Alexander McMillan

Planter in Trinidad.

1. Alexander McMillan purchased the sugar plantation Vista Bella estate in North Naparima [Trinidad] on 20 November 1824. An Alexander McMillan was the manager of Felicity Hall estate in 1816. The record for 1819 shows Alexander McMillan of North Naparima as the owner of three “personal slaves” named John Pierre, Fanny Herblin and her son Paulin Herblin. He may have been the Alexander McMillan listed in 1819 as the manager of Marabella estate, a sugar plantation in North Naparima which had title to 97 enslaved people.

2. The 1822 record shows “Triennial Return of Alexander McMillan by his manager I. Campbell of the Quarter of South Naparima of personal slaves being his property. The whole number of Slaves belonging to the said Alexander McMillan is Eight.” They were Fanny and Paulin Herblin, Gregware Todd, Antoine Logan, Tristram McCombie, Louis John, Annette Desire and Mary Rose. John Pierre had since died. Gregware Todd and Antoine Logan listed as Creoles of St. Vincent, are likely to be the two absconders named Gregware and Antoine imported to Trinidad from Grenada.

3. Enslaved in Grenada on the Mount Pleasant estate on the island of Carriacou, Antoine and Gregware stole a canoe, navigated to mainland Grenada in September 1821 and appeared at Government House to complain of ill treatment and insufficient food provisions. An overseer described Gregware as “deficient in duty, and deserving of punishment;” and Antoine as “to be of a most turbulent disposition, and the ringleader of frequent disturbances.” After an investigation their claims were dismissed and they were sent to Trinidad. It is not known how they came into the ownership of Alexander McMillan.

4. Three years later the 1825 record shows Alexander McMillan transferred his eight enslaved people to his recently purchased Vista Bella estate. Between 1822 and 1825 the number of enslaved people on this estate increased from 24 to 52.

5. The record shows ownership of Vista Bella estate in 1828 was with the “heirs of the late Alexander McMillan.” He mortgaged his estate to the firm of Manning and Anderdon on 8 September 1827, and the Triennial Return is dated 16 January 1828. A decrease in the number of enslaved people to 40 (12 deaths), with an increase of four the total number was 44.

6. The 1831 record for Vista Bella estate shows a decrease in the number of enslaved people to 36 (seven deaths and one desertion), with an increase of two the total number was 38.

7. By 1834 the number of enslaved people on the Vista Bella estate decreased with the deaths of seven and one seized by H M Customs, with the return of the deserter the total number was 31. Seven of Alexander McMillan's original eight enslaved men and women were living and working on Vista Bella estate in 1834: Fanny and Paulin Herblin, Gregware Todd, Antoine Logan, Tristram McCombie, Annette Desire and Mary Rose. Louis John had died between 1831 and 1834.

8. Jessie Isabella McMillan, the daughter of Alexander McMillan, was born in Trinidad c. 1821 and migrated from Scotland to New South Wales, arriving on the Boyne in January 1839 and accompanied by her uncle and aunt, Ewen McKinnon and May McKinnon nee McMillan, and their family. Isabella McMillan (MacMullen on certificate) married William Asprey 24/8/1842, Bathurst NSW. Another daughter, Sarah Ann McMillan, was born in Trinidad c. 1821 and emigrated from Scotland to New South Wales, arriving on the Petrel in November 1849. Sarah McMillan married William McKenzie 17/07/1850 in Goulburn, NSW.

We are grateful to Penny Armstrong for compiling this entry.

1. T71/1256; T71/502 p. 997; T71/509 p.1516; T71/508 p.1234.

2. T71/510 p.1993; Abigail Bernard, 'Three Men in a Canoe: Researching Caribbean Family History', 13 June 2014, http://lbsatucl.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/three-men-in-a-canoe-researching-caribbean-family-history/ [accessed 25/9/2014].

3. Abigail Bernard, 'Three Men in a Canoe'. Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, Third Report of the Commissioner of Inquiry into the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice in the West Indies, 5th October 1826, pp. 281-2.

4. T71/512 pp. 92-93; T71/512 p.195; T71/513 pp.1813-14.

5. T71/1256; T71/515 p.1988; T71/515 p. 29; T71/515 p. 365.

6. T71/517 p. 2161; T71/517 p. 24; T71/517 p. 119 [omission of name of Vista Bella and Folio no. 1814 (Baker family – refer 1825 T71/513 pp.1813-14)]; T71/517 p. 142.

7. T71/519 p. 2402; T71/519 p. 15; T71/519 p. 91; T71/519 p. 112; T71/519 p. 118.

8. State Records NSW: Colonial Secretary; NRS 5313, Persons on Government ships, Aug 1837-Feb 1840 [4/4780], Reel 2654. http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5313/4_4780/Boyne_2%20Jan%201839/4_478000086.jpg&No=4. State Records NSW: Colonial Secretary; NRS 5314, Entitlement certificates of persons on bounty ships 1832-42 [4/4825-91], Reel 1299. (Ancestry database online). NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages: Wesleyan marriages; 1839-1850, 1842/no. 51 vol. 83. Jessie Isabella was listed as McMullen/McMullin in the immigration records. State Records NSW: Colonial Secretary, NRS 5316, Persons on bounty ships, [4/4786], Reel 2135. http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook/list.asp?Page=NRS5316/4_4786/Petrel_19%20Nov%201849/4_478600412.jpg&No=9. State Records NSW: Colonial Secretary, NRS 5317, Persons on bounty ships to Sydney, Newcastle and Moreton Bay ('Board's Immigrant Lists'), 1848-91 [4/4912], Reel 2459. (Ancestry database online). NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages: 1850/no. 199 vol. 79.