John MacGillivray was born around 1811 at Huntly and appears to have been teaching in the area as early as 1854, when he married local girl Ann Henderson. The 1861 census has them living at a private property at Lower Ardnagrask, Kilmorack and John is recorded as the school master. Lower Ardnagrask is the area where the building stands today. At that point they have two children; Lachlan John b. 1856, Isabella b. 1857. A third child, James had died that year aged nearly 2 and Lachaln died the following year aged 6. By the 1871 census they had another two children: Elizabeth Ann, born 1861 and another Lachlan John, born 1864. Elizabet died when she was 16 and Lachlan when he was forty four, Lachlan having been a clerk to a local building company. Their youngest son, Donald was born after the census of 1871 and a record of his career can be read below.
By the 1881 census, John was no longer present, he would have been around 70 years of age so may have died since the previous census, although he was still alive in 1878. However, Ann remained at the schoolhouse and on the valuation rolls of 1895 and 1905 she was now recorded as living at the ‘Old Episcopal School’, indicating the school had been closed. She died in 1911 as a tenant at the Ord Arms Hotel.