MacMillans of Benbecula

[DonnieMac]

Does anyone have any information on the MacMillan family that lived out of UACHDAR in Benbecula, have a direct line descendancy but looking for census returns etc, also is there anywhere on the net i can find the Estate rentals for Benbecula going back as far as possible,

[angusm]

Donnie Hi: there were effectively three MacMillan families associated with Uachdar from the start of records. One was that of Angus son of Malcolm, whose two sons, Duncan and Roderick, remained in the township whilst a son John emigrated to Cape Breton; there were also daughters. The second was from an Alexander MacMillan, and descendants moved to Gramsdale, where the family is still represented today. The third was the marriage of an Aongas Mor mac Iain 'ic Aonghais 'ic Dhomhnuill 'ic Chaluim from Torlum into one of the MacCormick families with the family remaining at what is now 11 Uachdar.

Whichever it happens to be, I can give you details and I do also have access to the rent and kelp lists. Angus Macmillan

[DonnieMac]

Hello Angus, my MacMillans are the first ones you mentioned Angus son of Malcolm, looking for siblings etc, are there any family there now. Also any info on Malcolms wife Mary MacDonald, was wondering if she may have been related to our Flora MacDonald who was married to John MacPherson. Do you have anything on Margaret MacMillan who was married to Duncan MacInnes out of Dunganichy.
Thanks,
Don.

[angusm]

Mary mother of Angus was too early to be in the records so, like our Flora, there is no way I have come across of identifying her. Angus lived according to his death record to 96 so would have been born by 1770 and his mother say in 1740. Angus married at least twice and I suspect three times so I think I have a part of his family rather than the whole. I have a tree somewhere so will look it out and send it to you.

Margaret MacMillan is a different story. There is a letter in the Beaton Institute in Nova Scotia written by Angus Barrach identifying her as his own wife's grandmother or great grandmother, I forget which. Margaret was sister of Alexander MacMillan the blacksmith in Balivanich, grandfather of the Gobha Mor so she was a daughter of Donald [the last man to be buried in the old graveyard in Balivanich] of Murdo. Duncan MacInnes seems the only candidate to be 'Allan's son' the man blessed with second sight, whose brothers emigrated to Cape Breton before 1841 and are recorded by Fr A J MacMillan in his book To the Hill of Boisdale.

It would be good if this conversation drew in someone else with an interest in these families.

[HelenO]

Hello DonnieMac and AngusM
I am tracing the family of John MacMillan who emigrated from Uachdar to Cape Breton in mid-to-late 1840s.  Happy to share any details on John’s family since then – but anxious to learn name of his mother.  Believe his father was “Angus son of Malcolm”.  But who was his mother?  Any ideas of where to look?

HelenO

[angusm]

Angus MacMillan c. 1775-25.10.1867, 16 Uachdar was married three times. John was a son of the first marriage. The registration of John's own marriage establishes that his mother, given name unknown, was a sister of Ranald MacPherson, Knocknamonie 14 Torlum. Ranald was a son of Iain Ban MacPherson died before 1841 and Effy MacDonald. Iain Ban is recorded as mac Iain Bhain 'ic Aonghais but I wonder if Iain Ban son of Iain Ban is one too many and if he was simply son of Angus.

The later wives of Angus were Mary MacPherson, possibly a sister and certainly a close relation of the first wife, who had one son Donald, who settled at 7 Uachdar; and Margaret MacAulay daughter of Donald in Balivanich, who also had the one son Roderick, who succeeded Angus at 16 Uachdar.

I hope this helps - Angus

[HelenO]

Thank you, Angus.  From the 1841 Census in Uachdar (John MacMillan age 30) it would appear that John was born about 1811.  Is John's marriage to Catherine MacDonald (daughter of Michael) recorded in the OPR in the late 1830s? Do you know what parish?  Again, thank you very much for your answer to my question about John's mother.  Thanks.
Helen

[angusm]

The marriage will have been a Catholic one and registered at St Michael's Church, Ardkenneth though it will have taken place in Uachdar, Mr Seumas [Fr James MacGregor] officiating. Some but not all such records seem to have found their way onto the IGI. The only certain way to see the relevant records is, I am afraid, to go to Ardkenneth and see the leather bound originals in person. On the assumption that is not possible for you, somewhere I do have a transcript which I will try to track down in the mass of paper in my studio.

As for Catriona Michael, her sister Ann married Angus MacMillan from Balivanich, a different MacMillan family and they emigrated to settle at Grand Lake, CB. Their father, Michael MacDonald and family also emigrated and are recorded in one of the two Fr MacMillan books, from memory 'A West Wind to East Bay'.

I would be interested in what happened to the descendants of John. Are there any males still with the MacMillan name? I have always hoped some might show up and be tempted to do a Y-DNA test [ a simple cheek swab] as the records frustratingly just fail to go far enough back to allow the Uachdar, Balivanich and my Torlum MacMillans to be sorted out; related or not related?

[HelenO]

Hello Angus.  John MacMillan, in Cape Breton, had eleven children (seven sons and four daughters).  Four of his sons were unmarried; three (Angus, Neil and Alexander) all were married and had children, sons and daughters.  Angus and Neil lived and died in California; Alexander lived all his life on the family homestead at Ball's Creek, Cape Breton.  He did not marry until he was in his fifties, after his father's death in 1909.  Alexander had one son, John (known as Jack) born in Cape Breton.

Now, thanks to your help and direction, I have found Angus MacMillan's death registration on Scotlandspeople.  If you can help me to track down the marriage registration of John and Catherine, it would be wonderful.  I do not see the parish of Ardkenneth listed on the OPRs that are available at Scotlandspeople.  Would it have some other official name? Do you suppose the registration would be available through the Catholic Archives in Edinburgh?  You are right; I can't get to Scotland (at least not this year) myself, but I could write the Catholic Archives if you think it worthwhile.  I can't take the IGI entry unless it is an extracted entry and it is possible to verify the original.

What do you think?
Helen