3

The Wandering Scots The McMillans

Volume III

The History of a Family

Birchards, McMillans and Rears By

Edna Manning Laughter

The Scots are a very odd people and always have been,

a sort of animated contradiction in terms,

capable of higher heights and lower depths than most,

courageous, adventurous, intemperate, disputatious,

romantic—however much they may disclaim it—

sentimental, religious in the widest sense,

and much more.

All of which ensures that their history has to be the reverse of dull,

much of it scarcely believable in fact.1

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INTRODUCTION It is interesting to see how different people approach a new book. One Birchard descendant,

after ordering two copies of Book I, said her dad sat down and read right through it, from the

beginning. Yet she, herself, preferred to flip through it and read whatever caught her eye the first

time. I think I would probably take the second approach, but each person is different. With this

volume, I might recommend the reader start with Part Two, ―All Things Scottish‖ to give some

background needed for understanding other parts, and hopefully will raise interests that will be dealt

with at a deeper level elsewhere in the book. I would also suggest reading Graeme Mackenzie‘s letters

in Appendix A and B first, along with the beginning three or four pages of Part Four, ―The McMillans

of Ontario‖. These pages will act as a roadmap and give the reader an idea of where he or she is

headed. There are references to the Middle Ages thought by scholars as lasting for 1000 years,

roughly from 500 A. D. to 1500 A. D. including most of what we think of today as Western Europe.

The three subperiods are early (500-1000), High (1000-1300) and late Middle Ages (1300-1500).

This is an immense story condensed into a few pages. It is impossible to tell our own

McMillan story without the broader historic picture. The story of the MacMillans doesn‘t always

coincide with the history of Scotland, and the MacMillan story takes precedence here. A good,

general history of Scotland will help to fill in. The maps included in the book are specific to the text,

and an examination of a modern map of Scotland will help to provide the background.

There are many references to people who lived up to 1500 years ago. We wonder how

accurate that part of the story can be. There were records kept, and if a man had done something such

as sign the Ragman role, his name was then on a manuscript and he was said to be ―Flourishing‖ on

the date he signed the role. Therefore, many of the records of the men in our story are based on the

flourishing dates. This is useful when we don‘t know birth and death dates.

There is much information that can be gleaned from the Internet, and I decided there is no

point in duplicating what is already available. I highly recommend the reader look at The Clan

MacMillan web site. There are pictures and information about Finleystone and our Clan Chief,

George Gordan MacMillan.

There are other web sites you might like to visit. Undiscovered Scotland is a website with a

wealth of maps, history, biography, pictures, battles and just about anything else you would like to

know about Scotland, including how to make haggis and rumbledethumps. The Scotch shortbread is

wonderful, too: www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk.

Another web site, The British Civil Wars, The Commonwealth and The Protectorate,

simplifies and presents this time in history very accurately. It is continually updated and has been

selected for preservation by the British Library: www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/index.htm.

By clicking around on another huge website, you can see all kinds of interesting biographies,

name lists, maps, and much else about the Knapdale people, the people who lived around Castle

Sween during a long time period: www.knapdalepeople.com/index.html. This link will take you to a

book written about a case study of a Highland Clearance in Knapdale, involving MacMillans:

www.knapdalepeople.com/ArEssay.htm. The description of the book states:

This book highlights one violent summer in one Argyll village. In doing so, it reveals

the forces that ensured the death of the West Highland way of life. In 1848, the

landowner terminated the leases of four tenant farmers in Arichonan. To the surprise

and fear of Argyll law enforcement, the people in this hilltop village did not peacefully

leave their homes: they mobbed and they rioted. Moreover, they were joined by 100

to 200 people from the surrounding area, who harassed the police officers trying to

enforce the „of Removing‟.

This web site is especially interesting since Knapdale was the site of Castle Sween.

15

Map of Early Settlements in Scotland

During the Early Christian period, Ireland and what was to become

Scotland were linked by the migratory habits of the Gaels, or the Gaelic

speaking Celts. Ireland was made up of at least 120 chiefdoms, typically

each having about 700 warriors. One of these petty kingdoms was Dal

Riata, occupying a corner of County Antrim in Ireland, Ireland’s most

northwestern part. About A. D. 400, people from Dal Riata began to settle

across the Irish Sea along the Scottish coast, apparently without much

opposition. Other Irish migrants were also establishing footholds along the

coast farther south, as far as Wales and Cornwall. The migrants from Dal

Riata were known to the Romans as “Scoti” and they eventually gave their

Gaelic language and their name to what would later become Scotland.

As far as is known, the only people living in Scotland at that time were the

Picts. Roman writers described how the Picts had the help of Irish (Scoti)

tribes during an attack along Hadrian’s Wall in A. D. 297, so connections

across the Irish Sea must have already been established.

The Picts lived mainly in eastern Scotland where they left Pictish place-

names (typically beginning with “Pett” or “Pit”) and Pictish symbol stones,

each bearing the crest of a petty king and that of his father. They were the

equivalent of a medieval coat of arms. Romans described the Picts as

barbarians and mentioned their use of blue paint, misinterpreted by the

movie “Braveheart”. More likely the Picts were heavily tattooed.

21

A Pictish standing stone.

The Beginnings In order to understand the beginnings of the MacMillans,

it is necessary to go back to the beginning of Scottish history.

Alba was the Pictish kingdom that later became Scotland. The

Picts were Celts who worked their way west, going around the

northern Mediterranean shores into Spain where they left the

Basques, to France where they left the Bretons, to Ireland and on to

Cornwall, Wales and Alba. This journey took many centuries.

They probably reached Alba about 500 B. C. The Greek name first

appeared in 297A. D. and is thought to mean ―painted or tattooed

people‖. The Romans also had a name for them: ―pingere‖,

meaning ―paint‖ or ―pictor‖, meaning ―a painter‖. This might refer

to carved symbol stones they left behind. The Celtic origin was

probably ―Pehta‘ or ―Peihta‖ meaning ―fighters‖. The Gaels

(Gaelic speaking Celts) of Ireland and the Irish kingdom of Dal

Riata called the Picts ―Cruithne‖. There were Cruithne in Ulster

including the kings of Dal Riata.

The Picts were wheat-growing settlers. Despite their

wanderings, they were able to keep their character and culture

intact. They did not leave a record of a written language, but they

did have a heritage of literacy, at least in monasteries. Carvings

show books being carried and read. The Picts did become

Christians, and the church required literacy and could not function without copyists to produce

liturgical documents. The Picts also had the highly developed ability to create stone circles. These

were used for astronomical purposes and were geometrically linked with other circles that were used

for determining the solstices, seasons and calendars. They carved their history into standing stones, in

which they portrayed hunting scenes, battles and strange, wonderful animals.

The Picts were farmers living in small communities. Sheep and pigs were numerous and

cattle and horses were an indication of one‘s wealth. Carvings show hunting with dogs and falcons.

Cereal crops were grown as well as vegetables. Wool was the main source of fibers for clothing. Flax

was grown but it is unclear if it was for the fiber or the

flax seed that provided oil.

The Scots arrived in the 490‘s A. D. when the

sons of Erc, an Irish sub-king, crossed the North

Channel and extended their father‘s Irish kingdom of

Dal Riata in northeast Ulster to the Scottish west coast.

Three of the brothers were Loarn, Fergus, and Angus:

The three sons of Erc son of pleasant Eochu,

Three who got the blessing of Patrick,

Took Alba, high was their vigour,

Loarn, Ferghus, and Aonghus8

The Scots were also Celts but did not speak the

same language as the Picts. The Scots spoke Gael. Dal

Riata was in sight of the Mull of Kintyre, one of the long

fingers of land extending into the North Channel

between the Scottish Sea and the Irish Sea. Kintyre was

then part of Alba, the land that included the rest of The Picts were skilled metalworkers.

Map of Early Settlements

in Scotland.

Early Settlements in Scotland

24

The seven great provinces of Alba were:

Fife, Strathearn, Angus, Mar and Buchan,

Moray, Ross and Caithness (see page 22).

Two more provinces, Monteith and Lennox,

were added later. The provinces were

governed by mormaors who became known

as the Seven Earls of Scotland.

Somerled was the ancestor of the

MacDonald Clan, who became the Lord of

the Isles (see page 47). His extensive

Kingdom is shown by the broken dotted

line. It contained the Kintyre Peninsula

and much of what was Dal Riata.

Map showing the Seven Great Provinces of Alba

Key to map:

48

A reproduced crannog in Loch Tay, with Ben Lawers

in the distance.

Loch Tay and Ben Lawers The church lands granted by the crown in Loch Tayside to Malcolm and his family were at the

base of a range of mountains including Ben Lawers. The Gaelic name is translated as ―Hill of the

Labhair (loud) stream.‖ Ben Lawers is the highest peak in Perthshire at 3984 feet high. It is grassy

and displays wildflowers in the summer and snow in the winter (see maps on page 32 and 83).

Loch Tay occupies a deep pre-glacial valley and lies south of this mountain range. It is 15

miles long, averages a mile wide, and is slightly ―S‖ shaped. The village of Killin is on the western

end. The River Tay starts at the village of Kenmore at the eastern end of Loch Tay and runs for 120

miles to the sea, through the town of Dunkeld.

Scottish place names with ―Kil‖ in them come from the Gaelic word ―ceali‖ meaning cell.

Since monks were associated with cells, the word soon became connected with a saint or a church. In

the case of Killin, it may be ―Cill finn‖ or white church; or it may be from ―Kilfin‖ for Saint Fingal

who may be buried there. Or, it may be from ―cilltean‖ meaning―burying place‖.

At one time the shores of

Loch Tay were the home to many

small farming communities, mostly

destroyed in the times of the

Clearances. Many remains of these

small communities can still be seen

along the lochsides, on the hills above

the loch and in the old village of Lawers on the south shore.

Signs of earlier communities may also be observed in the shape of

ancient stone circles, standing sones and

carved ―rings and cup‖ markings on the

rocks.

Even earlier were the crannogs in

the loch. These were primitive dwellings

on stilts or on artificial islands. They were

built and used over an extended period of

time from about 5000 B. C. throught the

1600s A. D. Crannogs were made when

layers of rocks were deposited and built up

in the lochs and then shored up with stakes

driven into the loch bed. Many were

connected to the land by causeways.

Sometimes the causeways were slightly

submerged so would-be invaders would

not readily see them. Often the crannogs

were fortified and were used as single-

family dwellings or for an extended

family. Others were important royal or

monastic centers. During medieval time, crannogs were sometimes used as fishing or hunting bases

while others became fortified strongholds of the Scottish clans. Some Scottish castles were built on

older crannogs.

197

From left: Frank, Clifford, Ella & T. E.

Taken January 26, 1916 at Niagara Falls,

New York. From left: Elsie, Clifford,

Ella, T. E.

In November, 1914, T. E. and Ella went to Saskatchewan to visit his sister, Alma McMillan

Rear, and her family. T. E. mentions his nephews, Clint, Elwood and Emerson Rear. The diary

describes lots of good times before T. E. and Ella went east to Manitoba to visit his niece, Bertha Rear

Smith. That trip was followed by another in 1916 to Niagara Falls.

.

1914

Nov 12 This morning we woke up in Saskatchewan. It is snowing quite hard. We arrived in

Kamsack about 9 A. M. We bought ourselves some overshoes and went home with

A. W. Rear. Elwood and Emerson Rear came over and spent the morning with us

before they go on a moose hunt.

Nov 16 I helped Alf to bank his house and fix his storm shed. The weather is cold.

Nov 17 30 below zero. Today we loaded in and drove 10 miles to Clint Rear‘s to visit.

Back at A.W. Rear‘s tonight.

Nov 19 Pretty cold this morning. We got a fellow to run us out to Harry Willson‘s with an

automobile. We had quite an exciting time. The automobile started backwards

with us down the hill.

Nov 25 This afternoon we started for Dauphin. We got there just at dark. We went to see

the movies with the Nelson Taylor‘s. At midnight Ella and I took the train for

Gladstone (Manitoba). We arrived at 3:50 A. M.

Nov 26 We hired a livery to drive us out to Noble Smith‘s. We visited very fast till bedtime.

At midnight two sleigh loads of men started out for a moose hunt. They expect to

drive 80 miles or more.

Nov 27 We visit hard with Bertha and her bright little family of six children. At noon a

young man started with us to Gladstone. At 2:30 P.M. we took the C. N. train for

Winnipeg. Put up at the Bell Hotel. After supper we took a long stroll down the

street.

Nov 28 Shop at Eaton‘s store till near noon. At 12:25 we board the C. P. R. train for Fargo.

We arrived there at 10 P. M. We put up at the Prescott Hotel.

249

Our Family

James

McMillanMay 24 1788 - Aug 16 1857

Elizabeth

Burnsabt 1790 - Mar 15 1882

Samuel

BirchardNov 22 1787 - Jul 1863

Ruth

PearsonMar 10 1807 - Apr 1863

Thomas

McMillanNov 23 1835 - Sep 28 1882

Martha

BirchardOct 20 1842 - Dec 1913

Elizabeth Alma

McMillanJan 18 1864 - Nov 16 1942

Elizabeth Alma McMillan

Rear (#1114)

264

Clarence Garfield McMillan (#1508)

Clarence with his sister, Alma

Irene McMillan (#1512)

Our Family

ThomasMcMillan

Nov 23 1835 - Sep 28 1882

MarthaBirchard

Oct 20 1842 - Dec 1913

WilliamBassett

-

HarrietWiddifield

abt 1841 -

Thomas ElwoodMcMillan

Apr 15 1867 - May 9 1947

LuellaBassett

Oct 2 1868 - Apr 13 1953

Clarence GarfieldMcMillan

Dec 22 1894 - Jan 20 1920 of pneumonia