Neil MacDonald When the MacDonalds came from St. Ann 's, , in the late 18th century, they landed in Little Sands on what they thought was free land. When Lord Selkirk arrived in PEI in 1803, he owned all the land in . Selkirk sold the farm to my ancestors (MacDonald) for $10.00. I still have the deed, which describes the farm starting from a stake on the shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Apparently the Gulf at that time went to Pinette . This area is opposite Pictou, Nova Scotia , where trans¬ portation by boat was available. There were no roads to Charlottetown and only blazed trails through the woods where only a man on foot or on horseback could travel. The first MacDonald to arrive was a blacksmith, the son of a tailor. My grandfather got the farm after a tree fell on his father and killed him as he was travelling one of those wooded trails. My grandfather was a stone mason and a part-time farmer. He had two sons, my father who was a carpenter and a farmer, and Neil the older son who obtained the farm. Neil was a true farmer. He never married and in his earlier years he lived with his mother. When the earlier ancestors arrived in Little Sands they obtained a strip of land, which included 100 acres, including a creek with marshland. This was important in the early days as this provided food for the animals. 25