She was the leading light of the Edinburgh Ladies Association and together they funded the education at Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia in the nineteenth century.
They were Presbyterians and their father-in-law was Reverend Thomas Mackay who was a University of Edinburgh graduate and a previous minister of Lairg.
They enjoyed a high social status and they lived in a number of places in England in Scotland, including the highlands, Devon and London.
Moreover, she was arranging bursaries for leading Cape Breton Island students to attend the Free Church College in Halifax.
[1] Laurie Stanley-Blackwell published "The Well-watered Garden: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798-1860" in 1983 which identifies Isabella Gordan Mackey as a "whirlwind".
Thanks to them Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia enjoyed teachers, ministers, an academy, books and bibles to improve their spirits.