S-o-o-o Many Donald Cameron's

[yorlorac]

Hi everyone
I am new here and hoping someone can help me find my Scotland connection.
I have been searching my Cameron ancestors for over a year now and can't find a connection to Scotland with my Donald and Mary Cameron....there are so many of them! My mother was a Cameron of Dominion, Cape Breton. Her father was Duncan Cameron who m. Clara McLeod. Duncan was a shoemaker and was born in Inverness, CB in 1900. Duncan and Clara's marriage certificate shows his parents as James Cameron and Sadie (Sarah) McIntosh. James and Sadie's marriage certificate shows James's parents as Donald and Mary Cameron and Sadie's parents as Donald and Mary McIntosh. The only James Cameron I can find in any census records are from 1881 Canada which shows a Donald Cameron age 89, Mary wife, age 69, James age 26, John age 29 and Mary age 30. There is a Donald and Mary, with a son James (age 14) in the 1871 census but the ages don't work with the 1881 census...I've discovered that many of the census records have the ages wrong so this may be the same family since the census of both years are from the district of the Bay of St. Lawrence in Cape Breton. I thought it would be easy to find this Donald from this census because he was 89 in 1881 (born in 1792) but I've hit a block here. James and Sadie's marriage record shows that James married in 1882 at age 27 which works for the 1881 census record that shows him at age 26. I've read many online history books..."History of Inverness", checked the land grants... checked the LDS site as well as NS and can't find where Donald came from. I really want to make this connection as I want to do up a timeline of events with both sides of my father and mother...I have a rather interesting history as my grandparents on my mother's side were Cameron and McLeod and my grandparents on my father's side were McNeil and Poirier. I have my ancestors on the Poirier side traced back to the 1600's and have ancestors from the first Acadian mother's in NS....this could possibly mean my ancestors fought against each other at Louisbourg and lost their homes to many early Scot settlers. Hope someone can help...maybe when I get this all done I'll write a book! )....Regards Carol

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Hi Carol,
I am a Cameron, originally from Nova Scotia, but not related to the Camerons of Inverness (at least not closely!). Have you tried the Beaton Institute at the University of Cape Breton? They have a tremendous amount of genealogical material for Cape Breton. Another idea might be the "Mabou Pioneers" books. These have a lot of information, and given your grandfather's proximity to Mabou, there may be some clues there. I know a number of people in the Mabou area are descended from a Donald Cameron (also known as "Donald Mor" or "Big Dan"), who is from the same era as your Donald. I may have some information on that family - I'll have a look.

It is unlikely your Scottish ancestors fought at Louisbourg, unless they were in the Fraser Highlanders - which, I believe was the only Highland Regiment that participated. And the Acadiens didn't lose their homes to Scottish settlers - they were expelled from their homes by the English. The Scottish influx to Cape Breton really didn't happen in any great numbers until the early 1800's - long after the Acadiens had relocated to places like Cheticamp and Isle Madam.

There are a lot of Inverness County Camerons listed here:
homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maritime/Maritime_Mosaic/id-0050-p/p1.htm#i48
although I don't see any that match your family.

Looking through the Nova Scotia vital statistics, I found your Duncan Cameron - and his marriage information shows him to be Roman Catholic. The James and Sarah Cameron who were married in 1882 in North Sydney were Presbyterian, according to the marriage record (which could be wrong). Is it possible that this is a different James?

I did find a death certificate for a James Cameron who was born in 1845. He died on Aug. 6, 1918, and lived at 174 Kings Road Sydney. He was born in North Sydney and was also a Catholic (he was also a shoemaker). I also found a Sarah Cameron, who died Aug. 15, 1917, aged 55 years. She lived at 8 Charlotte St., Sydney, and was the wife of James Cameron. She was born at By St.Lawrence. She was Catholic, and both this James and Sarah are buried at Holy Cross, Sydney.

The Sarah Cameron who died in 1917, was born at Bay St. Lawrence. This ties into the marriage certificate for James and Sarah, which lists Sarah's birthplace as Cape North (which is of course at the North end of Bay St. Lawrence).

I hope this is of some help - you may already have had this info. Given the connection to Cape North/Bay St. Lawrence - that is where I would focus my search. The fact that Duncan was born in Inverness Mines may just mean that James worked there for a time.

Good luck with your search! And I think you should write a book when you figure this all out! I will look in some of my reference material at home and see if I can find anything relevant.

Slainte,

John

[yorlorac]

Hi John
Thank you for all your hard work. I have all the info from NS Vital Statistics and yes I do believe Duncan listed as Presbyterian is wrong yet strange that it would be there. There were 6 Camerons (possibly more over time) in the Fraser's Highlanders (78th Regiment)... Alexander Cameron of Dungallon, Hugh Cameron, Ewen Cameron, Allan Cameron, Donald Cameron, son of Fassifern and Duncan Cameron of Fassifern. When the regiment disbanded abt. 1783, these Camerons settled in Pictou and CB and alot of them later moved to CB.
www.electricscotland.com/history/highlands/chapter11.htm The Donald Cameron here is the Donald who arrived at Pictou on the Hector with his wife Mary. I believe this Donald drowned in the Pictou harbour in early 1800's and his wife and kids moved to Antigonish after his death...they had a son named Donald. This is basically the area and time frame I am stuck in. I live in Truro, NS and can't get to any of the places that hold records so all my info has be from years of searching the internet...it takes hours to search any leads I find because over time I've discovered that alot of the info you find on the internet isn't correct and you have to be careful. I've read alot of old history books online and find I get alot of leads from them. The link I've placed above has alot of very interesting history on the Scots in America and the History of the County of Inverness found on this site tells of alot of the families who first settled here but I find it a bit confusing and hard to trace who is who. What Cameron's do you descend from? I guess your user name "Sherbrooke Jacobite" would be a good clue eh (just noticed that). I guess my biggest problem in finding my Donald is that the 1871 census says he was 63 yrs old and "born in Nova Scotia". I thought this would make my search easy from there but I can't seem to get beyond him and I am wondering if the census is wrong. Also...there is only one Cameron family in the Bay of St. Lawrence in the census records for 1871, 1881 and 1891. James is in '71 and '81 (he married in 1882) but the ages of all family members are wrong. It shows Donald in '71 age 63 and in '81 age 89. In '71, James is 14 and in '81 he is 26 which is a little closer than Donald's age. It shows Marey's age as 35 in '71 and in '81 it has her as age 69. Is it possible that the ennumerator did the math wrong or did these families not know how old they were? As I mentioned before, this is the only Donald and Mary in the Bay of St. Lawrence over the two census years. In 1891, this family appears in the Bay of St. Lawrence with John (40) and married, Mary (35) and married, Mary (1yr), Jane (1 month) and Mary (50). I assume Donald has died and Mary is living with her son but again, her age is way off. Do you know why the ages are so far off? Is this sort of thing common in the census records? The only actual scanned image of a census record I have is the 1881 census which clearly lists Donald at age 89 and Mary at age 69 so that is the one I've been trying to follow. Thanks again for your help and if you find any leads please let me know....Carol

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Hi Carol,
You're welcome - although it really wasn't hard work, I really enjoy looking! Sorry I wasn't of more help - I just was retracing some of your steps.

I used to work in Truro, at Doane Raymond (now Grant Thornton) on Commercial St. We lived in Belmont for several years. My great Uncle, Graham Cameron and his family lived in Truro for many years (on Park St). My GGGrandfather, Angus Cameron, came over to NS about 1851, and settled near some of his Lochaber, Scotland neighbours and kin in Glenelg, N.S. A few years after arriving, he and his wife, Nancy Fraser moved to Sherbrooke, N.S. - where I grew up, and where my parents and other family still live.

I was going to put my foot back in my mouth and suggest that the Hector passengers were all protestants - but I decided to check first, and found out that Donald and Mary (MacDonald) (my wife is also a MacDonald) and their children, John, Hugh, and Mary were the only Catholics on board. Donald was the first to receive a land grant, in 1775, and as you said, after he drowned, Mary and the children moved to Antigonish, presumably to be among fellow Catholics.

I have the book "Drummer on Foot", which deals with a number of Camerons in early Antigonish county - I'll see if Mary and the Children show up in that.

Census ages are frequently wrong, but usually off by a year or two, sometimes as much as five - and occasionally written down incorrectly. The ages listed in Bay St.Lawrence are wide enough apart, that it might be two different Donald and Marys.

I know it is difficult to find time, but I bet that a day trip to the Beaton Institute would probably pay huge dividends.

Good luck - I will look through what I have here - but most of my searching has been in Guysborough and Pictou Counties, among Protestant Scots. I have spent a lot of time in Antigonish (I went to St. F.X.), and lots of friends there.

Good luck with the searching and Happy New Year! I will let you know if I come across anything else.

All the best,

John

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Hi Carol,
I have looked through my sources on the Hector and early Pictou Co., and although there are lots of references to Donald and his family, as both the only Catholic passengers on the Hector, and the recepient of the first land grant to a Hector passenger - there is nothing there that is helpful to what you are looking for.
I also have gone through "Drummer on Foot" (which is a series of newspaper columns written by William Cameron in the early 1900's, and published in the Antigonish Casket, dealing with local history, genealogy, and social conditions/customs). There are several Cameron families featured, but I don't see any reference to your Mary and her family. Drummer on Foot only deals with a small area of Antigonish County, so that really doesn't mean Mary and the kids weren't in Antigonish town, or some other part of the County.

The title of the thread is certainly appropriate - there are a lot of Donald Camerons, and unfortunately, many of them seem to have married Marys.

If I come across anything, I'l be sure to let you know. Good Luck!

John

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Hi Again,
If you could get a copy of "A History of the County of Antigonish, Nova Scotia"
by Rev. D J. Rankin, you may find what you are looking for. I used to have a copy, but gave it to a friend, and haven't replaced it yet. It is a very good book, with lots of information. I would think that local bookstores should be able to get a copy for you - or it is undoubtedly available in the Truro library.

Slainte,

John

[yorlorac]

Hi John
My what a small world it is...we just had a major storm here in Truro and I guess you know what our storms are like...I use to live in Manitoba when I was young so and I still remember the winters out west and I'd take a Nova Scotia winter any day! (except another one like white Juan). Thanks for all your tid bits but I've done alot of research on the Pictou Camerons and also knew Donald and Mary were the only Catholics on the Hector. I thought I'd be able to make some kind of connection there until I found out he drowned. I'm thinking the Donald in the 1881 census was married to someone else first (common) before he married "Mary"... you mentioned maybe the census records were different families...I thought of that too but there are common people in each census record with just the ages being off. Funny you should mention the book on Antigonish....that is actually my next quest...I've seen it online and am going to check the library for it. If you go to Google Books and look up "A History of Inverness County" and A History of Pictou County" you can download the full books....there's alot of Cameron history in them...very interesting reading....I just did a search online for the book "A History of the County of Antigonish" and here it is in full text! www.ourroots.ca/e/toc.aspx?id=6063 .....gotta go read now. I hope I find something here! Carol

[SherbrookeJacobite]

Hi Carol,
Thanks so much for the link! I didn't realize the book was online. It is a small world indeed! I still keep in touch with some friends in the Truro area (one of whom is married to a Cameron, daughter of another Donald Cameron!), they live in Lower Harmony.
I was talking to my parents in Sherbrooke about the recent storm - they are still digging out! Winter has hit early and hard here in Southern Alberta - but our winters here are usually pretty easy, compared to either Manitoba or Nova Scotia.

I did a bit more looking, and there is, as you have found out, a bewildering number of Donalds. I wish you success, and please do let us know what you find out.

Mar sin leat,

John