Let me introduce you...

You'll see the tab above is now UPDATED! I have finally been able to work out the technology to put 5 generations of Cam's Fam on the one, mostly readable, image. 

This means there are a few more people for you to meet. 

Having introduced you to the newest member of the family (the gorgeous Lily), let me introduce you to the oldest being my (and yours too, cousins) 5th Great Grandfather Alexander Cameron (DOB unknown). 

He married Margaret Grant (born about. 1761) in Speymouth, Morayshire on 29 January 1785.  

They had 6 children:

John Cameron (born 1 Apr 1785) - can anyone say "Shotgun wedding"?

James Cameron (born 22 Aug 1787)

Peter Cameron (born 14 Dec 1789)

Alexander Cameron (born 2 Apr 1793) - remember him, folks. He's important! 

William Cameron (born 1 Mar 1797)

Jean Cameron (born 3 nov 1799)

Of these six kids, the one named after his father is the most important one for our purposes. We've met him briefly before because he is our Robert's father. You remember Robert - he's the reason we're Aussies!

As mentioned before, I met Alexander Cameron (born 1793) (let's call him Alex) on our Robert's wedding certificate. Before this he was a stranger to us but I also met his lovely wife Janet Cramond (born 17 Jun 1800) (or Jannet Crammond as she is sometimes known) the same day and am getting to know them pretty well. I don't know exactly when they got married but I do know that it was before 15 Oct 1823. How? Their first child, a daughter Jane born on this date, is described in the Old Parish Records on her baptism as "the lawful daughter to Alexr Cameron and Janet Cramond" so it seems that they met, fell in love, married and had kids all in the right order! Sadly though, Alex died young aged 47 on 19 Apr 1840, which was just after Jessy's birth and before he had to mourn her death at such a young age. 

Beyond this though, I don't know much more. I wish I did. 

I know that both Alex and Janet lived in Garmouth.  Being the relatively small town that it is, I imagine they probably knew each other from when they were little. Alex was the same age as Janet's older sister Jean Cramond (born 30 Jun 1793) so perhaps Jean and Alex were at school together? As they got older, Janet had a crush on this older cute boy and then, one day he stopped seeing her as his friend's bratty sister and they dated and fell in love. He got down on one knee and proposed by the river, their wedding was the best day of her life and together they raised this gorgeous family which he supported as a ship carpenter until his sudden death at 47. As her beloved husband, when he died she swore she'd never love again. And didn't, remaining a widow until she died at 83. Maybe?

Or, maybe I'm getting mushy with Valentine's Day around the corner.

Anyway, after Jane was born, came another Alexander (born 15 Feb 1825) and soon thereafter our Robert on 11 Apr 1827. 

After Jane, Alexander and Robert were:

John Cameron (born 18 Sep 1831)

James Cameron (born 24 Oct 1833)

and little Jessy Cameron (born 11 Jan 1839) who you've also already met. 

I might stop the introductions there because there are a lot of people to remember and I don't know about you, but I'm terrible with names. It's easier when they're all the same but also easier to confuse! 

As always, more details to be added...

What's in a name?

Oops, not doing so well on the New Year’s resolution to remember birthdays.... While I did help a friend celebrate her birthday on Wednesday night and I’ve bought a couple of cards, I haven’t sent them yet and on Thursday I failed to recognise the birth date of Jessie Cameron, my third great grand aunt. 

Born 11 January 1839 in Garmouth, Moray, Scotland, were she with us today Jessie’d be in the Guiness Book of Records and the Fire Department would be on stand by to put out the 173 candles on her cake!

  

Sadly, Jessie died 'in infancy' [1] but she holds a very soft spot in my heart because she was one of the first of our Robert’s relatives that I identified in the very early days of taking over the family archives.  

As I mentioned, Didi had been tracing the tree for quite some time before I got involved.  She had a pretty complete picture of the family born from Robert in Australia, after he married Betsy. However we didn’t know anything of his beginnings or family beyond the name of the town he came from, being “Garmouth”. (Even that was a mystery for a while because Didi had thought a reference to Garmouth in a Bible passed through the family was someone’s name!)

So, armed with his name and a town name I tried to find more.

Thanks to the wonders of the world wide web and digitization of old documents, with a few (paid) searches on Scotland’s People, I narrowed down two Robert Camerons born in the same area and within a few days of each other. I was able to determine which one was ours by locating our Robert’s marriage certificate to Betsy. Marriage certificates can be a wealth of information and Robert’s was no different, naming his parents as Alexander and Janet Cameron.

A couple of clicks later, I was looking at the beautifully handwritten entry in the old church records for the parish of Speymouth recording his lawful birth on 11 April 1827 to Alexander Cameron and Janet Cramond.  And who should be recorded on the same page but an older sister Jane (born 15 October 1823) and the much younger sister Jessy!

At some point In delving into the past I became aware of the interesting fact that Jessie is actually a nickname for someone called Janet, which in turn is a derivative of Jane [2]. Even more confusing is that all three names could be, and were, used interchangeably! A fact that became very apparent for me when I have the name “Jessy” as the official first name in the Old Parish Records but two years later a census collector noting down a 2 year old “Janet” in the Cameron household [3].

With all three names being used by three different people in the immediate Cameron family, I can only imagine the scenario, perhaps around the dinner table or in anger someone yelling “Jessie Cameron” and at least two heads looking up thinking they were in trouble!

Another interesting point to note about names is that it also wasn’t uncommon for first names to be passed on from generation to generation in Scotland [4] recognizing or commemorating the one before it. So, the first boy would be named after the father’s father and the first girl after the mother’s mother and the second son after the mother’s father. It seems our Cameron family followed this tradition quite well as our Robert is named for his mother’s father, Robert Cramond, and his older brother Alexander for his father’s father. Alexander and Janet ran into trouble with their third son who is traditionally named for the father! As Alexander was already taken, Robert’s next brother was named John (born 18 September 1831) and the youngest boy James (born 24 October 1833).

So now you know a little more about the family from where we came. Let the journey continue!

[1] As recorded on the family gravestone in  Urquhart Old Churchyard, Station Road, Urquhart [photo above] which also has the spelling “Jessie”. The gravestone reads:

ERECTED BY

JANNET CRAMOND

To the memory of her

Beloved husband

ALEXANDER CAMERON

Ship Carpenter Garmouth

who died 19^th April 1840

aged 47 years

Also

their daughter  JESSIE who died in Infancy.

Also their Sons

JOHN CAMERON Carpenter

who died the 10^th Sept 1852

aged 21 years.

And JAMES CAMERON Seaman

who died 23^rd Feb 1858

aged 24 years.

Also the above  JANNET CRAMOND

who died the 4^th April 1883

aged 83 years.

[2] http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?561 and http://www.whatsinaname.net/female-names/Janet.html

[3] 1841 Scotland Census – this was conducted on the night of 6 June 1841 and while only basically factual detail was recorded it has helped shed light on Cam’s Fam like that our Robert’s brother Alexander was a Shipwright. It also tells me Jessie survived to at least 2 years of age and that their  father Alexander was not counted in the census and therefore may have died before 1841, consequently confirmed when I found the gravestone.  What confuses me is the reference to a 12 year old Elizabeth. I haven’t been able to find any other record of her as one of Alexander and Janet’s offspring.

[4] http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?561