Kathleen Boyd comes from a family strongly connected to the traditional life of Gaelic Cape Breton. Descended from emigrants from Wales and the Isle of Muck, her people settled on a large grant of land in Melford, a farming community not far from Glendale. Surrounded by a large extended family, Kathleen Boyd was raised below steep forested that overlook the busy Trans-Canada highway today. During her youth, the Williams family operated a farm there and worked in the woods. Gaelic was always spoken at home and visitors often came to sing songs and tell long stories in the evening. As a young woman, Kathleen spent several years working in a hospital in Montreal before returning to Cape Breton. After marrying and raising a large family, she returned to the family home in Melford where she cared for her uncles Johnny and Neil; both well-known and prolific tradition bearers whose company was enjoyed by a diverse audience. Friendly and welcoming, Kathleen has spent much of her life immersed in the rich Gaelic heritage of her family. Today, she is proud to share that heritage with others and often attends local Gaelic classes to support language learners. - Shamus

Interviewed by Jim Watson, Goiridh Dòmhnallach
Camera operated by Shamus Y. MacDonald
December 01, 2006

Total Play Time: 01:01:28

00:00:05-00:00:29 Kathleen introduces herself
00:00:37-00:2:22 where she is from; the first people who came to Millford
03:15-06:13 there were visitors every night; homebrew was popular View | Listen
06:14 one of her neighbours
07:14-10:12 story: young fellow who died View | Listen
10:15 wooden dish burned in her house for cleaning butter
11:06 fellow who made hats for the priest
14:50-21:54 garden, animals, food and cooking cabbage etc. and buying seeds View | Listen
22:00 children's work
30:20 frocks for toddlers
32:42 sheep and tending lambs inside, calling sheep, horse, chickens
37:12 hunting, snaring
38:29-40:21 women's work View | Listen
40:20 the brook near the house; fishing; types of fish
42:50 Gladstone; the schoolhouse and who went to school
46:37 cat meowing
47:02 women's work, cleaning the floor with gravel; dusting; names for things around the kitchen
55:58 clogged toilet!
58:43-1:01:21 making tea View | Listen