Family Trail
Presenting the evidence
The
knowledge I started out with, remembered from my mother, is
(1) that her family is descended from the Camerons of Erracht;
(2) that her childhood is somehow connected to a small place called
Kilbarchan, in Scotland; and
(3) that she had an Aunt Grace who lived in Scotland.
Indeed I remember meeting 'Auntie Gracie' when I was young. I knew my maternal grandparents. Grandad Cameron picked up a nasty foot infection, thought to be from the beach at Bridlington or Scarborough, and had to have a foot amputated. Due to gangrene, several other amputations followed on the same leg, but he died when I was seven years old. Grandma Cameron died when I was twelve.
My mother's birth certificate, in my possession, gives her parents' names and mother's maiden surname, Ferguson, and their date and place of marriage.
The headstone in the cemetary at Lawnswood, Leeds implies a birth year for both of my grandparents of 1870.
The marriage record of Duncan Cameron and Margaret McCrone Ferguson on 25th December 1897 gives their ages as 27, confirming 1870 as the birth year. The marriage took place at 18 Walkinshaw Street, Johnstone, which was noted as the residence of Margaret. The names of the parents of each are given in the record, and those of Duncan are John Cameron (Hand Loom Weaver: deceased) and Elizabeth Cameron, maiden surname Murphy.
The birth record of Duncan indicates a birth date of 16th February 1870, at Kilbarchan, and notes the parents to be John Cameron and Elizabeth Cameron (maiden surname Murphy) of Steeple Street, and that their marriage took place on 16th April 1852 at Kilbarchan.
It has been found that a study of Census returns provides a useful structure on which to base the search for records of births, marriages and deaths. The earliest useful Census is that for 1841.
In the 1851 Census, an Elizabeth Murphy, 18 years old, is recorded as being a House Servant in the household of a John Orr, a merchant, and his family in Steeple Street, Kilbarchan. The marriage record of John and Elizabeth confirms the date and place of marriage. In the 1861 Census are John and Elizabeth with five children at Church Street, Kilbarchan, Renfrew. All were born in Kilbarchan except the mother, Elizabeth, who was born in County Antrim, N. Ireland. In the 1871 Census John and Elizabeth appear, with five children, at Steeple Square, Kilbarchan, Renfrew. Three of the children appearing in the 1861 Census are not there, but there are three others. John is recorded as being a Wool Weaver. They appear in the 1881 Census, with four children, at Cartside Road, Kilbarchan. In the 1891 Census John no longer appears. Elizabeth is there, with four children, still at Cartside Road, Kilbarchan. John's death record indicates that he died on 16th August 1889 aged 60, and that his parents were John Cameron (deceased) Handloom Weaver, and that his mother, also deceased, had a maiden surname of Mitchell. (The ages of John and Elizabeth are reasonably consistent throughout these Censuses, except that Elizabeth must have been 22, not 18, in 1851. But the enumerators employed at that time sometimes estimated ages.)
John and Elizabeth had twelve children in all, of whom eight survived less than 18 years (four of them less than 5 years). My grandfather, Duncan, was the tenth child of this family, and only one other, Robert, married. Ann survived unmarried at least to age 33, and probably did not marry at all.
**********************************
A marriage record states that a John Cameron and a Janet Mitchell were married on 7th December 1821 at Kilbarchan.
In the 1841 Census John and Janet Cameron appear with seven children, including John, aged 12. This age is consistent with the birth year of John of 1829 implied by earlier records including the death record. Both parents, John and Janet, are said to be 40, and John is a Silk Hand Loom Weaver. They lived in Shuttle Street, Kilbarchan. Only John (the father) is said to have not been born in Renfrew. In the 1851 Census John and Janet have five children at home in 12 Shuttle Street, Kilbarchan. This time the ages of the parents are said to be 56 and 52 respectively. All had been born in Kilbarchan except John, whose birthplace is stated to have been Callander, Perthshire. A further person present at the Census date was Duncan Cameron, father (of the head of the house), aged 98, an 'Ag. Lab.', born in Rannoch, Perthshire. In the 1861 Census John and Janet are recorded as being 68 and 62 respectively. There are two unmarried daughters at home, but not John's father Duncan! John is a Silk Weaver, and confirmed as being born in Callander, Perthshire. In the 1871 Census another family occupies 12 Shuttle Street, Kilbarchan but, as mentioned earlier, the next generation headed by son John are there at Steeple Square. However John and Janet, with their unmarried daughter Mary are at Cart Side, which is noted on the Census Return as being 'Cameron's Land'. It seems they might have bought or leased the property, and there were two other families living there also. Cartside. Comparison of a current map with an O.S. map surveyed in 1857 shows that : (a) the present day small terrace of old houses (pictured under John Cameron) do not appear in 1857, but could possibly have been built just after the survey ; (b) there were a Cartside House and a Cartside Villa in the earlier map, both now gone, but the locations are identifiable around half a mile north-east of the railway station at Milliken Park , and both with access south from Graham Street, the road from Kilbarchan into Johnstone ; (c) on both maps there is a 'Cartside' located just south of Tandlehill, with access from the Tandlehill Road. It appears from inspection from that road to be a farm, and it lies just a couple of fields from the present-day A737, which passes between it and the River Cart.
The years of birth implied by the ages given in the earlier Censuses are somewhat erratic, but as noted above the earlier Censuses are given to approximation.
Analysis of the Census Returns and searches of the Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, reveals that John and Janet (married 7 December 1821) had seven children, six of whom survived to adult-hood. No records have been found for the other child, Jean. All the others married except Duncan, who died unmarried aged 26. Birth records are hard to come by, as all the children were born before compulsory registration was required in 1855. As it is likely that at least the earlier Camerons were a Jacobite family, they were probably Episcopalians, whose parish registers have not survived in any quantity. [See Appendix 1 for an analysis of the Census Returns]
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So now on to the generation prior to John and Janet. The only Census in which a member of that generation has been found is the 1851 Census, noted above, where Duncan Cameron (John's father) is at Kilbarchan. To date a search for him in a Census for 1841 has not been successful, though the Censuses of Port of Menteith, Balquhidder and Strathblane (Stirling) have been searched, together with a number of other parishes, mainly in Stirlingshire.
John Cameron died at Cartside, Kilbarchan on 2nd May 1877, and his death record reveals that his parents were Duncan Cameron (Farm Labourer, deceased) and Grace Cameron (maiden surname Kennedy, deceased). A search at the Edinburgh General Registry failed to reveal any Grace Kennedys, but there were a number of Grisell Kennedys (with no less than eight different spellings of Grisell, but for consistency we shall use the spelling of our ancestor's name as it appears on her birth record, except where a record actually uses a different spelling !) It appears from an examination of the name Grisell on the internet that 'Grace' was sometimes used as an alternative name (see the paragraph next but one).
A search of the Old Parish Registers shows only one marriage of a Duncan Cameron and a Girsel (note spelling) Kennedy between 1767 and 1795, and that was in the parish of Fortingall - in Rannoch ! The date of the proclamation was 27th May 1792. Inspection of the microfilm of the register itself (OPR 355.A/1) reveals an outstandingly interesting feature. The record actually says: "Duncan Cameron Kilmanivaig parish & Girsel Kennedy in Finart in this Parish entered their names for proclamation." The mention of Kilmonivaig seems strange, as we are told that Duncan was born in Rannoch (although we only know this from the entry in the Census return for 1851). The map shows a place called Kilmonivaig in Cameron country, just east of the River Lochy, and opposite the Erracht glen of Loy, but the parish of Kilmonivaig is a very extensive one, reaching over much of Rannoch Moor to its limit close to Rannoch Station. [ A copy of the marriage record is in my possession ]
A baptismal record was discovered in the microfilm of the Old Parish Register for Port of Menteith, Callander (OPR 388/1). (It will be remembered that John was stated in the Censuses to have been born in Callander.) Dated 1795, January 20th, it says "John Cameron son to Duncan Cameron & Grizal Kenedy in Drunkie". There is a small loch, Loch Drunkie, three miles north-west of Port of Menteith. [ A copy of this record is in my possession ]. [ Incidentally, this confirms the apparent interchangeability of Grisell and Grace: John's birth record says his mother's name was 'Grizal Kennedy' and his death record says 'Grace Kennedy'. The birth record is, of course, most likely to reflect the true name of the mother, even though the spelling of her name differs from her own birth record. The birth records of her five children show no less than three different spellings of her name, but always Grisell, not Grace ].
A difficulty is the age stated in John's death record, 85, which would put his birth at around 1792. He could have been baptised 1½ to 2½ years after birth (this is unlikely), or his age at death may have been estimated. It does seem from earlier research that people in those times were often vague about their exact ages (or indeed the spelling of their names).
There are four other birth records to Duncan Cameron and Grisell Kennedy. John, it appears, had an older brother and younger sister born at Port of Menteith. There was a later birth of a son at Balquhidder and, thirteen years later, probably another daughter at Strathblane, Stirling in 1810. At the time of the last birth Duncan would have been about 54 years old but, as will be seen, Grisell was a number of years younger, and within the child-bearing age (about 40).
There were five possible candidates for our Grisell Kennedy, each of whom was born in a parish in the Rannoch area (where Duncan was married). An analysis of the probability of each appears in Appendix II. An assessment of the probability of the marriage of a Duncan Cameron and a Grisell Kennedy not being unique is in Appendix III, leading to the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely there was any other similar combination of those names in that decade.
A search at the Scottish Archives Office in Edinburgh revealed, in a collection
of papers called 'The John McGregor Collection' (Ref. GD.50), a description
of the extent of the parish of Fortingall (GD.50/196c). The parish
included most of the south side of Loch Rannoch, including the small village
called Finart or Finnart at the south-west corner of the loch, the same
Finart mentioned in the marriage proclamation of Duncan and Grisell as
being the residence of Grisell. The same collection of papers held a copy
of the school rolls of the little school at Finart (GD.50/161/2).
Analysis of these school records reveals the following:
(1) that Grisell was called 'Grisy' when she
started school at seven years old in 1777, although she was later called
'Girsy' and in her last year at the school when she was eleven she was
'Grizel' ;
(2) that she had an older sister and a younger
brother and sister ;
(3) that her birth year implied by the age in
the school record coincided with the most probable Grisell in the probability
analysis in Appendix II.
Further searches ascertained that Grisell's family parents were Angus
Kennedy and Margaret Cameron, married in 1768.
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The
reference to 'Rannoch' in the 1851 Census as being the birthplace of Duncan
is puzzling. After all, the marriage Proclamation described his parish
as 'Kilmanivaig' [sic]. However it should be borne in mind that whereas
Kilmonivaig is a parish, Rannoch is a large area around Loch Rannoch.
There are several possibilities to account for Duncan's parish
being stated as Kilmonivaig at his marriage :
(1) that Duncan was born in Fortingall parish in Rannoch, and
after the hue and cry had died down after Culloden the family had gone
back to the area around Loch Lochy before Duncan returned to marry Grisell;
(2) that Duncan really was born in the area around
Loch Lochy, and later found Grisell in Finart;
(3) that the family lived to the west of Rannoch
Station, but inside Kilmonivaig parish. This would not preclude his birthplace
being described as "Rannoch", but I wonder if any family would have lived
in that bleak and infertile area;
4) that Duncan was born somewhere else, and the
family moved to Kilmonivaig before Duncan (with or without his family)
found Grisell in Finart;
5) that his birthplace of 'Rannoch' in the 1851
Census was not correct. He was, after all, well into his nineties
at that time, and his family may have assumed his birth took place in
Rannoch because they knew of his marriage there. On the other
hand, the marriage entry in the parish register at Fortingall is more
likely to be true, being recorded at the time.
The
first and third of these possibilities accord with the records, whereas
the others do not.
If the first is true, then the research into Duncan's parentage, described in the next section, holds good. It also sounds a feasible train of events: Duncan's father was almost certainly of fighting age in 1746, the year of the battle of Culloden, and, being a Cameron, would be likely to have volunteered or been pressed into the Highland army. After the defeat he, like many other fugitives, could have gone into hiding in Rannoch and eventually married there. We know that by 1754 the area had stabilised into a more civilised place, and enlightened officers of the English army were forming schools and building houses for the communities. The cattle thieving by desperate men had ceased, and some families went back to their former parishes.
If the second or third are true, then the search moves straight to Kilmonivaig parish for Duncan's parents. However there are only 14 birth records of a Duncan Cameron in all Scotland between 1750 and 1757. None of these is in Kilmonivaig, but records around that time could be missing.
Only one of the 14 records satisfies the year of birth implied by the Census age of 98 in 1851: 10th March 1753 to a Duncan Cameron and Isobel McIntosh in Cawdor. This would imply the fourth possibility. However Cawdor is in the county of Nairn, north-east of Inverness (and close to Culloden). It seems unlikely.
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Three of the 14 records of births of Duncan Camerons were in Fortingall parish. There was a Duncan Cameron, living in Finart, aged 17 in 1773 at the school. Of all the many Cameron children living in Finart, four appeared to have the same parents, namely Donald Cameron and Katrin McGrigor, whose marriage proclamation was dated 3rd April 1752. [ A copy of this record is in my possession]. A Duncan Cameron was baptised in Fortingall parish on 29th August 1756, to those parents.
Again we have the age problem. Duncan was stated in the school record as being 17 in 1773, (birth / baptism year 1756, which would not fit in with the age of 98 given in the 1851 Census) whereas if he was the same Duncan born to Donald Cameron and Katrin McGrigor the school age would have been right.
To examine the presumption of this Duncan being 'ours' :
(1) Finart, where Duncan lived, is exactly where Grisell's family lived;
(2) They went to the same school, although Duncan left long before Grisell started;
(3) Duncan's age fits in with the birth record, but not with the Census record (by three years);
(4) The school record is more likely to record the right age than the census one.A Donald Cameron was baptised on 16 May 1730, a son to John Cameron of Kilmonivaig, Invernessshire. Unfortunately the name of the mother is not recorded, but the fact of the parish being Kilmonivaig must surely be significant (that parish was recorded as being Duncan's parish in his marriage proclamation - see above). If this John Cameron was indeed Duncan's grandfather, as seems likely, then Duncan's father was probably the Donald named above or the one in the first of the following two alternative scenarios.
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Donald Cameron and Sarah Cameron, whose marriage proclamation has not been found, had a son Duncan Cameron, baptised in Fortingall parish on 19th December 1756. No other children have been found to this couple. It is possible that this Duncan Cameron is the one who appears in the Finart school records as aged 17 in 1773. The same reasoning applies as to the Duncan Cameron born to Donald Cameron and Katrin McGrigor above, and it seems almost as likely that this was 'our' Duncan as the other. Moreover, the father's name Donald is common to both, and therefore either could be the son of John Cameron of Kilmonivaig. However the son of Donald Cameron and Katrin McGrigor was born some time before 29th August 1756, and he would have reached 17 by the time the school records were compiled around September 1773, whereas the son of Donald Cameron and Sarah Cameron was probably born after that month and would have only been 16. I have therefore taken the former as being the more probable.
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There was a Duncan Cameron, living in Georgetown, aged 20 in 1773 at the school. Of all the many Cameron children living in Georgetown, none appeared to have the same parents as Duncan, namely Angus Cameron and Christian Cameron, whose marriage proclamation was dated 6th December 1754.
[ A copy of this record is in my possession ] A Duncan Cameron was baptised in Fortingall parish on 8th April 1755, parents Angus Cameron and Christian Cameron.Once again we have the age problem. Duncan was stated in the school record as being 20 in 1773, (which would fit in with the age of 98 given in the 1851 Census) whereas if he was the same Duncan born to Angus and Christian Cameron he would only have been 18. Again, as with his son John, there may have been a considerable interval between his birth and baptism, although this does not appear likely in view of the fact that the marriage cannot have taken place much earlier than January 1755, (the marriage proclamation was recorded on 6 December 1754 and Duncan was baptised in April 1755 !).
To examine the presumption of this Duncan being 'ours':
(1) Georgetown, where Duncan lived, is but a step away from Finart, where Grisell's family lived;
(2) They went to the same school, although Duncan left long before Grisell started;
(3) Duncan's age does not fit in with the birth record (by two years), but accords with the Census age;
(4) The school record is more likely to record the right age than the census one;
(5) The father was Angus Cameron, whereas if Duncan's grandfather was John Cameron, he had a recorded son Donald but not an Angus.It is not thought that this Duncan is 'ours'.
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Duncan's father must have survived Culloden (1746) and its immediate aftermath. If our conclusion is right that he was Donald Cameron, son to John Cameron of Kilmonivaig, he would have been about fifteen when Prince Charles Edward Stuart landed, and 16 at the time of Culloden. We do not know if John Cameron was involved in the Highland Army at Culloden, or if he survived. He would have been in his mid-forties at the time of the battle. Donald probably made his way into Rannoch during the time when Cumberland's troops were rooting out Jacobites, when many Highlanders escaped to that area. He may even have brought his parents with him, if they had survived. Duncan was at the school in Finart in 1773 aged 17, and is recorded as being able to write and do arithmetic, so It seems that he had been at the school at least two years by then. The next year for which there are school records is 1776, and Duncan does not appear. The likely timings of any family moves to and from Kilmonivaig are:
.......................to
Kilmonivaig: after April 1752............................ to Rannoch:
before 1771.........Or:
.......................to
Kilmonivaig: after 1773.....................................to Rannoch
before May 1792
We know that on the north side of Loch Rannoch much of the land belonged to Sir Robert Menzies, and land on the south side mainly to Struan Robertson. Both of these were Jacobites, and Struan Robertson, in particular, suffered after the '45, having been 'out' in 1715 and exiled. It is not known which of these owned the land at Finart where Donald lived, at the south-western corner of the Loch.
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Two
yawning gaps remain, which would probably resolve much :
(1) the whereabouts of Duncan (and, possibly Grisell) in 1841. Finding
a Census entry might confirm or otherwise Duncan's age and place of birth,
indicate whether Grisell was still alive at that time, and give other
clues as to the location of family members. A place to search is indicated
by the location of the births of Duncan's grand-children to Angus and
Elizabeth Craig - the parish of Barony, Lanark;
(2) the death of Duncan. No record has yet been found. Duncan
must have died between Census Day 1851 (31st March 1851) and the date
when statutory records began to be kept (1st April 1855), i.e. between
the ages of 95 and 99.
It
is likely that the Camerons were Episcopalians (see
"Religion and the Camerons"), and Episcopalian Church
parish records are difficult to find, or are now non-existent. It seems
reasonable to attack the problem from the 'other end', i.e. to try to
link up Duncan's possible grandfather John from known members of the Erracht
branch of the Cameron Clan.
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