In 1931 American song collector James Madison Carpenter came to Lochcarron, and recorded two singers. One song was sung by Finlay Finlayson, aged 77, of Springburn House, Slumbay I surmise both he and Finlay Murchison wrote out and then translated Gaelic songs for Carpenter.
I am grateful to my informants, Helen I Murchison of Achintraid, Kishorn, and Annelle Flynn].
Helen made local enquiries and was able to tell me the following.
'Finlay Finlayson had a large family, none of whom are in the area now. He composed songs and the ones recorded are probably his compositions.'
This first message from Annella Flynn indicates that both Finlays gave Gaelic songs to Carpenter.
'I read the P&J article with great interest as my late mother had told me that my grandfather, Finlay Finlayson of Springburn, Blackpoint (Rhu Dhu), Lochcarron, had been recorded singing by a man who came to the house with some kind of recording machine in the 1930s. 'Finlay wrote both poems and songs and was a good singer. He was a crofter with a large family (ten children). His description mirrors the one given to Finlay MURCHISON in the article.
'I wondered if there was a mistake in the article and the name should have been Finlayson or if both Finlay Finlayson and Finlay Murchison took part in the recordings.'
Annella then offered to write the below acount of Finlay Finlayson
Recordings and card images are used courtesy of the James Madison Carpenter Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
Here is my story about my Grandad.
FINLAY FINLAYSON inlay was born on the 30th June 1855 to Roderick and Isabella Finlayson (née Stewart). This was the first year that births had to be legally recorded as, prior to that, the Church records were the place to find births, christenings, baptisms, etc. Finlay was the oldest child and ended up with two younger sisters and four younger brothers. The family lived at Blackpoint, Lochcarron, also know as Rhu Dhu and Slumbay.
His dad owned a Croft but also had to make a living from fishing and he also did a bit of shoemaking to make ends meet. The family all spoke Gaelic as well as English. Finlay worked as a labourer for a time after he left school but he had an adventurous streak and went to America for some years to essentially become a cowboy, to look after sheep and cows in Montana. Many Highland men were sought after for their skills as many had been brought up on crofts. He returned to Scotland in 1890 aged 36 to take over the Croft as his father was now aged 70.
Times were hard but Finlay was always keen on singing and dancing which I’m sure kept his spirits up. At the age of 40 he got married to Annie MacKenzie from Uig, Isle of Lewis, who was 21 and had been his housekeeper. They went on to have ten children. Tragedy struck when his oldest child, his daughter Annie, died at the age of 13 in a drowning accident. It cast a shadow over the family for years. Finlay was a bit of a gambler and had bet his friends that since his first born was a girl, the next would be a boy, whom he would name ‘William’. However, as luck would have it, the second child was another girl, who ended up with the unfortunate name ‘Willie-Anne’ so Finlay didn’t lose face over the bet! She was later known as Lena
He was very fit and active right into his later years and was still doing the sword dance in his late seventies. One of his many skills was building dry-stane dykes and this, unfortunately, contributed to his death at the age of 80 when someone asked him to build one. The hard work was just too much for him and he passed away soon after on 22nd April 1936 at home in Slumbay, Lochcarron.
Regards
Annella Flynn