Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - MatthewCameron

Pages: [1]
1
Hello! Here is a 2021 PhD dissertation on the late 1690s migration from Scotland to Ireland.

https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/104388246/2022BellLPhD.pdf

It’s important to note that this migration of people was primarily from the southwest of Scotland to the northeast of Ireland, where there were extensive links between communities only about 4 hours away from each other by boat (though the author of the dissertation does take a critical look at this assumption).

Religion played a key role in this too, as these areas were the center of the Covenanter movement, whereas the north of Scotland was generally seen as anti-Covenanter and pro-Catholic.

Do you know anything about your family’s religious tradition? I’m a Cameron living in America who always heard we were from the Highlands and part of Clan Cameron, but as I did research I found out our family were always said to be extreme Covenanters after they came over in 1772. Then a DNA test pinpointed my line as coming Ayrshire in the southwest, not the Highlands, which fit with our reported religious traditions and the typical patterns of movement of the Scots-Irish much more.

2
Antrim / Re: Cameron, Islandmagee
« on: Friday 19 July 24 21:40 BST (UK)  »
Have you seen this report that mentions the Camerons of Islandmagee briefly, but in some depth?

https://www.midandeastantrim.gov.uk/downloads/blackhead-path-tourism-development-feasibility-study-final-report.pdf

(Text copied below in reference to Port Davey - there is also a picture of Robert Cameron's farmhouse.)

"Other users of the port during the 18th and 19th Centuries were the Cameron family. Robert Cameron (1750- 1863) owned a farmhouse and large parcel of land at Bentra, which included a small limestone quarry and lime kiln. He had three sailing vessels which were used to transport wheat, beans and limestone to Portpatrick, Scotland. His son, Robert Cameron (1790- 1863) owned a schooner called Jane Campbell. Forty-seven acres of land (which included a wharf and lime kiln) in the townlands of Cloughfin and Temple-Effin, Islandmagee, were also leased by the Cameron family from Arthur, Viscount Dungannon. The lease of December 23 1823 was for a period of 31 years."

"The land at Bentra was later owned by James Long, and the land at Cloughfin and Temple-Effin was owned for many years by the Milliken family. The Hagan and Auld families who have long connections with Port Davey and the townland of Castletown are related to the Cameron family. In later years it was mainly used by the seafaring residents of Castletown, such as Captain Auld and Captain Hagan. Up until about 30 years ago rowing boats and the occasional motor boat could be seen entering and leaving the little port."

DNA testing led me to this branch of my Cameron line, as well as to the Camerons of Loudoun Hill, Ayrshire, in Scotland, going back to the 1620's. (My ancestor Thomas Cameron sailed to Charleston, South Carolina in America in 1772 from Larne.)

More on Camerons of Loudoun Hill, Ayrshire, Scotland: http://decorateit.ca/cameron/cameronfamily_tree.htm

Multiple sources in America say these Camerons were die-hard Covenanters, and the Loudoun Hill Camerons had a Thomas Cameron jailed after the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679.

My ancestor Thomas Cameron, born in 1730s, is likely a cousin of the Robert Cameron described above. (Recurring family names include John, James, Thomas, Robert and William.) When my ancestor Thomas arrived in America he went into business in "teaming and freighting," hauling goods from the docks of Charleston to the backcountry of South Carolina where many other new Scots-Irish arrivals settled. The description above makes it seems likely he was in the same business before, in Ireland, if his family was in the business of transporting goods to Scotland, and when he sailed in 1772 he paid his own passage, so was likely not poor (as would make sense, if his cousin was renting the lands described above).

PS - my Cameron line went on to be deeply involved in the American Revolution and Civil War, let me know if you're interested in any further information!

3
Ayrshire / Re: Cameron gravestones DARVEL
« on: Friday 17 April 20 18:28 BST (UK)  »
Hi all - been doing more research, very interested in the idea that Pischinheuch might be Muirhead, and how this may relate to Covenanter history in the area. Does anyone have further resources on Covenanter Camerons in the Galston and Loudoun parishes?

If Pischinheuch is Muirhead, it sounds like it may have been inhabited by Camerons throughout the 17th century. Cameron of Pischinheuch is listed as the forebear of the Loudoun Hill Camerons in at least one family history, then John Cameron is listed as the first Cameron to have possession of Loudoun Hill farm in 1618. (Source: http://www.decorateit.ca/cameron/cameronfamily_tree.htm)

Meanwhile at the end of the century there was another John Cameron living at Muirhead, a descendant of a younger son of the Loudoun Hill line according to that same family history. According to the Baptisms Index, John Cameron at Muirhead was the father of Janet born 1675, Margaret born 1678, and Thomas born 1687.
(Source: https://www.ayrshireroots.co.uk/Genealogy/Surnames/Cameron/Camerons%20of%20Loudoun.htm)

Also in the 1684 Fugitive Rolls, under Galston Parish there is this listing:
"Cameron, Thomas, in Muirhead (NS 551 348), [in Galston parish, listed under] Loudon parish, Ayrshire"
(Source: https://drmarkjardine.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/covenanters/)

It's hard not to think that Thomas born in 1687 was most likely named for Thomas who was declared a fugitive in 1684. Also it is notable John and his wife had no children born during the worst of the "Killing Time," from 1679 to 1687.

I would love to hear any further thoughts or leads connected to this. For the record, I am doing research on my 6th g-grandfather Thomas Camron (he preferred this spelling), who sailed from Belfast to Charleston, SC in 1767 and died in Elbert County, GA sometime after 1793. Through a y-DNA test I have found out I very likely share a common male ancestor with the Loudoun Hill Camerons within the timespan they were at Loudoun Hill. (Thank you Gilbert for the help with that!) And the main thing everyone says about my ancestor Thomas was that he was a strict "old Covenanter," devoted to the Westminster Catechism and John Knox. His father was also named John, according to family tradition, and born around 1715. Then Thomas named his eldest son John so it seems likely that was indeed his father's name, based on the Scottish naming tradition.

The Thomas Cameron born 1687 at Muirhead, son of John, married Isobel Reid in 1714, then disappeared from local history. It seems possible they could have left the area after being married, especially given the new opportunities provided by the Act of Union in 1707, and had a son within the year and named him John, after Thomas' father, and when that son grew up he would have named his eldest son Thomas too. But who knows...

Any information, leads, or ideas anyone has are much appreciated!

4
Ayrshire / Re: Cameron gravestones DARVEL
« on: Tuesday 22 October 19 05:14 BST (UK)  »
Hello! I saw your question about "Pischineuch" - I found a reference to a record on Ancestry.com that says, "Excerpt: From Scottish Record Society Commissariot of Glasgow Register of Testaments 20 Mar. 1618 22 June 1663 Cameron "John..."

Then I found the original Register of Testaments in a searchable PDF, and it lists two testaments: "John [Cameron], in Pischinheuche, par. of Lowdoune, 13 Mar. 1621," then "John [Cameron], in Pischeinheuch, par. of Lowdoune, 26 Oct 1624."

So it sounds like Pischineuch is a place name for some part of Loudon? And these Testaments most likely document the deaths of the first people in the family tree mentioned at the "Camerons in Manitoba" site someone else mentioned in this chain earlier (http://www.decorateit.ca/cameron/cameronfamily_tree.htm)

Ancestry reference link: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/mediastorypublic/?name=_cameron&bsk=BEFpYewIgAAERwCt5rg-61-&fh=4220

Link for searchable PDF of the Commissariot of Glasgow Register of Testaments: https://www.electricscotland.com/history/records/scottishrecordso07scotuoft.pdf

Pages: [1]