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History
Donald John MacDermaid (Dòmhnall Sheumais Thoirmoid) was born in Stirling, Richmond County on September 30th to parents James Matthew and Catherine (Morrison) MacDermaid. He worked for a while in Maine before moving to Massachusetts. He became a US citizen in 1942 and enlisted for service in WWII. Upon returning to the United States, he married Florence B. Moody, a native of Maine. He and his wife eventually settled in Framingham, Massachusetts near MacDermaid's sister-in-law Margaret MacQueen and brother, Norman. He passed away in 1992 and is buried with his wife in her hometown of Cornville, Maine.
Donald John is remembered as a fine Gaelic singer with a great love for the Gaelic song tradition of the Framboise area. He made and shared many recordings of the region's singers in Cape Breton and Massachussets. He also took a great interest in the tradition as it existed in Berneray, Harris, Scotland. MacDermaid's ancestors, like most in the Framboise region, hailed from the Hebridean islands of North Uist, Harris and Berneray.