William McMillan - lost at sea 1891 off Bangor COMPLETED

[olduser1]

Hi, I hope you may be able to help with my Family Research, one of my Great Grandparents William McMillan was  born in 1841 in Kirkcudbright and was lost at sea after his ship left Bangor - North Wales.

I have the exact details of the death but so far have been unable to trace any other details, the following information is taken from the Scotlands Peoples records:

Ship Name – Gateforth
Official record – 58137
Date of death – 21st May 1891
place of death – after leaving Bangor
Full Name – William McMillan he was the ships master from Gatehouse of Fleet.
Age – 50 years
cause of death – assumed drowned.

I have only just commenced my search and just wondering where I should go next with my research of the tragic incident.

Any suggestions welcomed

Update 14th Sept, just located a ref to this incident the ship was lost after leaving Bangor North Wales.
So would still welcome any information on William MacMillan or his father John who both were Ships Captains trading out of Kirkcudbright.

[olduser1]

We visited the Stewartry Museum last week and were given a deal of help & support.
We now have the information we were seeking as the McMillan family owned and captained a number of ships sailing out of Kirkcudbright.

A follow up question has arisen - when using the local parish records ie pre 1855 how can you distinguish the correct person b around 1730  John McMillan from 4 other people all with same forename/surname all born in Kirkcudbright with fathers who were also called John McMillan? The birth or marriage entry just have names and sometimes the parish.

Please forgive this naive question but we have only just commenced our research.

[Druid56]

Hi just noticed no one had responded to your question the short answer is you can't but if you keep digging. Sometimes later deaths, births or marriages throw up answers to prove or disprove family members also if there were a number of people born around the same time you may find that there fathers were brothers and they  one of there children there fathers name  or maybe there mothers maiden name as a second name . Hope this is of some help
Angus

[olduser1]

Thanks for the reply, we will keep plugging away as most of the names recorded in Kirkcudbright are either John or William on Scotlands People so quite tricky to determin  the correct person .

[annbowers]

Hello

William McMillan was my great great grandfather.  His daughter Jessie was my great grandmother.  I have some information and also a copy of his death certificate.  Please contact me and we can exchange details.

Kind regards - Ann

[olduser1]

Ann, I have sent you my email via PM message

[olduser1]

After further searching I sent off the details of Mcmillan and the Gateforth to Whithaven Records Office and after a week or so managed to obtain the last 1891 log of the Gateforth including the loss of the ship & all on board in May 1891.
A good find of great interest to everyone in my Family.

[RONNY1]

Agnes Robertson McMillan was my grandmother daughter of William McMillan who was my great grandfather. Agnes married William George Bygrave on 26/03/1921. My late mum's father.

[olduser1]

RONNY1, thanks for your posting, just send me a PM personal message by clicking the symbol by my name. We can exchange family research info, I have Agnes in my Family Tree on Ancestry.