THE 1806 VOYAGE OF THE SPENCER:

About the Book

In the summer of 1806 the vessel the Spencer left Oban, Scotland headed for Canada to pick up a load of lumber. But first it came to anchor off the island of Colonsay and took aboard 115 Gaelic speaking emigrants and their baggage. They were going to Prince Edward Island where Lord Selkirk had promised them land to be bought outright or on contract. The passengers were related in some way to two family heads named McNeill and McMillan. For example 20 year old James Munn had just married Elizabeth McMillan and their siblings James McMillan and Ann Munn would be married as soon as they reached PEI. Why these couples and their other family members wanted to leave Colonsay is the story told here. Events of Scottish history may have made it necessary to emigrate at that time and we speculate as to how it was financially possible. The McMillans and the Munns would fit with prior Selkirk Settlers by taking up property as neighbors in Belle River and Wood Islands where they would raise double cousin children, start a school, start a church and begin businesses and farms. Eventually, after two generations at Belle River, circumstances urged grandson James H. Munn to migrant to western Canada and on to the Washington Territory where homestead land was available to hardened pioneers. The story is only one many that track the western migration from Europe to the Americas.

About the Author

Hector J. Munn is the grandson of James Hector Munn. Hector grew up on the homestead of his grandfather at the edge of Lake Leland in Jefferson County, Washington State. As the conservator of the family name, Hector not only became heir to part of the homestead, but also writings, photographs and artifacts of the Munn family. So it is only natural that he extended his interests to visiting family heritage locations on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Colonsay Island, Scotland. Hector is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University and Oregon State University. His working career included 34 years as a professor of chemistry and registrar at George Fox College (now University). He currently lives with his wife in a retirement community near the university campus.