New edition focuses on Lamont families

Selkirk Stories, an independent Prince Edward Island publishing house, has announced the publication of a new edition of The Lamonts of Lyndale by Harold S. MacLeod.

The book is available at Bookmark and Indigo in Charlottetown and at Twice Upon a Bookstore in Montague.

It will also be available for online purchase.

No launch event is planned for the release due to the current restrictions on public gatherings.

Like the original edition, published in 2003, this edition traces the genealogy of the descendants of Malcolm Lamont and his wife, Elizabeth MacDonald, who arrived on P.E.I. from the Isle of Skye in Scotland aboard the Mary Kennedy in 1829, settling in what was known as the Back Settlement and later as Lyndale.

However, The Lamonts of Lyndale is more than genealogical tables.

It includes narrative sections with lively anecdotes about members of the Lamont family, obituary notices and old photographs, as well as a historical section tracing the Lamonts of Lyndale back to their roots in medieval Skye.

MacLeod’s original book concluded with a section on the ministry of the Rev. Donald MacDonald, who although not a member of the Lamont family, profoundly influenced the founding members of the family.

This new edition of The Lamonts of Lyndale expands on MacLeod’s work by adding a republication of A Biographical Sketch of the Late Rev. Donald McDonald (1892) by Ewen Lamont (1817-1905), one of the most prominent of the Lamont descendants.

The work of the Rev. Donald MacDonald (1783-1867) did not just affect the Lamont family but also thousands of other Islanders.

His ministry on P.E.I. began in 1827 and continued until his death.

During that time, he established a church that had members and adherents across the Island.

MacDonald’s work did not just create a church, but also helped to create a sense of community among Islanders.

Ewen Lamont was among his strong supporters and was asked to write an account of MacDonald’s life from his own memory after the minister’s death.

MacLeod (1927-2014) was administrator of Riverview Manor in Montague and served for a time as mayor of Montague.

He also published genealogies of several families of Prince Edward Island.

Selkirk Stories has previously republished The MacLeods of Prince Edward Island by MacLeod.

This edition of The Lamonts of Lyndale makes another of his works available in a reformatted and affordable edition.

Selkirk Stories has also republished two significant works of Island history and genealogy by Malcolm Macqueen (1878-1960), Skye Pioneers (1927) and Hebridean Pioneers (1958).

These books are available in local bookstores and online.