The history that never was

My first family tree was passed down to me, as I imagine most people receive the history of their ancestry. It was composed in the 1980s by my Great Uncle Bill Cameron, three sheets of paper with a tree crisply drawn on and completed by typewriter. My copy was a little off center, obviously a copy of a copy. And as far as I was concerned, it was the law. Uncle Bill went to Scotland! Obviously this was all thoroughly researched with documented evidence.

Nevermind that I had never seen any of the evidence.

Our family tree was exciting! It had everything! Famous people, rebellion, pilgrimage, betrayal, treason, execution, and martyrdom! It connected us to one of the most famous Camerons in history, the beloved Dr. Archibald Cameron, who was executed for the treasonous sin of being a Jacobite. And since Dr. Archibald was the son of Sir Ewen Cameron, the Chief of Clan Cameron, this lineage also made us direct descendants of the Lochiel himself.

Unfortunately this Family Tree was not accurate. At least part of it was completely wrong, as I was to discover accidentally.

One day, while searching for information on Archibald Cameron, I came upon a Clan Cameron genealogy forum. Someone else had posted about being related to Dr. Archie, and the response was something along the lines of "a lot of people claim descent from Dr. Archie, but most of his children died without issue and there is no evidence for the others". I had no reason to believe that this person knew what he was talking about, but it made me realize that I did not have evidence for my own Family Tree. And I wanted evidence.

And so my journey to prove where my family came from began.

I started with my ancestor that came from Scotland to the United States, Ewen Cameron (1785). I worked my way from Ewen down to my own mother with relative ease. I was able to find census records, birth and death certificates, and obituaries to prove our descent from Ewen Cameron. By compiling all of this research, I was able to apply to the Williamson County Public Library to include my mother, sister, and myself in their Pioneer Families Ancestor Roster (we are not listed online, but we do have a booklet on file).

Having proven my immediate Family Tree, I next turned to searching for information in Scotland, and that is where my journey became much more difficult.

Rather quickly I found the christening record for Ewen Cameron in Scotland, but it only created more questions than it answered. His parents were listed as Duncan Cameron and Jean Matheson. You can see on the original Family Tree document above that I began making notes as I found conflicting information, and may have spilled some coffee on the pages in the process.

The biggest stumbling block to finding my true genealogy was Ewen's older brother John. In 1770, the oldest of Ewen's brothers, the Reverend John Cameron, came to America. He would found a powerful and influential family with descendants in North Carolina at Stagville Plantation. The source of the incorrect family tree seems to come from the "Biographical Sketch of Hon. P. C. Cameron" by Mrs. C.P. Spencer in The University Magazine issue of December, 1886 at page 121. In this article Mrs C.P. Spencer states that John Cameron was descended from Sir Ewen Cameron, Lochiel. She also mentions only two of John's brothers came to the United States (4 brothers and 1 sister total came to the United States) and she misspells "Fairntosh". She hardly seems a reliable genealogist, and she may not even be the original source, but it shows how long this incorrect family tree has persisted.

It was John's famous son Duncan Cameron that would design and erect an impressive gravestone for his father in Virginia. On this gravestone, John's parents were listed as Duncan Cameron and Margaret Bain. This is established fact in North Carolina. And for awhile I assumed that Ewen and John had the same father, but different mothers. This is how Uncle Bill had written the Family Tree. The problem was that I could not find any evidence in Scotland for Duncan and Margaret's marriage.

Upon hitting this roadblock, I took a break for awhile, and then decided to try tracing our genealogy from Archibald Cameron down to Ewen Cameron. I found that the Clan Cameron genealogy forum was correct. Dr. Archibald Cameron's lineage ends quickly down some lines, is completely unknown with others, and for those that do have continued bloodline, they don't lead anywhere near my family.

In frustration, I took another break, and came back yet again determined to figure out Margaret Bain. This time I found a tip on a genealogy message board from a cousin in Scotland, that led me to search out a microfilm that was stored in the Family Search Library in Utah. They mailed the microfilm to a LDS Church down the street from me.

And there it was. The whole story. Well, the part of it I needed, and the evidence I needed. This genealogy was written by George Cameron in 1832, with whom we share a common ancestor. His Family Tree was written just 47 years after Ewen arrived in America. John Cameron had passed only 17 years before. He is the closest source in Scotland that I have found to our living ancestors, with the exception of Ewen's christening record.

George illustrated what I had come to suspect, that there were two Duncan Camerons. Duncan Cameron and Jean Matheson were the parents of all nine children. Duncan Cameron and Margaret Bain were the grandparents of those same children. John Cameron's gravestone in Virginia incorrectly claims that his grandparents are his parents. George's family tree goes further back in history, describing how our family came to reside in Ferintosh in the Black Isles.

This website will explore further the individual parts to our family story. Thanks to George, I can now relate where we came from, and yes, even how we are still related to the Lochiel (though earlier than we believed). Concrete evidence is lacking for our furthest history, but that is typical for the 16th to early 18th centuries. I feel very comfortable with George's proximity to, and the accuracy of his Family Tree, and I am excited to share the details with you!