6255: Murdo Matheson
Murchadh Iain Dhòmhnaill
Murdo (1904-1983) was a son of John Matheson and Ann Macphail, 25 Gravir. In 1921 he was a Fisherman working for Donald Campbell, 13 Gravir.
On May 17,1924 he emigrated to Canada on the SS Canada bound for Quebec. He later returned to Lewis.
Murdo was a well-known local comedian as Cailleach an Deacoin and a bachelor at Gravir. He worked as a weaver and was known as a keen gardener.
For his local performances in Pairc the Cailleach had a supporting cast known as the Glee Boys; they were Donald John Macinnes, 8 Gravir; Kenneth Maclean, 7 Glen Gravir, Alex Dan Macleod, 3 Glen Gravir, and Zena Chisholm, 16 Gravir.
Besides his considerable talents as an entertainer, Murdo, as the seventh son of a seventh son, was known to be a healer. Chrissie (Chisholm) Morrison remembers him:
He was very much in demand as a natural healer and people used to ask him to wash his hands in silver and then come to lay his healing hands on someone suffering from Tineas an Righ (a type of carbuncle) or some such. I was surprised that, when he died, no-one mentioned this side of his personality as it was supposedly a well-known fact with people going to the Gravir bus-driver with an empty bottle for the driver to give to Murdo to effect the cure. I often heard of those stories and thought that perhaps silver has some healing properties and could help in some cases, even without a natural healer!
Details
- Record Type:
- Person
- Also Known As:
- Murchadh ‘an Bhàin; Cailleach an Deacoin
- Date Of Birth:
- 4 Jan 1904
- Date of Death:
- 13 Aug 1983
- Gender:
- Male
- Brothers Keeper Reference:
- CEP 868
- Occupation:
- Farm Worker; Weaver; Fisherman
- Record Maintained by:
- CEP
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