Donald MacIsaac escaped from Scotland (Canna) to Nova Scotia in 1805 with his wife Mary McKinnon and family. He was one of the first settlers to settle in Big River, Cape Breton. He was known as "Donald of Big River". They had 7 children, 4 being Angus, Mary, Anne and Alexander. In 1860, after Alexander's wife Mary Beaton died(not sure what year she died) leaving him and their 10 children, he decided to emigrate to NZ on board the "Ellen Lewis", which he had helped build in return for free passage. He took with him a lady named Flora MacLeod to help look after the children. His nephew Angus (Mary's son) also travelled with them. They arrive in NZ on May 14th 1860. His children were Angus, Catherine, Donald, John, Mary, William, Ann, Allan. Francis, and Joseph. Most of them settled in Thames where the goldmining was booming. Ann married fellow passenger Allan Gillies two months after arriving in NZ.
Alexander's nephew Angus had quite a bit of success in goldmining and eventually returned to Inverness where he married Margaret Gillis (Peggy Iain Gobha) of Margaree Forks. They lived for a while at Belle Cote. Afterwards they moved to Minnesota, USA, where Angus died and Margaret returned home to Inverness.
They changed their surname from MacIsaac to McIsaac after arriving in NZ.