South Knapdale McGilps

[CaliGal]

I've been trying to learn more about my 4th great grandparents John McGilp and Cathrine McMillan who married 1811 in South Knapdale, Argyllshire. I found baptisms for 6 daughters from 1816 to 1827. Then in 1831 a baptism for a son John, to John McGilp and Mary McMillan (second wife??).
John McGilp and Catherine McMillan's children:
1816 Cathrine
1818 Christian
1820 Betty
1823 Isabella
1825 Marron
1827 Margaret

In the South Knapdale baptism records John is recorded as crofter (1818-1823) or weaver, always at Ballimenach/Ballemonoch. (I found Ballimenach Farmhouse on Kildalloig Estate near Campbeltown - but I'm assuming that's too far from South Knapdale to be their residence?)

I cannot find any of the family (except my ggg grandmother Isabella McGilp/McKillop who married Duncan Campbell) in the censuses. I'm wondering if the family all emigrated, leaving Isabella behind. She married Duncan in January 1851 and is in Tarbert in the 1861 census, then in Campbeltown after that. I'm at a loss about where to go next to find Isabella's parents or what happened to her siblings.

Dena

[Shona]

Hi Dena,

This may be John McGilp in 1861:

Goatfield
John McGilp, head, 75, crofter, b Cumlodden
Ann Campbell, niece, 20, servant, b Tarbert
Nary Thomson, visitor, 8, scholar, b Glasgow

And this is the same man in 1871:

Tidhuafectine or Cumlodden
John McGilp, head, 85, retired crofter, b Kilmichael parish, Argyll

Have you checked the Knapdale People database? I had a quick look and the births are there, but the family don't seem to have been recorded there in any censuses, so they are likely to have moved away.

As regards the mother of John and the possibility of a second marriage to another McMillan, it may be an error on behalf of the minister. They didn't tend to write the entries at the time, but took notes and filled in the baptisms, etc, later. So an error could have been made.

I'll do some more digging around to see what I find.

[Shona]

They may have lived in the Ballymeanoch in Kilmartin Glen - famous for its standing stones.

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/39 ... lymeanoch/

Goatfield and Cumlodden - the places where that John McGilp was living when the 1861 and 1871 census was taken is on this map:

http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/catalogue/geog/c/5017/

[CaliGal]

Shona, you are the Wonder Woman of Argyll genealogy. Thank you, for the help you provide.

I'm wondering if I have the wrong set of parents. In at least 4 censuses, Isabella McKillop Campbell is listed as born in Tarbert. But it looks like Tarbert is rather far away from Ballymeanoch in Kilmartin Glen. And her death record, in 1903, says her father was a fisherman.
I don't suppose the wife would have traveled to Tarbert to have her children with family? My great grandmother did that, but that was the 1920s in the US.

I had found the Knapdale people website, interesting that the location listed for the baptism records is "Ballimeanach"... I never suspected "ea" when reading the images, so it seems someone had a location in mind when they transcribed them. That website also fueled the idea that perhaps the family emigrated.

[Shona]

When I was searching earlier, I came across a McGilp fisherman. I'll see if I can find the recird again to check if there are any links. Prob have to do this tomorrow now. If OK with you, I can pose your query on a forum dedicated to genealogy, which I am a member of.

There is a public tree in Ancestry which names the patents of Isabella Campbell nee McGilp as John and Catherine. However, that tree has no other children born to John and Catherine.

...and there are a lot of Tarbets/Tarberts in Argyll.

[CaliGal]

You're welcome to post the question elsewhere.

and there are a lot of Tarbets/Tarberts in Argyll.

Argh, well, that is good to know.

[Shona]

I've found a reference in Scotland's Places from 1868 which lists: 'Balamenach (ruins).' It's in South Knapdale. So we can rule out the place with the standing stones as it's too far away and also the Campbeltown one.

Will check some old maps to see if I can locate it correctly.

[Shona]

Hi Dena,

We had a go at trying to find your missing McGilps today on the Genealogists' Forum.

Here is the thread. Hope the link works!

http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/foru ... hp?t=18831

The John McGilp I posted about earlier on this thread on KF is probably not your man. However, there is another one in Tarbert who is a better fit - the age is right and he is a weaver, which was his occupation when John was born. However, this one has a wife named Jane/Jean who he married in 1848. If this is the right person, then Catherine died before statutory registration. I wonder if the old parish record would show if this John was a widower when he married Jean.

On searching for the children, we feel there is a possibility for John, working as a fisherman in Tarbert - living in the same street as Isabella. There is a chance that Betty married a man named Archibald Smith - another fishermen. The other children may have died young. I think there was a cholera outbreak in 1832 and in the 1840s, many families were affected by the potato famine, which affected Scotland as well as Ireland. However, there is a death of a Margaret McGilp, age 78, in North Knapdale in 1890. Playing around with the search facility on Scotland's People, the name McMillan is also associated with this record. Mum's maiden name, perhaps? Or the McGilp surname may be Margaret's married name.

Proving any of this is another matter, though!

So far, I've not found anything obvious for the family in Canada or the US. Although a lot of people left Kintyre and Knapdale in the 1840s.

Hopefully, the link will work, of not, please let me know and I will post the findings here.

Oh - and the 1841 census records for Tarbert have been lost, which explains a lot!

Still haven't been able to locate where the children were born on old maps, but if it was already in ruins by the 1860s, it may not have been recorded.

Hope this helps.

[Shona]

At last - found the ruins of Balamenach on a map - they are on the other side of the loch from West Tarbert on this map.

http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/recor ... ci/os6inch

[CaliGal]

Thanks for all the information. I'm working my way through it. Also contacting tree owners on ancestry to see if they have any information.
Would Balamenach across from West Tarbert be a town or a single property/farm?

I have Duncan Campbell in the "Village of Tarbert", parish of Kilcalmonell in the 1841 census. So I guess the 1841 census records for South Knapdale's Tarbert is missing but not for Kilcalmonell's half.

[Shona]

Looking at the map, Balamenach seems to be a collection of scattered, small buildings (two or three?). Just the outlines are shown which indicate that the buildings have lost their roofs (which would have been rough thatch) with only the walls remaining. This ties in with the description of the settlement being in ruins.