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Dear Margaret,
Since you have never hesitated to volunteer your ideas on who you thought my family was, and as recently as the 9th of April insisted incorrectly that my great great grandfather, Charles Cameron (married to Catherine Cameron) was the son of Donald Cameron, late of Kenmore, Scotland in 1802, of lot 1 conc 15 Finch, I feel very comfortable in taking the liberty to explain to you what the records and your own admissions tell us about the identity of your ancestor Donald Cameron of lot 21 conc 4 Finch.
As a rule I would be reluctant to correct someone else's genealogy, but in this case your mistaken oral history results in your confusing the family of my ancestor, Donald Cameron, who was crushed in a log jam in Berwick in 1812, with the family of your ancestor , Donald Cameron, who was killed by a falling tree in Finch in 1809. People come to this forum in search of accurate information about various families. It is merely in the interest of accuracy that I am making this posting. I am sorry that if in the process long held beliefs are proven wrong and disappointment ensues.
Kim Taylor in California, who is related to me no more than you are, kindly published records on this forum on April 10 which prove that Donald Cameron of Kenmore sold 1/21 Finch in 1854 to his son , Alexander, who the following year sold the property to another Alexander Cameron lately of Plantagent. This second Alexander was Charles Cameron's brother, and the son of the Donald Cameron killed in Berwick in 1812 and his wife Janet nee McDonell. Jenny Bicks was a grandaughter of the second Alexander, and regardless of any mistaken notions she had about her family, this proves that she was not a descendant of Donald Cameron late of Kenmore.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cameron/messages/5720.html
Kim Taylor also posted on this forum on April 11 a copy of the property abstract for lot 21 conc 4 Finch reflecting the 1804 crown grant to Donald Cameron, and the next transaction being made by his son, Duncan Cameron.
There are no intervening transactions nor is there any indication that this property had been forfeited back to the crown and granted to or bought by someone else.
In the same April 11 posting there is a URL showing the 1806 Bethune journal entry for the baptism of Catherine Cameron, daughter of Donald Cameron of Finch and his wife Anne.
Another record which I mentioned in an earlier posting is the original index entry for lot 21 conc 4 Finch which was granted to "Donald Cameron, late of Kenlocharkaig, Scotland." This Donald Cameron is known to have been on the 1802 Glenpean Migration, along with Donald Cameron, late of Kenmore, and Donald Cameron, late of Kirkton, who received grants in Finch on the same day your ancestor Donald did.
John Graham Harkness in his (1946) History of Stormont,Etc., doesn't make reference to the Clunes Cameron family, but he does mention your family in Finch. I will quote the paragraph on page 84: "The first white child born in Finch was Harriet McMillan, daughter of Alexander McMillan. The first white male child was Duncan, (afterwards called, "Big Duncan") son of Hugh Cameron. The latter had come out with the party in 1802 but remained in Summerstown for a time and did not come to Finch until 1808. He was killed in the following year by a falling tree and was the first white man to be buried in Finch. J. G. Cameron, C, E,, the Counties' Engineer, is a grandson of Duncan."
As your father was J. G. Cameron, this was certainly your family. The records reveal two mistakes which Harkness made. The crown grant on your family farm at 21/4 Finch was made to Donald Cameron (late of Kenlocharkaig, Scotland) and not to "Hugh." Bethune's record of the 1806 birth of Catherine, daughter of Donald Cameron of Finch and his wife Anne places this couple in Finch two years earlier than Harkness states. Surely you are aware of settlement regulations which required occupancy, etc. within three years or forfeiture. The property abstract shows that the property remained in the posession of the family of the original grantee. I believe you once told me that your family owned it until the 1950's.
Harkness's statement that Duncan's father was on the 1802 migration from Scotland is certainly supported by the land records. It is also interesting that he reports that your ancestor Duncan's father was the first man buried in Finch. This would be some distance from the Cameron Cemetery at lot 6 conc 4 Cornwall Twp. Somehow the story of the taking back to South Branch the body of Donald Cameron crushed in the log jam in Berwick in 1812 became incorporated into your family lore.
I have before me a lengthy email written by you on 29 January 2009 with the Subject: Re: Catherine Cameron born 11 Sept. 1806. I will quote verbatim a portion of it here:
"The Catherine Cameron born 1806, is the daughter of my gtgt. Donald wo had his crown grant (in which there was a mixup) owning the property from 1804 Lot 21-4 Finch but didn't go north until 1808 along with his brother, Allan (Lot 9 ?-6 Finch. Catherine was born at the front. A few yeas ago I had an email from a Mrs. Ella Dalton who said she descended from Catharine.
Donald and Nancy had three daughters born closely together, Christian, Catharine and I think the third was Mary (I lost some of my father's papers and the name of one of them. Two of the daughters married MacMillans, and one married Thomas Ferguson who settled on second concession of Roxborough Township. (her Ferguson descendants, Duncan, Samuel, and John and families are buried in the North Branch Cemetery at Martintown).
I was always told that Thomas helped Nancy on the farm after she became a widow and that is how he met Christian (my friend Mavis, who has a farm at the north end of the county) descends from Christian.
From what I know (from family papers) Catharine married John MacMillan, the son of Angus MacMillan of Callich, Lot 20, Conc. 1 Finch Township (and later owned Lot 14, 3 Finch, and he had interest in Lot22, Conc 1 Finch c. 1841 when Ewen MacMillan Corribuie took over lot 22, 1 Finch)
My Uncle Angus John MacMillan who married my grandaunt Kate Cameron (sister to my grandfather Cameron==they were cousins to each other) descended from John and Catharine, as well as Rev. Donald Neil MacMillan who wrote the book "Kirk of Glengarry" through his Mother, Sara. Hughi Angus MacMillan( from family papers) who built a large house at west end of Avonmore (at one time a councillor for Roxborough) also descended from John Macmillan and Catharine Cameron. His grandson Dr. Angus has made some family charts. There are MacMillan descendants of John MacMillan and Catharine still living in/near Avonmore. This family were known as the "Widow" MacMillans (because of fact that Nancy became a young widow with red hair and was called the 'Red' widow Cameron.) These families were a tangle and were double cousins ( I also descend from Angus of Callich)."
Well, Margaret, the words above in quotation marks are you own written words, and fairly recent at that. Not only do you claim Catherine Cameron born in 1806 to Donald Cameron of Finch and his wife Anne, you obviously have a good grasp on who all of her descendants are.
This is also an open admission from you that your ancestor, Donald Cameron, received the crown grant for lot 21 conc 4 Finch in 1804. You might have held the conviction that he wasn't on the property until 1808, but you knew in January that your ancestor was the 1804 crown grantee.
Your ancestor, Donald Cameron, killed by a falling tree in 1809 could not possibly have been the son of John(Clunes)/Mary (Glennevis) Cameron of lot 6 conc 4 Cornwall, because I have proof that their son Donald died in Berwick in 1812. This I will reveal in a subsequent posting.
Seven years ago I was sent on a mission to "trace" my ancestor's (Donald Cameron's) family, because what had been laid out for me by earlier genealogists was completely refuted by you. As I look back, you never have provided a shred of evidence that you were descended from the Clunes family. Your argument has been all along that your family stayed in the region, lived long, knew who they were, and never had to "trace" their origins. As the late Lorraine Maclean of Dochgarroch once wrote to me, oral histories are frequently unreliable as stories get bent over the years. This has certainly happened in your case.
One consolation for you in my having completely corroborated what Elizabeth Ferguson Blair (who incorrectly reported that her ancestor, Donald Cameron, had received land grants for 21/4 and 12/7 Finch) had (otherwise) concluded about her ancestry is that in the process I have managed to "trace" yours for you. The records prove that your ancestor , Duncan Cameron, was the son of Donald and Anne Cameron who emigrated from Locharkaig, Scotland to Canada in 1802, and who received the crown grant of lot 21 conc 4 Finch in 1804.
I have one more message to send to you which will explain why I have absolute confidence in my position regarding my own family.
I hope all is well with you and that you do not find this too upsetting. There is, after all, no crown at stake here. I look at this process as a matter of seeing to it that we have the correct history on this public forum. There are others who may follow these postings. What they are told should be accurate so they don't waste a lot of time basing their research on misinformation.
There is no disgrace in having thought one thing all along and then being shown information that that was not correct after all. I wasn't bothered in the least 7 years ago when you told me that my Donald Cameron was someone other than who I had thought he was. My reaction was to simply try to find his identity. I hope you receive this information from me in the same spirit. The only difference between my position then and yours now is that you don't have to go on a wild goose chase to identify your ancestor Donald Cameron, late of Kinlocharkaig , Scotland, who received the crown grant for lot 21 conc 4 Finch in 1804 and had settled there at least by 1806.
Best regards.
Sincerely,
Price
Price Cameron, M. D.
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