–The data are provided by participants. They are incorporated into the system when a participant sends a GEDCOM to the project administrator and it is added to the master database.

–Because of software problems, adding information to the online database requires three steps–deleting the existing online database, merging the new information into the master database, and re-exporting from the master to the online database. This means you won’t be able to link to a specific person online, or use that person’s ID number because it will change each time an update is done [If anyone has the programing skills to rectify this I would welcome the help!]

–Because we can’t make permanent links between any of the project web sites and the database, you MUST use the database search function to find families of interest.

–As family tree information is uploaded, we will add a tree icon to the Oldest Known Ancestors and Kit pages to indicate this family has information in the tree database and you should look there for information instead of the basic kit pages.

–So as not to duplicate already great work, if a family is included in the Australian Clan Cameron genealogy database run by Bob Cameron, we will NOT re-post the data in this database, but will provide a link on the kit page to the right person in Bob’s database.

–Cameron Women can now for the first time provide their family history information as well.

So while this isn’t a perfect tool and has kinks in it, we hope it is a big enough step forward in our shared family history quests to be worthwhile for all. If you have any questions, please email the administrator at admin at calcamerons dot com.

The search in Australia

My ancestor, Allan Randolph Cameron, settled in Australia before 1868 when he married and established his dynasty. Without the assistance of the A-Team it would have been impossible for us to make any progress in finding his Canadian roots. In fact it was impossible. For more than 50 years some family member or other has been trying to – me, a newcomer, for almost 20 years.

Allan Cameron’s Australian death certificate told us that he died (28 May 1884) aged 54 and was born in British America (ergo c 1830). His father was Ewen Cameron, farmer. His marriage certificate named both parents, Ewen Cameron and Jane Cameron. On the birth certificates of at least two of his children (Mary 1875 and James Robert 1876), his birth place was designated “Templeton Canada East America”. The reported family account was that he was brought up by old uncles in Three Rivers, squabbled with them and ran away from home to join the gold rushes in Victoria Australia (1850s). Our assumption was that any connection with Canada was gone forever since he scornfully ignored “someone’s” attempt to have him contact them (we surmised at the death of the uncles).

Enter the A-Team in 2010

In response to a cousin’s internet enquiry, placed some four years earlier in 2006, we were contacted by several members of the A-Team and were dumbfounded at what they had to tell us.

From the MacKay Notary ‘Tutelle # 629, 5 Octobre 1848 from film #1894 found at the Archives nationale du Quebec’ we learned that Allan (Randolph apparently added sometime in Australia) Cameron was born in Templeton, Quebec (just across the river from Ottawa) c 1831. He and his brother (yes, he had a brother), John, (born c 1829), were orphaned in the summer of 1832 when both parents, Ewen Cameron and Jane (nee Cameron), died on the same day. It is very likely they were victims of the Quebec cholera epidemic.

The 1848 MacKay Tutelle records that a meeting was held with a group of the boys’ Cameron relatives to appoint a guardian and sub-guardian to the then-teenagers.

Subsequent Y-DNA testing with one of Allan Randolph’s great grandsons and known descendants of the Cameron relatives was used to see if these relationships were through Ewen Cameron. (Y-DNA testing is a ‘male only’ test involving the male chromosomes to determine a direct male linkage to other males. Many police forces and law enforcement agencies throughout the world use it as a tool to help them solve many of their cases (and even overthrow sometimes spurious judgements that have convicted innocent citizens) because of its proven scientific reliability. The composition of cheek swabs from male candidates is analysed and compared in elements called Markers at levels of 12, 25, 37 and 67 (at the time of our testing). Those descended from a common male ancestor will have very close or exact matches at each of those levels. The greater the distance between matches the further back in generation and time the common ancestor would have lived. Slight mutations occur over time and this could account for less than perfect matches between known descendants with a common ancestor.)

The Camerons listed in the Tutelle had been identified by the A-Team by an exhaustive examination of BDM, census, land petitions, diaries, letters etc which they have obtained and stored in their personal databanks. Signatures on the Tutelle were collected and compared carefully with other documents to confirm that the Cameron gentlemen were living at the places assigned to them in the Tutelle in 1848. Selected descent charts (with the proviso, “as accurate as possible but open to change if substantiated proof was found”) were made available to me and the search began to find living male descendants who would be willing to take the Y-DNA test.

From comparing ARC’s great grandson’s Y-DNA with descendants of 3 of those Cameron men who were present at the 1848 meeting the following results emerged:

Cousin Charles Cameron, farmer in Lochaber township, Canada
Identified as Charles (Clunes) Cameron (1801 to bet 1861-1870) s/o Donald Cameron/Janet MacDonell, s/o John Clunes/Mary Glennevis (proof of Charles’ identity already known from earlier Y-DNA results).
Very distantly related through the male line to ARC’s great grandson.

Grand uncle Allan Cameron, farmer in Buckingham Township
Identified as Allan Cameron (abt 1783-1872)/Ann or Nancy McMillan.
No matches to ARC’s descendants through male line but surprisingly a close match was found between Allan Cameron/Nancy McMillan and Adj John Cameron/Susannah (Clunes) Cameron (see Uncle Donald below).

At the time, negative matches with Cousin Charles and Granduncle Allan were a bitter disappointment. We were hoping for a quick solution. But, of course, we had overlooked the fact that only Donald Cameron (below) could be expected to have a very close match since he was described by Francois MacKay as Ewen Cameron’s brother. Now we expect that the relationships with Cousin Charles and Granduncle Allan will be found either in the McDonell or McMillan lines through either Ewen Cameron or Jane Cameron’s mothers; or in the Cameron line through Jane Cameron’s father (or mother).

Back to the other Camerons at the Tutelle meeting

Second cousin Ewen Cameron, farmer in Buckingham Township
Believed to be Ewan Cameron of Grenville & Thurso who married Mary McGillvray 31 Jan. 1832. So far no descendants have been found for this couple. The signature of Ewan Cameron on the Tutelle matches the signature on the MacKay documents for Ewan Cameron of Buckingham (# 421) 25 April 1848 sale of cattle & crops to John McGillvray of Grenville & MacKay #1413 Thomas Burke lot 3 Galipeau Street, Fraserville, Thurso, QC to Ewan Cameron 31 March 1855. This Ewan Cameron/Mary McGillvray are shown in the 1861-1871 census in Thurso without any Cameron children. There is a Hugh/Ewan McGillvray with them. Hugh is 12 in 1861 and 18 in 1871. They may have had children who were grown and had left home by 1861. There isn’t an existing census for Thurso or Lochaber for 1852. There is a 1 Sep. 1871 burial record for Ewan Cameron of Thurso in the Grenville, QC Notre Dame des Sept Douleurs parish. We are hoping that other relatives of this Ewen Cameron’s extended family may come forward and help us identify a male line.

Uncle (paternal) Donald Cameron, yeoman of Lochaber Township
Identified as Donald Cameron (abt 1801 to bet 1861-1870) who married Grace Cameron d/o Adj John Cameron/Susannah (Clunes) Cameron, Susannah being the aunt of cousin Charles Clunes Cameron above. Male descendant Y-DNA testing has produced very close match (distance of 1) at the top 67 Marker, indicating strong evidence, as stated in the Tutelle, that he is the brother of Ewen Cameron (father of the orphans). Comparison of known signatures of this Donald with those on the MacKay 629 Tutelle support the claim. Until proven otherwise I believe this Donald to be my 3xg uncle.

Brother John Cameron (not present at the meeting)
Unknown to us and so far not identified in Canada or Australia.

A notice placed by Duncan McMillan in the Canada Gazette 1841-1869 No 598 6 November 1852 page 6

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/canada-gazette/093/001060-119.01-e.php?image_id_nbr=13969&document_id_nbr=2256&f=p&PHPSESSID=65hhbtnpd68h60hnt3nkeq8fa0

is complementary evidence that the family retained some interest in a property in Templeton (11/1), restating the association of the boys with Allan Cameron (granduncle) and Donald Cameron (uncle) as outlined in the Tutelle.

Conclusion

You can see that this is still a work in progress so we would all appreciate any further information which might help us discover the Scottish origin of Ewen (and Donald) Cameron and Ewen’s wife Jane Cameron and how they were related to those Camerons who met in 1848. Modern technology enables people like us, scattered across the world at least 150 years ago, to reunite. It is possible that some other Camerons may know what happened to brother John Cameron and who were the old uncles of Three Rivers, why did Allan add Randolph to his name? Was their any connection between our family and that of Randolph Cameron (1867-1952)? Who was the John Cameron of Charlottenberg who signed the marriage bond of Jane and Ewen Cameron in 1827?
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/marriage-bonds/001068-119.02-e.php?id=3975&page_sequence_nbr=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=sufm8fkefsmeu4r6i2ev57fvi3
and the illiterate John Cameron, whose X is recorded there also? Do any of the Cameron families who were neighbours of Jane and Ewen in Templeton in the early 1830s belong to the same family? Are there McDonells or McMillans who are related to Jane and/or Ewen Cameron? We’ve made a good start but there are a lot of unanswered questions.

I hope I have shown that the A-Team has done a very fine job in working with us. If you think your ancestors could be part of this story, and you would be prepared to assist us in filling in some of the gaps, I would love to hear from you.

Sue McPhee
7 July 2011

[Editor's note: a new DNA project group has been added called "Camerons in Templeton Quebec" to supplement the more distant connections between this family and others in the Lochaber-Ft. William group]

Both male and female children inherit their mother’s mitochondrial DNA pattern, making it possible to trace the maternal line through a MtDNA test. Several Cameron women have taken the test and the results are posted in the Test Result and Raw Data link HERE. Because the MtDNA patterns change more quickly across generations than the Y-DNA patterns, these tests are not as precise a tool for tracking family trees.

As the capacity of this web site expands, we will begin to include the stories and lineage of Cameron women too.

Ardnamurchan Peninsula From Space (image from Wikicommons)

The Ardnamurchan (Àird nam Murchan) Peninsula lies west of the heart of Lochaber and stretches about 70 miles  into the Hebridean Sea. Its tip is the most westerly point on the UK mainland and was historically the dividing line between the northern and southern Hebrides (Groome, 1882).

Some of the most detailed and earliest information we have on Camerons living on Ardnamurchan is summarized by wonderful compilations of Garbh Criochan a’ Deas–the Lost Place  Names of the Southern Rough Bounds. This work by Jim Kirby and others summarizes everything known about place names on much of the peninsula but also includes very specific information on the inhabitants in the 1680-1750 time range.

In one of the hamlets on Ardnamurchan profiled by Kirby, Camasane (Camas Eidheann) near Strontian, there were Camerons living there as early as 1748 when Alexander Cameron shows up as a tenant.

The Clan Cameron DNA Project may now have a DNA pattern of these Camerons, thanks to Ewen Cameron who has shared his family tree and DNA pattern with us. He can trace his ancestors back to Donald Cameron (abt 1770-aft 1808) married to Elizabeth Cameron who lived in Camasane. Ewen’s DNA pattern can be searched at www.ysearch.org using the user id E764Q. The pattern falls squarely into the Ft. William/ Lochaber group.

Another Cameron in the Clan DNA Project hails from Ardnamurchan as well–kit 168176. The Australian branch of Clan Cameron also has a number of genealogies of Camerons from the Ardnamurchan peninsula whose descendants emigrated to Australia and New Zealand. Click HERE to explore those histories by place name.

Walter mentioned in his memoirs that he was a second cousin of John “Cariboo” Cameron, great-grandson of John Cameron “the wise.” Cariboo was famous for striking gold in British Columbia and returning to Glengarry County a wealthier man. John Cameron “the wise” was a prominent man in the group of loyalists who settled Glengarry County in 1785 and father of John Cameron “the rich,” a politician and shipping company executive (3). John “the wise” was born 1730 in Rannoch, Perthshire Scotland, emigrated in 1773 and settled for a short time on Kortright Patent lands at the head of the Delaware River, and then joined the British army in the Revolutionary War.

“Preacher John’s” DNA pattern falls squarely into the Vikings3 group.

The puzzle is whether John “the wise” is related to “Preacher John” by marriage, or through a common ancestor?

(1) Thomas, C., 1896. A History of the Counties of Argenteuil, Que. and Prescott, Ont. from the Earliest Settlement to the Present. John Lovell & Son, Ottawa, Ontario, p. 144.

(2) Armstrong, Audrey, 1979. The Blacksmith of Fallbrook: the story of Walter Cameron, Blacksmith, Woodcarver, Raconteur. Musson Book, Don Mills, Ontario.

(3) MacGillivray, Royce, 2010. Dictionary of Glengarry Biography. Glengarry Historical Society, Alexandria, Ontario.

If you have already obtained test results for your family and have been getting emails from the Project Administrators, you do not need to “re-join.”

It’s also very helpful to link any detailed family tree to your kit number. For those of you lucky enough to be in Australia, Bob Cameron’s genealogy database of Cameron families is a great repository. You can make this connection simply by emailing your family’s html link in Bob’s system to the Project Administrators. We can then just paste the link on the kit number page. MUCH easier than copying all the information. If you aren’t in Australia, you can achieve the same goal by loading a family tree GEDCOM up to the free Rootsweb site and providing that link to the administrators.

Ideally, there would be a genealogy database for everyone outside Australia—volunteers??  AND, it would be great to have an easier way to show which family lines have DNA pattern data and which do not.

Until then, we are trying to capture very basic information on  the kit number pages (see kit 73524 for example).

Clan Cameron DNA Project

Clan Cameron Online has recently updated the format and content of their DNA testing project to make it easier to understand and find others with similar DNA profiles. Briefly, a DNA analysis takes DNA samples from an individual (a swab from the inside of the cheek) and tests the values of “markers”, or common locations on the DNA strand. Identical or close marker values between individuals indicate a relationship and they share a common ancestor. The more markers that match, the closer the relationship, expressed in terms of a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA), expressed in years or generations.

The Clan Cameron DNA project had successfully shown links between a number of participants, and since my own family research had hit a roadblock, I decided to take part in the project in order to hopefully gain some insight into my roots. I started with the basic 12-marker test, mailed in the swab and anxiously awaited the results. When the test results arrived, I was surprised and disappointed. There was only one weak link to another Cameron. Undaunted, I moved up to a more sophisticated 25 marker test. The results were the same.

MacMillans and Camerons

The sponsors of the various projects, with your permission, will contact other individuals in other clan projects of close DNA matches. I started to receive notices of close matches with six or so MacMillans, one of whom was the current Clan Chief. The matches indicated we had a common ancestor about 300 years ago, in the early 1700’s.

I think that everyone who delves into their ancestry hopes to find they are related to someone famous, maybe The Gentle Lochiel or another notorious Cameron. My family, as it turns out, is indeed related to a noted Clan chief – the problem is, it is the wrong clan.

Graeme Mackenzie, Genealogist

At the 2009 Gathering, Graeme Mackenzie, in conjunction with Chief George MacMillan and Donald Cameron Jr of Lochiel made a presentation discussing the strong historical relationship between the Camerons and MacMillans. Records show that MacMillans occupied the lands around Lock Arkaig in Lochaber, before the Camerons until they were defeated and driven out, settling in Knapdale. A number of MacMillans returned to LochArkaig. They were known as the MacMillans of Murlaggan and were allowed to settle in what was then Cameron territory, for sword service.

“The Lochaber MacMillans were among Lochiel’s most important and loyal followers” and “tradition states that there were two MacMillans who carried the Chief of Clan Cameron from where he fell at the battle of Culloden.” However, Clan McBain makes the same claim.

The Jacobite forces planned to make their last stand from the Clan Macmillan home in Arkaig, but this plan was abandoned, and all fled.

When surnames became necessary in the Highlands in the late 1700’s, some of the “children of Maolan” were given or adopted the surnames of the chiefs they followed. There are also stories that a man who wanted to marry a Cameron woman was obliged to adopt the Cameron name. There are land records in Lochaber showing the same families using both the Cameron and MacMillan names.

This is my particular story of how DNA testing added a completely new and unexpected chapter to my family history. Since the Clan Cameron is reputed to have come from the union of five original Lochaber clans (the five arrows on the crest), there is the strong potential there are more interesting and diverse DNA relationships in our Clan. As more individuals participate in the DNA project, more fascinating stories will unfold. If you have any of these stories, please share them with us..

Much more detail on the MacMillans, the Cameron Septs and the various branches of the Camerons is given on the Clan Cameron Online site.

About 70% of the members testing for Y-DNA information have haplotypes branching off from R1b1

A few have “I” haplotypes and a few have “J” haplotypes