John M. MacLean

Island story

Federal records name J. McLean in the Wharf lightkeeper appointment reports of December 1911; differing 2/22 December readings remain under review. Later evidence strongly favours John M. MacLean and reports service to 1936; some legacy accounts instead use John A. MacLean. His property west of Big Hughie’s was remembered for its stone fences. In the 1921 John M. and Charlotte MacLean household, the original manuscript records a daughter Nellie, about four years old, where the index reads Willis C. The 1931 household records Nellie at fourteen. The 1938 death registration for Nellie Katherine is accepted as the same daughter recorded in 1921 and 1931. Its birth-date reading of 2 October 1917 and the census-age inference of about 1916 remain inconsistent; an exact birth date is not settled. The household sources also name daughters Christena, Johanna/Joanna and Jennie Bell; those names do not by themselves clear each daughter’s later identity and privacy. John M. and Charlotte’s household is distinct from the John and Jessie MacLean family.