Murdock Gillis' Dyeing Mill at Rollo Bay, has been gone for a long time.

But he has left behind his Mill ledger which more than a picture, more than a biography tells the story of the people and their times in eastern Kings County in the second half of the 1800's 1870-1901.

For one thing, the ledger is written in beautiful handwriting, each item neat and clearly readable. We've lost that art in the twentieth century. It is no longer looked upon as a prized accomplishment.

Fortunately for historians researching the past, Murdock Gillis added information to the names of his customers to help him identify them. Entries for the year 1877 for example: Sandy McDonald, Samuel's brother, Dunc Dundas; Patrick McDonald, Sandy the Fiddler's son, Bear River Line Road; John Coffin, constable, Bay Fortune; Mary MacIsaac, (Millgirl). To one month's wages, $5.00.

The following names are indentified by their trades: Alexander Paquet, Blacksmith, Souris; Neil MacPhee, shoemaker; Roderick McDonald, Rollo Bay (1870) shoemaker; James McDonald, Line Road (Bear River), blacksmith; Alexander MCGilvrey, blacksmith (no address given); John McPhee, joiner, Rollo Bay; Captain William Deagle, Rollo Bay; Edmund Mead, blacksmith (no address given); Peter McCormack Miller, Bear River Line Road; William Leslie, miller; John Kickham, blacksmith, Souris.

Bear River Line Road family names from the early pages include: Robertson, Christian, McClosky, White, Costello, Legelle and Sweeney.

Rollo Bay names from the same period: Cheverie, Campbell, Keefe, Cahill, McKie, Burke, Scully, Peters, Chissong, etc.

After 1874, customers came from greater distances to the Carding and Dying Mill at RolIo Bay, mostly from the west and north: Naufrage, Grand River, Dundas, etc. The word 'big' was common in Big Bush, Big Spring, Big Marsh and Big Cape.

Place names that seem unusual today include, Fortune Cape (George MacKenzie) , Mansfield (John Gorman), Crooked River (John McEachern), McGowan's Road (Felix Peters) and Low Settlement (Edward, Deagle, John's son). Was LowSettlement an old name for Lower Rollo Bay?

Here are two entries that one might wonder about: Donald MacDonald (Blue) Northside and Ronald McPhee (Red) N.side. Did the blue and red refer to theIr politics or did they get special treatment and get their cloth dyed a special colour?

Murdock Gillis and his son-in-law Aylmer MacEwen, his partner, were paid in the form of oats, butter, mutton, hay, loads of wood, a day's work, and strangely enough, ashes. Entry of Nancy MacDonald - By bbl ashes 4-40 cents 1872.

In the mill account we find entries for dye stuff, freight, washing soda, oil, potash and copperas.

Copperas was the dye which came in the form of chips like wooden chips. It was melted in the dyeing kettle.

The old Mill ledger is a fascinating bookk. Hallie MacEwen, the owner, tells Murdock Gillis came from Whycocomagh in Cape Breton and often sang the Gaelic as he worked in the Dyeing Mill.