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Hi guys, from 'Mingulay, an island and its people' by Ben Buxton, p.124:

"Vatersay was run as a single farm, occupied by the tenant farmer and his workers; it had been crofted before 1850, when the people were evicted, and had been designated as suitable for crofting by a government commission in 1894. ... Some of the cottars from Barra were descended from the former inhabitants, and had continued to bury their dead in the graveyard at the south end of Vatersay. ... In 1883, forty-five Barra cottars, living in wretched conditions and eking out a meagre existence by fishing, applied for holdings on Vatersay, but were turned down by the landowner, Lady Gordon Cathcart.  ... Further appeals failed, including one from Barra Parish Council, and the men grew desperate.  Then, in September 1900, emboldened by the success of cottars raiding the farms on Northbay and Eoligarry in Barra, the men raided Vatersay, though they subsequently withdrew.'

I'm guessing that Archibald and Mary did indeed work for Lady Cathcart's farm.  Having been born of families from South Uist, they would indeed have been thought of as 'strangers'.

Anne Marie - I'm stunned!  Where to begin...

First of all, thanks for the tip on registration districts.  A lot of my searching up to now has been based on educated guesswork about which district to search in, so this certainly helps.  SP do indeed differentiate between the two faiths, which makes for more legwork, especially as I live in Glasgow and can't access the Catholic records at the library here.

Thanks for the name of John MacKiggan's parents - interesting that his mother is a MacCuish, given that Mary goes on to marry a MacCuish - another adventure trying to find out how distantly they are related!  It does indeed raise questions about who the 'aunt' is, but its a very loose term.  Perhaps in digging around in the MacCuish tree I might stumble across her!

Mary living on Vatersay in 1891 is highly plausible - her husband Archibald MacCuish is stated as permanently resident on Vatersay when they marry later that year.  She does indeed seem to have had no English, and I've already come across my fair share of people using (seemingly) whatever name they like on their certificates.  I think shortened versions of middle names are my favourite conundrum!

Your 1891 transcription makes the one I have laughable - no wonder I couldn't find them!:

Robison McGiggan   57 S/U no gender
Ann McGiggan   19 Barra, F
Mary Jesse McGiggan   15 Barra, F
Keneth McGiggan   13 Barra, F
Findlay McGiggan   9 Barra, M
John M McGiggan   7 Barra, M
David McGiggan   5 Barra, M

Dear, oh dear.

I think Ann Robertson may not have been from So Uist myself, though it just a suspicion.  Robertson seems more of a mainland name.  There are large branches of the tree (further down) that are from Argyll, so I think I might start looking there.  I think I'll get some SP credits and get a peek at her death certificate, which will hopefully have her parents names (correctly) recorded and start searching from there.

Thank you so much, again!!!