Norman McMillan was my gggrandfather. On the 1871 Census he was shown to be 78, born in Scotland and Presbyterian. Therefore born c1793. He died in 1877. He was a farmer (who possibly married another McMillan, whose first name was possibly Lelia). They had five sons and one daughter.

We do not know where he came from in Scotland. My father recollects the 'oldies' saying something about Oban, but that is not much help because that may be where they left from. Can't find him on any shipping list online. The earliest he could have arrived in Nova Scotia (or perhaps Prince Edward Island) is about 1794 inwards. There were/are other McMillans (or McMullans) around where he lived, and some of them went to New Zealand, which Norman's son William did. William came out to New Zealand on one of the ships, which followed the Rev. Norman McLeod from St. Annes in Cape Breton to Waipu in New Zealand. No one has been able to establish any link with the other McMillans around there, but there may have been.

We have copies of some letters written from Nova Scotia between 1859 and 1874. From these we are pretty sure that Norman was the brother of Angus McMillan who lived at Big Harbour, in Cape Breton. Because a descendant of Angus has done some research, we believe there is a possibility that Norman may have come from Stornaway. He also had a
brother Murdoch, and Donald, who lived in 'Canada', not Cape Breton!

Incidentally, although in the letters Norman and his sons always wrote 'McMillan', on a land deed Norman is shown as McMullan, and in his will McMullan and McMillan were used interchangeably. Norman signed the will with his mark, so presumably could not write. I think he used a scribe in the letters, his son Norman, and it may have been the sons who
standardized on McMillan. His brother Angus's deed was in the name of McMillan.

I have fairly good records of those who were/are his descendants in New Zealand, and can trace some of his Nova Scotian family through census and cemetery records. We also know that one son ended up in Brookline Mass. William McMillan died aged 43 in New Zealand (possibly from too much whisky!) and left a wife and eight children, the youngest two years
old. William was a Gaelic speaker, but his children only used the odd word. We are not sure that he transplanted well. He is said to have been intelligent, and worked as a surveyor and builder and carpenter. Probably did any work that was available. He always called himself a 'settler', but we are not sure that he did in fact settle.

What I am trying to do is to see if we can find a link to some McMillans from Cape Breton, so that we can find out where Norman may have come from in Scotland. The paper trail has so far petered out, but I am still trying.