difference between the Chinese and Japanese but they both obviously have Asian features.

Another theory I've proposed is that the Vikings played at least some role in early Yukon history, and especially in the naming of the Klondike. The original name for the river was Thronduik, meaning "hammer water" or "hammer a water dam" as this is where the Han set up fish dams to catch salmon. Some have thought the hammer part referred to the stakes being driven in to hold the fish nets.

The greatest god of the Norse was Thor, the Hammer God. Dike is a Scandinavian word for a water dam. So Thronduik, and the similar word Thordike would  mean essentially the same thing - "Hammer a water dam."

There was another interesting story in this new book I purchased about a report by an Ethnologist of that time period who said that the Eskimos around Herschel Island and the Mackenzie River told him that before their grandfather's time (which he says is how they dated almost every old story) –  "There once lived here a people who hunted exclusively whale, and who were men of prowess and remarkable seamanship." He added "In a measure, our excavations confirmed this tradition."

I had also found the old report about a group of blue-eyed, fair-haired, taller than normal Eskimos being found in pretty much the same area of the mouth of the Mackenzie River, along the shoreline. The explorer that found them conjectured they were a mix of local Eskimo and Norsemen. There are records of Norse setting off from Greenland and Iceland heading west and never being seen again. There is also a tradition that the Vikings were the first "white" men the Eskimo had ever seen. 

This final story seems to support that theory since, beyond the obvious physical characteristics matching the typical Norseman, the Vikings were men of prowess and remarkable seamanship, for sure, and considered the best whalers in the world. One old magazine article from 1939 says that "Unquestionably, many valuable secrets of whales generally are stored up in the heads of Norwegian sailors. They know much more than you will find in any published work."

A website on the Vikings of Greenland talks about their interaction with the Inuit or Eskimo  – 

"The disappearance of the Greenlanders has intrigued students of history for centuries. One old source held that Inuit, who had crossed over from Ellesmere Island in the far north around A.D. 1000, migrated down the west coast and overran the settlement. Ivar Bardarson, steward of the Church's property in Greenland, and a member of a sister settlement 300 miles to the southeast, was said to have gathered a force and sailed northwest to drive the interlopers out. When the Norsemen arrived in Greenland, they had the island and its waters to themselves. Now they had to contend with the Inuit, who were competing with them for animal resources. 

This was especially true in the Nordseta, the Greenlanders' traditional summer hunting grounds. For years the Norsemen had been traveling to the area; they killed the walruses, narwahls, and polar bears they needed for trade with Europe and for payment of Church tithes and royal taxes.

"Inuit-Norse relations seem to have been fairly friendly at times, hostile at others. Few Inuit objects have been unearthed at the farms. Various Norse items, including bits of chain mail and a hinged bronze bar from a folding scale, have been found at Inuit camps in Greenland, mainland Canada, and on Baffin, Ellesmere, and Devon Islands. These are suggestive of commerce between the two peoples, but they may also have been seized by Inuit during raids on hunting parties in the Nordseta or plundered from farms."

Another website says that no one really knows where the area of Nordseta really was, but it was a favorite whaling grounds for the Vikings.

If Vikings made it to the Yukon area, whether on purpose to hunt whales, by an accident of weather and fate, or as captives of the Eskimos, it is quite possible that their Hammer God, Thor, and their word for water dam, "dike" could have somehow been incorporated into the name of the stream that became known as the Klondike.

I also have a pretty good idea how Thronduik became Klondike, but I'll save that for another day. 

That was some beer!

From the Springfield Republican of 9/7/1854 -

"A boiler exploded at McQuiston's brewery, at Madison, Ind., on Tuesday evening demolishing the building totally. The boiler is said to have ascended one thousand feet, and in falling, went through the roof of a shop two hundred and fifty feet distant. No person was injured, but several narrowly escaped with their lives."

Note: The first brewery in the Madison area is said to be McQuiston's Malt House, which was located at the east end of 4th St. This appears to have been before 1840. A newer version of the McQuiston Malthouse opened in 2001 and is considered one of the hidden secrets of private brews. The current McQuiston's Malhouse is pronounced as McHouston, though I have the same spelling and pronounce the name as McWhiston. There are other spellings though, that do use the McHouston pronunciation and it may, in fact be, closer to the original Gaelic name of McUisdean.

A beer lover's website says -

"McQuiston’s Malthouse, where the hard working folks are flying under the regional good beer radar. Given that McQuiston’s (pronounced McHouston’s) is a mom ‘n’ pop establishment with the young owners pulling most of the evening’s only business hours, there’s not much time for self-promotion.

If you’re approaching Madison’s amazing downtown historic district on State Road 56, the highway becomes Main Street, and McQuiston’s is on the right side just before you reach the center.

"605 W. Main Street is an attractively restored old commercial building with an appropriate past. It was constructed more than a decade before the Civil War and originally housed the Crystal Brewery. Scotsman William McQuiston operated the brewery during its short life, and afterwards, many businesses held forth at the address until the current owners opened the Malthouse in 2001."

Been here, done this!

The Giant's Causeway, located on the northern Antrim coast of Ireland and spreading out 40,000+ six-sided rocks into the ocean arising again on an isle off the Scottish coast. This is the only place in the world where something like this exists. Legend has it that it was volcanic activity, but the truth, we know, is that two giants, one Scottish and named Fingal and another Irish and named Finn McCool, would use this causeway to walk back and forth between these Celtic countries.

By rocks like these that heard the eagle's scream, 

Or wolf, loud howling by the moon's pale beam, 

Or, on the battle field, o'er heaps of dead 

Where Erin's sons by mutual wounds had bled, 

The blood-stained harp bade all its sorrows flow. 

So wildly sweet, prevailing woe. 

That yet its echoes, faintly though they roll 

Down Time's long current, rouse and thrill the soul. 

McQuiston Magic

McQuiston, with all its spellings and pronunciations, is quite the amazing family. I have been studying our history for about 40 years, having first seen Leona McQuiston's book - "The McQuiston, McCuiston and McQuesten Families 1620 - 1937" back when I was a teenager.


The 1937 date was the publishing date of her book, however she worked on it, in the days of no computers, and even few telephones in homes, for about 19 years. She amassed about 10,000 name records and traveled all over America and to Scotland and Ireland, where she was able to study in some pretty exclusive libraries. There are some errors in her work, but considering she was using information given to her by others, and the lack of the amazing internet to double check, she did a wonderful job and anyone with this name owes her a great debt for her work.


Leona was aided by Ed McCuistion, who wrote the foreword to her book and provided history he had been collecting since the late 1800s especially concerning the North Carolina McCuistion and McCuiston branches, and the Texas McCuistions, of which he was a part. The love these two people had for the family is easily apparent in their writings and this has been carried on by so many others. 


I personally have been helped by so many people who send me packets in the mail, emails, web addresses to look at, or who hand off pages of copies at family get-togethers. It has been a group effort, and I am always pleased to be one of those sorting out the stories, patching the tapestry together, filling in the blanks with educated guesses or new-found information, and publishing it in a variety of forms.


It is my hope that this blog can become my clearing house for any and all related stories of the Celtic life I try to maintain in an ever-changing world. This is to a large degree my anchor and you are welcome to attach your boat to it, too.


The date of 1620 in Leona's book title comes from the earliest solid records she was able to find of a name similar to our modern spelling. The two in particular are James McQuiston, who was serving under the Earl of Antrim, Northern Ireland, who became "earl" in 1620, and John M'Queisoun, in a record from July 27, 1620, in Ayrshire, Scotland. There are a couple of reasons to believe that James of Antrim was in fact the father of John of Ayrshire. In a later record, his will, John lists a James as his father. There are others clues, but that story is for another time.


There was a constant connection between these locations in Antrim  and Ayrshire since the ferries that connect these countries, even today, still run between these places. The ferry actually lands in Wigtonshire, Scotland, where many McQuistons have been found, even today, and Ayrshire is just above this, where the McQuiston Cup is a golf match at the famous Troon golf course, and where another Jim McQuiston is an archivist and historian working at Dundonald Castle.


On the Irish side, the ferry lands at Belfast where the McQuiston Church stands as the largest ever Presbyterian congregation in Irish history, and the old McQuiston School has become the Belfast School of Music.


So it is easy to see that James and John were just two of many family members considering Antrim, N.I. and the coast of Scotland as pretty much the same country. In fact is was – for thousands of years. This was the old kingdom of the Gael, the land of Dalriada, from where the great Celtic/Viking heroes Somerled, Angus McFergus, and many other early Scots heroes ruled the Gaelic world.


Even today, Ireland is split to a degree into three areas - Northern Ireland, with heavy Scots influence (the old Dalriada); the English-influenced counties around Dublin, once known as "The Pale," from where the expression "outside the pale" comes; and those counties that have remained more truly old Irish, especially County Connacht and the west of Ireland. As the Scots infiltrated Northern Ireland and the English infiltrated the Dublin area, many if not most old Irish families moved particularly to Connacht, and other western counties.


Other records follow those of John and James. The next dated record is of Bryise M'Queistene on Aug 23, 1622. However, I have found many earlier records of names from our tradition of our descent from Hugh of Sleat that are very close to modern spellings or at least phonetically attach us to his family.


Hugh of Sleat or Uisdean McDonald was born about 1436 and we know that he died in 1498. He was likely born in Dingwall Castle, in Dingwall, Scotland, and he most likely died at Paisley Abbey, in Paisley, Scotland. His Gaelic name of Uisdean (sometimes spelled Uisdein or Uisdeann) was pronounced as somewhere between Ooshdn and Ooshn. Ooshdn seems to be the closest when compared to early English spellings of the name and to some modern pronunciations of the name. Other pronunciations given are Oosh - tchen, and Ocean.


In a small pub on the Isle of Skye, where our name was born, I was told by Angus McLean that Uisdean was a name created from the sound of ocean waves hitting the shoreline. In fact, it makes sense that the Ocean was also named for this very sound. George Black, in his great book, "Surnames of Scotland," says Uisdean is pronounced as Ocean.


There are a group of McDonalds who refer to themselves as the "Ocean" McDonalds and this no doubt comes from their relationship to Uisdean McDonald.


I have heard Uisdean pronounced by a handful of Scots and it is difficult to capture, in English, which one of these pronunciations best represents the Gaelic sound of the name. To complicate matters, another version of the name is Eystien, which comes from the Norse bloodline, which makes up a large part of our family background.


It is obvious that this name is so unique that it has been spelled and said many ways over the centuries, from its very beginnings until today. It is perhaps this mystery of spelling and pronunciation that has sparked so many family members to look into the history of the name.


Uisdean or Ooshdn became McOoshdn, or "son of Uisdean", when Hugh's first son was born. His name was recorded in 1494 as John Roy Makhuchone, by English speaking historians. I have also recently found it written in an old book as "John MacHuistean."


The "Black Book of Clanranald" describes the descendants of Hugh of Sleat as Siol Huistiuin, or "Race of Hugh". It also records Hugh's first four sons as -


Domhnall gallach mc huisdiuin,
Domhnall hearach mc huisdiuin,
Eoin mac huistiuin,
and, Giolla asbuig mc huisdiuin.


Domhnall gallach mc huisdiuin is the man we all most likely descend from and he is listed elsewhere as Donle VhicHuiston, vhic being a variant of Mc but referring to a grandfatherly figure.


There are a handful of other similar early finds of names that match ours in phonetics, if not in exact spelling, and they all tie exclusively into the Hugh of Sleat tradition. Much of the family of Domhnall hearach mc huisdiuin took the name of Hearach or Harris, and in DNA testing many Harris men match McQuiston men in their DNA results.


There are other names, particularly Martin, Houston and Hutchinson which come directly from the Hugh of Sleat tradition and we also have a fair number of men with these names that match our DNA, along with McDonalds, McConnells and other obvious names that should match.


We have been named a "clear subset" of Clan Donald by that clan, through this DNA analysis, and so it seems that the stories Leona and Ed told us, back in 1937, which had been handed down for five centuries, are for the most part true, even if a few details here and there have been or need improved upon.


As a family we have influenced the world. I have told and will continue to tell stories that prove this.

From Scotland to Nova Scotia

Back in the 1800s, when the Highlands were being cleared of clans people in favor of sheep, many of the Highlanders and Islanders loaded up boats and headed for Nova Scotia, taking with them a chunk of the heart of Scotland. Some have said that Nova Scotia is more "Scottish" than Scotland. Having been to both, I would have to say no, BUT, Nova Scotia is definitely an equal to the Highlands and Islands, and perhaps superior in keeping alive the old music.

I've been to Scotland three times and covered most of it, if even just driving through. I've also been to Northern Ireland, where many Scots settled. This past summer my wife and I went to Nova Scotia. We visited the Gaelic College and the Celtic Music Interpretive Center.

We sat with Mami, the aunt of the great Cape Breton fiddler Natalie McMasters, at a 3 hour ceilidh or musical get-together. She told us many little stories about Cape Breton and about the McMasters legacy.

Many of the Clan Donald, my family's parent clan, moved to Nova Scotia and it is impossible not to see the name McDonald on businesses and buildings just about everywhere. Other familiar names from the Isles and Highlands are Rankin, McLeod, Mackintyre, and more - names that often wrapped around my own family's history, back in the day.

We also heard lots of great music and the Gaelic language being spoken on occasion. Like I said, a huge chunk of Scotland's heart was transported to Nova Scotia where it beats still, today.

Fire Walks and Highland Games

The first picture below shows my wife and I at the Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Highland Games earlier this year, with the director of the games. This appeared in the latest issue of Highlander magazine, a tome for which I occasionally write historical articles on Scotland.

We spent seven days in Nova Scotia and especially Cape Breton listening to Celtic music every day, and visiting both the Celtic Music Interpretive Center and the Gaelic College. I sat in playing music at a pub, and later at a sessions with about 2 dozen other players. We heard some of the best Cape Breton music there is and sat with Natalie McMaster's aunt through a three hour ceilidh, hearing all kinds of great stories about Cape Breton music.

Nova Scotia 2010 was added to Scotland 2006 and Ireland 2005 in our travels to enhance the music we play as Celtic Creek. Our website is at -

http://www.celticcreek.com  < click here

Tonight we perform at the Crown Theater in Jamestown, NY, along with Irish dancers from Buffalo, NY, and another duo from Olean, NY. It's a big stage show for the surrounding communities and should be fun.

The next picture is of my son's foot. What!

Yep, that's his foot after walking through fire last night with the great self-help guru Tony Robbins. He is spending an entire weekend with Tony and has read his books and listened to his tapes for years. Must be it works because he is a hot shot doctor/medical officer in DC.

I have taken periodic courses for ten years from two of Tony's former employees - his NYC marketing manager and his national marketing manager. They've both also walked through fire with Tony but I haven't had the privilege (?) yet.

OK, Jack O'

Sorry I was away to Fort Lauderdale, FL, for fun in the sun, and it just so happened that Halloween took place while there. I saw an interesting story on TV about how it was basically a Celtic holiday, and that the first jack o'lanterns were made with turnips. The story was that a man named Jack was so evil that he was kicked out of hell by the devil. He would walk around with a candle set in a gourd and became known as Jack of the Lantern, or in the old world way of saying it - Jack O'Lantern. His job was mostly to scare little kids. Eventually Scots and Irish children made their own lanterns from the abundant turnip, until the practice was brought to America, where the larger tougher pumpkin made the perfect jack o'lantern!

OK. Ok what? OK. This little pseudo word is thought to be the most common word in the world. And my buddy President Andrew Jackson had a lot to do with that. The word was first used as a joke in a newspaper to abbreviate "all correct" - a joke in that the actual abbreviation would NOT be "all correct" but "oll korrect" or actually incorrect.

Despite how many great writings he produced, Jackson's political opponents pushed the myth that he was illiterate. Truth was lots of words were spelled lots of ways in those early days of the development of the "American" language. So . . . he became the butt of the OK joke and soon the rumor was spread that he marked lots of his staff's papers with OK on them - not of course true. The word took off.

But, like today, facts don't mean much in politics, just making personal false attacks on the president. Jackson has ended up considered as one of the very best presidents we've ever had, and he is still demonized by many despite his amazing efforts to keep the Union together, his tremendous influence on Abraham Lincoln, his battle against big banks owned by foreign interests, and a large host of other unsung accomplishments.

Basically, he did OK!