S is for Sea Spray

This post could also have been entitled 'S is for Shipping' or 'S for is Serious Accident' or the long-winded and tongue-twisted, yet descriptive, 'S is for Serious Shipping Accident on the Sea Spray'. 

The Sea Spray is another of the handful of ships owned at some stage by our Robert. From what little research I have done in preparation for this belated S posting (yes, I am aware that the AtoZ Challenge was supposed to finish on Monday but I am determined to complete it, date be damned!) it appears the 296 ton brig was built in 1864, purchased at some point by our Robert and then put on the run between Newcastle and New Zealand delivering coal, timber or even expensive champange! During one such ditch crossing, having disgorged one load of cargo and while being filled with another, our Robert who not only owned the ship but also worked in the capacity of boatswain, suffered yet another serious accident which saw him knocked unconscious, mostly buried under ballast and assumed dead. 

He survived with nothing more than concussion, thankfully, but the accident underscores the seriousness and risk involved in many occupations and in particular, shipbuilding and/or sailing as many other seamen aren't so fortunate to return from a journey. Two of Robert's brother included. 

[1] Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1680, 7 July 1875, Page 2. Found on NZ's answer to Trove, Papers Past. 

Q is for Questions

Genealogy to me feels like a never-ending attempt to answer the question Where did I come from? or perhaps the more existential Who am I? I attempted to answer the first question in this blog's infancy with the creatively titled Where do I come from? Obviously a very literal answer! The second question is a little harder and may take a lifetime.

Q therefore is for Questions. As in an ever-growing and seldom-ending list of questions that begin:

Who is?

What was?

Where is?

Why did?

How much?

Why?

The questions that are in the forefront of my mind whenever I time travel through documents, websites, articles and photos, (and the ones that can't really be answered with facts and dates, or names or numbers) tend to begin WHY?

Why did Robert come to Australia? Why did he marry Betsy? Why did three of his four daughters not marry? Why did Elspeth come to Australia? Why did their brother Alexander stay behind?

The talk I attended at the beautifully housed Society of Australian Genealogists on Kent Street last Saturday threw up a handful of reasons to help answer why Robert and Elspeth may have come to Australia like: greater opportunities for their kids, better pay and economic conditions, encouragement from family or to join family, financial incentives like their way being paid, and perhaps landownership that would otherwise escape them. All very reasonable answers... But short of finding a diary, or letters, (or creating a real time machine to ask them myself) the answers I formulate are purely speculative.

And so the journey continues...

*the cool image above was created thanks to Wordle which I heard about on Genies Down Under!

P is also for Podcasts

I mentioned the National Archives Podcast that I enjoy listening to as I delve into our past. But, this is just the tip of the iceberg, or one tree in a forest of podcasts available to an amateur genealogist. Or, anyone really. There is pretty much a podcast available for every subject, language, topic, interest, point in history, science... you get the message! Even more amazing is that every podcast I have ever come across is free! The passion that people have for their area of expertise means that they are incredibly generous is sharing their knowledge and so for geeks like me, it's a feast.

One podcast that I really must mention though is Genies Down Under expertly put together by Maria.

Released monthly, Genies Down Under is an hour or so long podcast with tips and tricks for enhancing your search or presenting your results. All with an Australian bent. Almost all of the other genealogical podcasts I have found tend towards an American accent. As a result the records and techniques being related are slightly different. She has definitely filled a gap in the market in an interesting and informative manner.

So, if you're looking for a companion while doing your search - put Maria on in the background!

P is for Photographs

Aunty Tine's Photos, a set on Flickr.

O is for Occupations

A friend likes to find out what someone does for a living by asking "What do you do to keep the wolves at bay?" This can elicit any number of responses, from "I'm a teacher" or "I drink" to "I'm a lawyer" (and yes, I know that some may say that the lawyers are the wolves that people are working so hard to keep away!).

I have one friend who, in response to such a question, would most like say that she is professionally unemployed. For me, I get to say that I'm a travel agent (or if I'm feeling particularly poetic, that I make people's dreams come true). Formerly, it would have been that I was a wolf lawyer having managed to try out these two very different careers so far (out of the average three that we Gen Xers are supposed to have in our life time).

I still don't really know what I want to be when I grow up but I think I get to say that I am the first travel agent in the family, at least I think I do. I know though that I wasn't the first lawyer in Cam's Fam (or on my paternal line for that matter). Having been staring at a number of census responses recently, which often notes the occupations of those being 'census-ed' (that's word, I'm sure) I thought I would share with you how some of our forebears kept the wolves at bay!

And so today O is for Occupations. As in:

Seaman - like John and James Cameron, Robert's younger brothers
Master Mariner - like Torquil Harold Urquhart
Fenar* - like Janet Cramond
Domestic servant - like Janet Ann Crighton, Jessie's recently discovered daughter
Miliner - like Janet Ann Cameron, daughter of Alexander, brother of Robert (so our Robert's niece)
Scholar - like pretty much every family member who grew up in Scotland and went to school
Journeyman hatter - like Pa
Nursing Sister - like Didi, Mum, Aunty Tine and a few others!
Baker - like Betsy Murdoch before she married our Robert
Teacher - like our Robert's daughter, Margaret Sim Cameron
Farmer - like Didi's dad, Stan Clark
Accountant - like Didi's mum, Violet Jowett
Bootmaker - like Thomas Clark, Didi's great grandfather
Baptist Minister - like Didi's paternal grandfather Rev. Henry Clark
Painter - like Albert Jowett, Didi's maternal grandfather
And, as is most common amongst the men in Cam's Fam who at some stage were born or lived in Garmouth:
Shipwright - our Robert, his father Alexander and his brother Alexander.

*In the 1871 census Janet Cameron (nee Cramond) was referred to a "Fenar". In the 1861 census she had been noted as a House Proprietor, which is basically the same thing. As best I can tell, a fenar is an old word for someone who is in the actual possession of or entitled to receive the rents of lands.  

N is National Archives

Both Australia, England and Scotland have National Archives. Mahoosive great buildings that store thousands upon millions of documents/records pertaining to the Nation's past. We are so lucky that so many of these documents are being digitised - it's a slow, expensive project but it has already made my job easier. The National Archives of Australia (NAA) has a searchable online database, through which I have found and ordered (for a sum) records relating to the family.

What I have found, though, that are fantastic are podcasts on iTunes created and published by the National Archives of the United Kingdom. Each podcast provides background to topics are varied as "Anxiety, Dread and Disease: British Ports 1834 - 1870", "When a Woman is not a Woman" (something to do with pensions?) and Nineteen Century merchant seafarers and their records". 


Free for all, I strongly recommend checking them out: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheNationalArchivesPodcastSeries

M is for Mistake

Soooo, I have to admit to an error. They happen. Because I'm only human, M is for Mistake.

There are a few cardinal rules of genealogy which include [1]:

5. ALWAYS have at least two separate sources of proof for each event...
6. REMEMBER that everything is only speculation until verified...

You remember Jessie Cameron? The younger sister of our Robert? Born 1839 and mentioned in the 1841 census as a 2 year old?  

I didn't find any mention of a Jessie in the 1851 or 1861 census. Coupled with the inscription on Cameron Family gravestone in Urquhart Old Graveyard that reads "Jessie who died in infancy" I jumped to the conclusion that Jessie (born 1839) died young and didn't follow her line any further. I  had what I thought were the two necessary separate sources of proof...

Confusion was the state I was living in when I read the 1871 and 1881 census for mum Janet who is noted as living with her granddaughter "Jessie Ann Crighton". Which daughter married a Crighton? I have Elspeth in Australia and Jane marrying a Horn and Jessie buried with her father... And our Camerons, steeped in tradition, probably weren't progressive enough to have the boys take a wife's name!

And therein lies the problem - names! I assumed that a. Jessie on the tombstone was born a Jessie and that b. the Jane Cameron I found who married a John Horn in 1845 was our Jane because, well, they were both living in Garmouth and our Jane, if the bride, was at the very marriageable age of 22 years! 

And, of course, the universe has made an ass out of me because I now have evidence which suggests that little Jessie born 1839 and presumed dead actually lived long enough to marry and have a daughter! 

The next reasonable conclusion then is that the child born Jane in 1823 is the child referred to as Jessie on the tombstone, (because Janet = Jane = Jessie and they seem to be used interchangeably) and Robert's older sister Jane therefore died in infancy.  

Let me rewrite history then and note the following:

Jane Cameron born 1823 died in infancy

Jessie Cameron born 1839 married Philip Crighton in Garmouth on 14 December 1864 [2].  

On 27 August 1866 they had a lawful daughter named Janet Ann Crighton (aka Jessie Ann) [3]. 

Sadly, Jessie died on 5 Aug 1867 when she was only 28 and Janet Ann was about 1. I don't have any record (yet) of what her dad was up to until his death in 1909 aged 69 while Janet Ann lived until 71, dying on 7 Apr 1938. [4]

[1] Thanks to U3A Lismore Inc

[2] 1864 Marriage record for the parish of Urquhart for Jessie Cameron and Philip Crighton duly records the mother of the bride as Janet Cameron (Crammond) and the father as Alexander Cameron (Shipwright). And the bride is aged 25 which means she was born in about 1939.

[3] 1866 Birth records in the parish Urquhart including Janet Ann Crighton. Father is Philip Crighton (Seaman) and mother Jessie Crighton (Cameron) married 14 December 1864. Informant of the birth is Janet Cameron (grandmother).

[4] Monumental Inscriptions: Urquhart Old Churchyard edited by Helen Mitchell and Bruce B Bishop p. 24, ref. 147

L is for Language

My mother tongue is English (Australian English to be precise). Je parle un peu francais[1]. Och jag kan  svenska [2]. I have studied Latin and Japanese but remember very little and like many travellers, I can order a beer in Russian, Spanish and German! Notwithstanding, I have had a learn a number of new terms and phrases to assist my genealogical journey that I didn't know before.

And so, L is for Language.

When I do come across an unfamiliar word or phrase I happily look it up. I've never shied from dictionaries and Google is a my best friend, providing answers to questions just as quickly as I can think of them. Knowledge is power and some words and phrases are tiny windows into the past.

I've already noted some words, including "exlineal" (that I'm determined to get back into common usage!) and most recently "kirk". In that same post was "antenuptial" which is probably self-evident but which I looked up just to be certain!

Some other phrases and terms that had cropped up in my journey include (in no particular order and thanks largely to Wikipedia):

banns: the public announcement in a Christian parish church of an impending marriage between two specified persons. 
a burgh of barony: a type of Scottish town. They were distinct from royal burghs as the title was granted to a tenant-in-chief, a landowner who held his estates directly from the crown. They were created between 1450 and 1846, and conferred upon the landowner varying trading rights (for example the right to hold weekly markets or to trade overseas). 
apoplexy: used to describe "bleeding" in a stroke or also to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness
shipwright: an old-fashioned term for a ship builder or ship carpenter which may involve anything from physically constructing or repairing a ship to being involved in its design.
brig: a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts
Laird: a member of the gentry; historically Lairds rank below a Baron and above an Esquire and is a heritable title in Scotland. The title is granted to the owner of a substantial and distinctive landed estate in Scotland, not part of a village or town and that lies outwith a burgh. 



[1] I speak a little French.
[2] And I can speak Swedish.

K is for Kirk

Kirk is not just a guy's name. In Scotland it is both a general word for "church", which is derived from an ancient Greek word (according to Wikipedia) and also "the Church". As in the Church of Scotland.

The Church of Scotland was responsible for the formalisation of relationships and recognition of births in most cities and towns in Scotland two centuries ago and most Scots were members. Certainly, our family was no different as all of Alexander and Janet's children were baptised in the Kirk and Robert and Betsy were married "after banns according to the forms of the Church of Scotland". I only know this (and have been able to trace as far back as I have) because the Kirk's agents were in the practice of noting the major life events of its members well before it was required by law. It wasn't mandatory to note important things like births, death and marriages until 1855 and even after then it was generally the Church clerk who continued this practice.

I began my search for Cam's Fam through digitised parish records on Scotland's People and it's the first place I go to locate and confirm the existence of dead rels.  The Kirk's records often contain juicy information like parents' names, occupations, area of residence and of course dates of birth. They note whether it was a "lawful" birth (ie. in the parents were married) or, in the case of John Horn, barely!

John Horn is the husband of our Robert's sister Jane [addendum: our Jane died 'in infancy' so John Horn is not related but married a different Jane Cameron - see post M is for Mistake]. Jane and John were married on 28 June 1845 and as best I can tell, had three daughters. According to census records, he was a ship's carpenter in Garmouth and was born in Banff (a neighbouring shire) in about 1819. Last night I threw out a net to fish a little more for details about John and came across what I believe is the parish record of his birth:

It reads:  

July 18th 1819: Alexander Horn servant at Braes has a child by his in antenuptial fornication, by his wife Christian Grant, baptised and named John. Witnesses, John Grant, and Adam Thomson. 

While John's parents were married, the Church was very bothered by the timing of conception... If I can get a hold of the Kirk Session records it would probably indicate the fine they had to pay for their fun...

J is for James

J is for James. As in the name meaning 'supplanting' or 'seizing by the heel' in Hebrew (originating from something biblical). As in the 16th most popular baby name for boys in Australia in 2010. As in the name shared by my brother, my grandfather, my great great grandfather, my third great grand uncle, my fourth great grand uncle...

Cam's Fam is pretty traditional in the naming game. Not only do we have Alexanders populating the tree in every generation but also James. There are Jameses in every generation, sometimes two, and in each different branch of the tree. It makes researching challenging and reinforces the need to have at least two sources for each 'event' that you're claiming as fact. Even more complicating is that James is a popular name generally and then add a little more confusion with a common surname like Cameron!

Just some of the 26 Jameses that I have in our family tree are as follows (yes - twenty-six, including blood and marriage connections) :

1. My brother James

2. James Murdoch Cameron (aka Cam, Jim or Pa)

3. James Alexander Cameron born 1864 (Pa's grandfather and Robert's eldest son)

4. James Cameron born 1833 (our Robert's brother)

5. James Cameron born 1856 (Robert's nephew, son of his brother Alexander)

6. James Cameron born 1787 (Robert's uncle, brother to his father Alexander)

7. James Murdoch born abt. 1790 (Robert's father-in-law, Betsy's dad)

8. James Moir born abt. 1787 (husband of Jean Cramond, sister of Robert's mum and so his uncle)

9. James Sim born 1769 (Betsy's grandfather)

10. James Badenoch born before 1740 sometime (Betsy's great grandfather and so my 4th great grandfather)