Ealasaid ni'n Aonghais Ailein Alasdair

Elizabeth Flora “Lizzie” (Gillis) MacDonald was from Dunvegan, Inverness County, and was recorded for the Cape Breton Folklore Collection on May 10, 1979.Born on January 25, 1894, Lizzie was one of eight children of Angus Gillis and Catherine Kennedy of MacEachern’s Road in the Brook Section of Inverness County. Her Gillis family traced their roots to Kenloch, Morar.On July 8, 1917, in Broad Cove, Lizzie married Alexander MacDonald, known as “Sandy Jim” (Sandaidh Sheumuis Shandaidh), of Little Judique. The couple later settled on East Street in Port Hood, where they raised a son, Archie—Sandy’s nephew—and a daughter, Teresa Moran.For part of each year, Lizzie worked as a cook at Hardy’s lumber camp in Dungarry, alongside Sandy Jim and Archie. In this demanding role, she baked bread, biscuits, cookies, and countless other items—using a 98lb bag of flour every three days—all prepared on a double-oven wood stove, regardless of the heat. She provided meals for as many as 44 hungry men, three times a day.Lizzie died in 1988 and is laid to rest in St. Peter's Parish Cemetery, Port Hood.