Missing Donald and Jean McPhail, Campbeltown, daughter Charlotte (1846-1892)

[Rosinish]

The VRs only list the main Tenant/Occupier Owner/Occupier, not children/lodgers etc. i.e. the 'Head' of house in the census' would seem most likely.

It was Alexander & Margaret McPhail you weren't sure about re who Charlotte was living with 1851/1861

If Alexander was still alive in 1861, regardless of where he was on census night, his name should be on the VRs i.e. is the address on those census' different i.e. area of Campbeltown?

Which area is given for "Drumgard"?

Annie

[Hwby]

The VRs only list the main Tenant/Occupier Owner/Occupier, not children/lodgers etc. i.e. the 'Head' of house in the census' would seem most likely.

It was Alexander & Margaret McPhail you weren't sure about re who Charlotte was living with 1851/1861

If Alexander was still alive in 1861, regardless of where he was on census night, his name should be on the VRs i.e. is the address on those census' different i.e. area of Campbeltown?

Which area is given for "Drumgard"?

Annie

Hi Annie,

There's no area for Drumgard - that's literally all the 'address' says. I thought it might be a farm, but I've not found it if it is. There's no Drumgard I can find in the VR, either.

[Rosinish]

I'm hopeless with maps & could only find Millknowe Road...

Is there a house number on the Millknowe census entry?

Another way of checking, not always with success but is to check the neighbors on both census' which can often help.

I've had census records with different entries but the same place.

What I was asking was, are both addresses in Campbeltown?

Annie

[Hwby]

I'm hopeless with maps & could only find Millknowe Road...

Is there a house number on the Millknowe census entry?

Another way of checking, not always with success but is to check the neighbors on both census' which can often help.

I've had census records with different entries but the same place.

Annie

I've seen on 19th Century OS maps there seems to be an area called Mill know, just off where today's Millknow Road is - the area that now seems to be called Calton. Looking at the OS map, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of housing there, so no road per se to have an address.

But I don't understand maps very well!

[Rosinish]

Ok, how were the neighbours listed in terms of address?

Have you looked at the header of both census' which may help?

I also forgot we were in 1851 & VRs start in 1855 

Annie

[Rosinish]

"MILLKNOWE ROAD [Campbeltown] A street or road, extending from End of Longrow Street to Mill Knowe; And continuation of Longrow Street"

Scroll down here...

https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/argyll-os-name-books-1868-1878/argyll-volume-78/74

We were in the right place with maps but reading it is clearer I think?

Annie

[Istrice]

With reference to Drumgard, could this be a misheard "Drumgarve" which was a farm to the west of Peninver, just north of Cambeltown.

If you follow the Lussa Water upstream from its mouth at Ardnacross Bay, Drumgarve (Drumgarbh?) lies on the north bank very close to the eastern edge of the attached map. (https://maps.nls.uk/view/74427530)][url](https://maps.nls.uk/view/74427530)[/url].

You may also find this Kintyre site of interest (http://www.ralstongenealogy.com/kintyreplaces.htm)

Istrice

[Forfarian]

Margaret McPhail or Cameron, mother's suranem McLean, died in Campbeltown in 1869 aged 68.

Margaret McPhail, daughter of Archibald McPhail and Jean McLean, was baptised in Campbeltown on 22 October 1799. So it looks fairly certain that this is Charlotte's aunt Margaret Cameron with whom she was living in 1861.

Archibald McPhail and Jean McLean were married on 24 January 1797 and also had
Mary, baptised 17 April 1797 (no mother's name given but probably their firstborn)
James, baptised 1 November 1801
John, baptised 24 September 1807
Archibald, baptised 17 December 1809
Jean, baptised 19 March 1812
Mary, baptised 2 March 1815
Donald, baptised 13 May 1818

Jean, baptised on 19 March 1812, would have been exactly 29 on the day of the 1841 census, and that is the age of Charlotte's mother recorded in the 1841 census. So I think it's pretty well certain that Charlotte's maternal grandparents were Archibald McPhail and Jean McLean.

Archibald McPhail, aged 80, died at Millknow on 7 May 1856, parents Robert McPhail and Margaret Milloy, who will be Charlotte's great-grandparents.

[Forfarian]

In 1851 Charlotte's eldest brother and sister were in the household of Dunn McMillan, butcher, aged 34, and his wife Mary. Their children are Janet, 10; Archibald, 8; Jane, 7; Mary, 4; Dunn, 2; and Margaret under 1 year.

These match the children of Duncan McMillan and Mary McPhail, married 2 July 1840
Janet, baptised 18 April 1841
Archibald, 3 July 1842
Jane, 14 April 1844
Mary, 6 September 1846
Duncan, 17 December 1848
Margaret, 3 November 1850
and there are two later children,
James Alexander, 24 July 1854
Barbara, born 22 November 1856

In 1861 Mary's age is given as 44, which is a year or so out, but close enough for her to have been another sister of Charlotte's mother.

It looks as if Duncan might be the son of Duncan McMillan and Janet Armour, baptised 5 April 1815.  However I have not found Duncan and family in 1871 or later, and I have not found likely deaths, so perhaps, unlike Donald and Jean, perhaps Duncan and Mary did emigrate.