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MacGillivray of Mull Heritage Project
The Mull MacGillivray Heritage Project grew from a family-history search into a wider exploration of the people, places and experiences that shaped generations of MacGillivrays connected with the Isle of Mull.
Through genealogical records, estate papers, census returns, maps, newspapers, migration records and the surviving landscape, the project seeks to recover lives that might otherwise remain little more than names and dates.
Why the Project Began
The project began with research into William A. Allan’s own MacGillivray ancestors and their connections with places including Burg, Shiaba, Killunaig, Pennyghael and Iona.
What started as one family story gradually opened onto wider questions about land, crofting, migration, community and the Highland Clearances.
The result is an ongoing attempt to place individual families back into the landscapes and historical circumstances in which they lived.
How the Research Is Done
The project is evidence-led.
Where a relationship, event or identification is supported by documentary evidence, that is stated clearly. Where the surviving record allows only a probability or possibility, that distinction is maintained.
Sources may include:
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civil registration and parish records
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census returns
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estate and tenancy records
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newspapers and directories
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passenger and migration records
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maps and land records
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family documents, photographs and correspondence
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field research on Mull and elsewhere
That short list is worth having because it signals seriousness to human readers and search engines alike.
More Than Genealogy
This project is not only about reconstructing family trees.
It also explores the communities in which MacGillivray families lived, the land they worked, the pressures they faced, the routes they travelled and the wider historical changes that shaped their lives.
That means genealogy sits alongside local history, migration history and research into the Highland Clearances.
About William A. Allan
William A. Allan is an Australian author and historical researcher with a long-standing interest in the MacGillivrays of Mull.
His family-history research has taken him from Scottish archival records and Mull landscapes to migration records and descendants across Australia and Canada.
That research has also informed his historical fiction, including Echoes of the Clearances and Dispossessed.
For books, author information, events and speaking engagements, visit Eagle’s Rest Press.
An Ongoing Project
The Mull MacGillivray Heritage Project continues to grow as new records, family connections and historical evidence emerge.
Its purpose is simple: to preserve, test and share what can still be recovered about the MacGillivrays of Mull and the world in which they lived.