Genealogy in Moray: Kathleen who owns The Little Lunchbox sandwich shop in Elgin traces family home upon west coast island of Rona
A Moray woman has successfully found a cottage on an uninhabited island where her ancestors once lived.
Kathleen MacLeod Shanks has strong family connections to Rona, a six by one-mile outcrop off the west coast of Scotland.
Her great-great-great grandfather, Andrew Graham, is believed to have been one of the first people to have settled there in the year 1810.
Her great grandfather, Donald Graham, was the last person to leave in 1926.
The island was acquired by the Ministry of Defence and for several decades afterwards it remained out of bounds to the public.
So although Kathleen grew up on Skye, which overlooks Rona, she'd never set foot there before this summer.
When Kathleen, who runs the Little Lunchbox sandwich shop in Elgin's Harrow Inn Close, went in search of her ancestors' cottage her only clue to its whereabouts was an old photo.
Kathleen said: "I was very close to my auntie Katie who, in 1918, became the last ever person to be born on Rona.
"Katie wasn't the name that featured on her birth certificate.
"Instead it was the name of her mum who had died soon after giving birth.
"Her dad was so heartbroken he began calling her that.
"Anyway, auntie Katie often used to talk very fondly about her early life on Rona.
"The photo of the cottage was really precious to her.
"I remember it used to sit on top of her sideboard at home."
Katie died in 2015 at the age of 97, having passed on the photo.
Kathleen just assumed that Rona would always remain out of bounds and she'd never be able to make the journey.
But then came lockdown and the first of her discoveries.
She said: "With time on my hands my longing grew to go there and find the family home.
"I started researching on the internet and found out that, in 1992, the island had been purchased from the government by a Danish owner."
Even better, Kathleen discovered that a holiday cottage had been opened on Rona in what used to be the old manse.
She said: "I couldn’t help myself – I booked it for my Little Lunchbox summer holidays."
For a week at the end of last month Kathleen and her partner, Andrew, had the whole island to themselves.
They were alone – except, that is, for the deer, midges, butterflies, dragonflies, shrimps and crabs.
Dropped off by boat, the couple spent their first night on Rona in the old manse.
The following morning they began their investigations amid the ruins of the 18 other buildings that loosely surround the manse.
Kathleen said: "Our second day on the island and we were searching though 6ft high bracken.
"I kept wanting to look at every building from every angle to see if it resembled the photo, but sadly no luck."
Searching can leave you thirsty and hungry.
Kathleen said: "Andrew was a bit concerned we'd get bored living on an uninhabited island for a whole week, so we took along our paddleboards and I also promised him there'd be lots of wine.
"In addition, I made a real effort with food.
"Usually I don't cook very much at home because that's what I do at work every day, however I decided we'd eat very well on Rona.
"Never mind bringing enough supplies and ingredients to last a week, I packed so much stuff we could have stayed there until Christmas."
That evening Kathleen and Andrew found a book inside the old manse.
She said: "Much to my delight it contained a huge amount of information about my family going back generations.
"But the cherry on the cake was a photo of my great-grandfather in his boat with two other men, one of which I believe is my great-uncle John."
On day three of their holiday, the couple set off walking south to a place on the island called An Teampull.
This, Kathleen had been told, is the location of the Graham family burial ground.
She said: "Before reaching there, standing proud in the distance was a stone building.
"Andrew asked, 'is that it?'
"I shouted: 'that’s it'. Something inside me told me that it was.
"I was just so filled with excitement and delight as we made our way to it through the biggest bog of the day.
"I can't express the strange feeling you get walking around somewhere you know your ancestors lived.
"It's so strong and so emotional."
Kathleen laughed: "I almost felt like doing some archaeology and digging up a pot or pan that had been theirs."
Later that same day the couple reached Am Teampull with its graveyard and ruined church.
Decades of wind and rain have all but erased the writing on the sole upright gravestone, except for the surname 'Graham'.
Meanwhile, just outside the graveyard lies an earth mound said to contain the body of a mariner who once washed up on the island.
Kathleen said: "Over the years I've done quite a lot of travelling around the world, but I've never been anywhere like Rona.
"It's so beautiful and, when you're there, you really do feel like you've got away from everything.
"There's absolutely no internet. There's also no phone service unless you decide to climb up a hill.
"Allied to all that, the old manse is a lovely place to stay. Every evening we sat in its conservatory and watched the deer go past and the sun go down.
"Rona is magical – and the fact my family lived there just makes it extra special for me."
Kathleen would now love to acquire her own copy of 'South Rona, the Island and its People', the limited-edition book written by Charles 'Bayfield' Macleod, which she and Andrew found inside the old manse.
In addition, she is also eager to get in contact with a second cousin, Torquil Graham, who she believes lives in Aberdeenshire, and might have more information about the family.
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