The Mackay papers (48 items) are made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and maps regarding disputes over land in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Ontario, Canada.
The Correspondence series (30 items) includes letters written by and addressed to Mary Vansittart Mackay, as well as letters by and to other interested parties, including Meaburn Tatham, Roger Rollo Hunter, and F. D. Berwick. The letters, mainly from correspondents in Toronto, London, and Edinburgh, concern disputes over finances, land, and Spencer Mackay's estate. Later items relate to property leases in Edinburgh.
The Documents series (16 items) contains 2 subseries: Legal Documents (6 items) and Financial Records (10 items), which both pertain to disputes over the Mackay estate and property. Items include a settlement among Admiral Henry Vansittart, Robert Riddell, and Roger Rollo Hunter about the marriage of Mary Charity Vansittart and Spencer Mackay (June 8, 1838), as well as documents concerning inheritances. Some of the material pertains to the construction of a villa for Mary Vansittart Mackay at Cluny Gardens, Edinburgh.
Two colored manuscript Maps show the village of Port Franks, Ontario, and the Vansittart estate in Mara Township, Ontario (now part of Ramara).
Royal Navy Admiral Henry Vansittart (1777-1843) lived in Blandford, Ontario, in the early 19th century. He and his wife, Mary Charity Pennefather (d. 1834), had five children: John George, Henry, Elizabeth, Edward Westby, and Mary Charity (b. 1819). Mary Charity Vansittart married Spencer Mackay (d. 1860), whose siblings included Thomas Henry, Alexander, Bell, and Rosanna Louisa.
