49797: Angus Macmillan

Angus Macmillan (1785-1858) was a son of Norman Macmillan and Christina Macleod. it is not clear where the family were living at the time of his birth.

By 1814 the family were settled at 12 Old Eishken.

In Lochs, in 1824, he married Isabella Macleod. Angus and Isabella  settled at 10 Old Eishken where they had five of their nine children. 

In 1835 the family were moved to 5 Old Steimreway where they lived until 1857 when the village was cleared. 

Angus then became the first tenant of 4 Lemreway.

According to local tradition, Angus was press ganged into the Army and served for about 20 years. Communications were difficult at that time and it was virtually impossible to get news of sons serving in the Army in distant lands. The parents, fearing that Angus may have been killed, named their youngest son after him, hence Angus Og, who settled at 12 Kershader.

Oral tradition speaks about the time the men of the Seaforth landlord came to Eishken to press-gang men into the Seaforth Regiment. Some managed to escape over the moors and others pretended they were mentally deficient. Angus was taken and as the party were leaving the village, the cry of a new born baby was heard. When Angus returned home, he married the 20 year old girl whose newly born cry was heard on the day he left the village for Army service. Birthdays, etc were always remembered by relating them to some conspicuous event and Isabella’s birthday was remembered locally as the day the men were lifted by Seaforth.