William Gammell and his wife Margaret Scott had a family of nine children. Details from the Greenock Parish Registers are as follows:
| Magdalene Gemmil | b. 19 June 1728 | d. 28 May 1729 |
| Janet Gamel | b. 23 August 1730 | d. 4 April 1738 |
| William Gemmel | b. 20 June 1732 | d. 1818 or 1819? |
| James Gamel | b. 12 December 1735 | d. 15 September 1825 |
| Robert Gammel | b. 29 November 1736 | d. 29 June 1737 |
| Margaret Gammel | b. 3 August 1738 | d. in adulthood, date unknown |
| Jean Gammel | b. 3 February 1744 | d. 15 February 1744 |
| John Gammel | b. 2 March 1746 | d. unknown |
| Agnes Gammel | b 17 February 1747 | d. unknown |
The first thing to be noted is the haphazard spelling of the surname in the registers. That they are all children of William and Margaret is, however, beyond doubt as in each instance they are named as parents, and William described as 'Shipmaster'.
Although the parish registers contain no record of the deaths in infancy of the two youngest children (recording of deaths ceased to be contained in Registers in 1747) it is almost certain that they did so die, as the memorial stone in Greenock West Churchyard, commemorating William and Margaret and their children, mentions only James and William and 'others of their children who died in infancy'. There is also no marriage record as there is of their sixth child Margaret. Since the life of James is detailed on another page in this site, this page details:
WILLIAM who was the third child and eldest son of William the shipmaster and Margaret Scott, and was born on June 20th 1732. He was educated firstly at Greenock Grammar School, and later graduated at Glasgow University 'Filius Gulielmi Navachae in Greenock' or 'Son of William, shipmaster in Greenock'. We do not know much about what happened to him later in life, except that he is described as a merchant in a land deal in April 1765 in Greenock which is recorded in the books of Sasine (No.422) in Register House in Edinburgh, and in 1820, his younger brother James, the banker, established himself as his heir (Succession of Heirs in Register House 1820). This document tells us very little except that the fact of his brother establishing himself as sole heir, must make it certain that William left neither wife nor children, even if he ever married. The document also indicates that he must have died only a year or two at most before 1820, the date of the document in question, but no record of activity in Greenock has been found, although he may well have been in business there all his life; on the other hand it is even possible he emigrated and.died overseas. Further research in Greenock might reveal something.
He is commemorated on his father's memorial stone in Greenock West Churchyard but without dates of birth or death.
MARGARET We know very little about this lady other than that she married in 1756, as the following extract from the Greenock Parish Register shows:
'September 10th 1756. James Donald merchant and Margaret Gammil daughter of Wm. Gammil shipmaster in the New Parish of Greenock booked to proclamation of banns'.
No records have been traced as to what children this couple had, but it is reasonable to suppose that they had at least one son, as by the will of James Gammell, the banker in 1825, a certain James Gammell Donald was left 100 guineas, and this man must surely have been Margaret's son or even grandson. Another Benjamin Andrew Donald was left £50 in the same will, but whether he also was a descendant of Margaret is not known.
No record of the date of death of Margaret has been found.