Cambusmore

[jk22]

Is this town in the county of Stirling?

In my chase to locate the origin of the oldest man of my McPherson line, i found a birth for a William to James McPherson and Janet Cameron on 7 Sep 1802 and baptised on the 10th - 096/0B 0020 0044 Duthil and Rothiemurchus. Isn't this parish though in Inverness?

This record says the ceremony (?baptism) occurred in Cambusmore.  Is this place both in Stirling and in Sutherland, near Dornoch?  Are there 2 places called Cambusmore?

My William McPherson's parents are given as James McPherson and Catherine Munro (surname having been corrected from 'Lauder') on his 1857 death registration, but i am struggling to find these parents' origins, even their marriage.  I have since been advised that due to the sparsely populated northern highlands, and the rigours of life there, registrations of key events were often not completed.

I'm wondering if my known William McPherson's [a prison dep governor in Edinburgh] death registration was mistaken re his parents!?!   William's birth place on this registration is given as just 'Sutherland'.  I've been to that page and no finds found.

Using the naming tradition so strong in Scotland i wondered about my greatgrandfather's middle name of 'Cameron', and liked the 'Janet Cameron' given in the record aforementioned!  The namings in my Scottish branches are so consistent i am sorely tempted to assign the Cambusmore couple as parents of my William in spite of what his 1857 death reg states!

Branch as known: 
Wm McP + M Heron; James McP-Christian/a-Alexander-Margaret-Thomas-William-Jane.
James is my Scottish-Australian ancestor.  He married Mary Taylor and their children were: Wm-Catherine-James-David Cameron-Mary-John Gray McPherson. David, Mary & John were their Australian-born children.

Going by the names i accept what i have is likely correct, but the 'Cameron' factor teases me and want to assign the above Janet Cameron instead of Catherine Munro as my gggrandmother!  I see though that 'Catherine' has been granted to my great grand aunt which does follow tradition.

I have not found any siblings for William McPherson, born c1798 - d 1857, deputy prison governor of the Bridewell in Edinburgh.

Anyway would you be able to comment on any of this please?
Julie

[apanderson]

Hello Julie,

There's a Cambus near Alloa (Clackmannanshire).

There's a Cambusbarron and a Cambuskenneth in Stirlingshire, but I've never heard of a Cambusmore in the general vicinity.

Anne

[Forfarian]

Using 'town' in its modern sense, that is, an urban settlement, there is no town anywhere in Scotland called Cambusmore.

'Cambus' is from Gaelic 'camas', and means a curve or bend in a river, and can also mean a bay. 'More' is also Gaelic, and means 'big'. So Cambusmore means 'big bend' or 'big bay', and there are very probably numerous places so named all over Scotland. These may be individual farms, crofts or houses.

The important thing to note is the parish where an event took place. If the baptism was recorded in the parish of Duthil and Rothiemurchus (which is indeed in Inverness-shire), and the record just says 'in Cambusmore', you are looking for somewhere in that parish or very near by. Not 100 miles away to the south in Stirlingshire, or 100 miles away to the north in Sutherland. Given that the River Spey flows through the middle of the parish of Duthil, and that it meanders as it does so, it is very likely that there was somewhere known as Cambusmore along the river somewhere there. I think that any other Cambusmore is likely to be a red herring.

However you have two pieces of evidence which contradict the likelihood of James Macpherson and Janet Cameron being the parents of your William: one being the death certificate and the other this reference to his birthplace being Sutherland.

The IGI at www.familysearch.org says that William Macpherson and Margaret Heron were married in Edinburgh on 13 November 1825, and two children are listed: Isabella, 1826; James, 1828.

At FreeCEN http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl I can see that the 1841 census listed Wm Macpherson, 40, warder in prison, Margaret, 30, and James, 12; Christian, 10; Alexander, 8: Margaret, 6; Thomas, 3; and infant, 5 days.

In 1851 William, 52, born Sutherland, is living in the Prison of Edinburgh with wife Isabella; and children Christina, 19; Alexander, 17; James and William, both 10; and Jane, 7. I suspect that James aged 10 ought to read Thomas aged 12. I wonder if Isabella is in fact his second wife?

I wonder whether there are any staff records from the prison that might shed light on William's origins? I would start with the City of Edinburgh Archives http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/cityarchives

I also see from the IGI that James Macpherson and Janet Cameron had a fairly large family, and that the first two were born in Ardersier. That immediately makes me think of the Army barracks at Fort George, and makes me wonder whether James was a soldier stationed there. But as you can't prove they're yours, there's no point going looking for James' service records yet.

[sonofthom]

Cambusmore is near Callander, on the road from Stirling; historically this is in Perthshire, although it now falls within Stirling district. Alex.

[SandyMcJ]

A couple of points that may or may not be helpful:

I have a Munro line which goes back to Dornoch in Sutherland, so I can vouch for there being lots of Munros from round there, which maybe lends weight to Catherine Munro being the correct name of your ancestor.

Regarding the middle name Cameron - as well as using mother's and grandmother's maiden names as middle names, I have come across many examples of children being named after uncles who married one of the parent's sisters. So eg David Cameron McPherson might have an uncle David Cameron married to one of either James or Mary's sisters. Finding records of such a marriage sometimeshelps tracing other family connections.

Finally on Forfarian's point about Isabella possibly being a second wife to William, his death record might show both wives' names in such a case (though I believe inclusion of spouse's name was not mandatory at this time).

Good luck with the search!

Sandy

[Forfarian]

Finally on Forfarian's point about Isabella possibly being a second wife to William, his death record might show both wives' names in such a case (though I believe inclusion of spouse's name was not mandatory at this time).

Unfortunately William died in 1857, and from 1856 to 1859, or it might have been 1860, they only recorded marital status, not the name of the wife or wives. So he is probably described as married, but it won't say to whom.

I couldn't find a marriage to an Isabella in the IGI, so one way to check this would be to look up all the Isabella M(a)cphersons of appropriate age until you find one who was the widow of William M(a)cpherson, prison warder.

However there is a matching Isabella McPherson, 72, born Dysart, at 15 Buccleuch Street, Edinburgh with son George, 29, daughter-in-law Helen, 22 and grandson William, 1. William's birth 1878/9 birth certificate will tell you Helen's surname, and then their marriage certificate will confirm the name and occupation of George's father and Isabella's surname. This would be a surer way of getting there than a scatter-gun approach to all Isabella M(a)cphersons.

[jk22]

Hello All and thank you very much for your comments.  They were helpful.

Thanks muchly Forfarian for the clarification of Cambusmore vis a vis a William McPherson's birth to James and a Janet Cameron.  I still have a little doubt, in spite of all, that they could be my William's parents - solely based on her maiden name.

You're right Forfarian, my William's death reg of 1857 does not give his wife or children. 
I do have both of William's marriage records:  1825 to Margaret and the 1849 one to Isabella.
I have that census of 1861 which shows Isabella McPherson with her son George, and have followed that up with success.  Isabella died in 1895 and gives known personal details.

The 1851 census shows William with Isabella and his children, her step-children including Wm's youngest 3 children, Thomas, William jr, then Jane, aged 7yrs. These last 3 children i have almost nothing on apart from a census; they didn't go to live with their step-mother after the death of their father in 1857.  I guess Isabella had had enough and was looking after her own child by William, George, born in 1862.  I have George's 1922 death registration with information which supports held facts.

Thanks SandyMcJ for that Munro mention.  It does support my inclination to place my McPherson origins in and around Dornoch, Sutherland.  I take you point about the naming tradition.  Indeed my ggrandfather's younger brother, was named after the husband of their aunt, Christina - their father's sister.  She married a John Gray; my great grand uncle then is John Gray McPherson!!  I haven't found a 'Cameron' closely connected to my line - as yet!  But it does lead me to think of Clan structures/names with 'Cameron' i think being a Sept of the Clan McPherson, itself part of the greater Clan Chattan?

Also thanks For Anne and Alex for information on 'Cambusmore'. If i was younger i'd like to learn Gaelic!

Julie
 

[Forfarian]

But it does lead me to think of Clan structures/names with 'Cameron' i think being a Sept of the Clan McPherson, itself part of the greater Clan Chattan?

By all means speculate about clan connections. With a name like Macpherson you are obviously connected to Clan Macpherson. But please be aware that a lot of what the world 'knows' about clans has been dreamed up out of the Highland mist by the Brigadoon industry, and is sometimes a bit short on verifiable facts.

But Clan Cameron is a clan in its own right, and indeed one of the more prominent clans. There could have been Camerons living in the lands occupied by, and under the protection of, Clan Macpherson, but that doesn't mean to say that they were related, and it isn't a substitute for good research.

Yes, James Macpherson and Janet Cameron could be the parents of your William. However the evidence, such as it is, is against that conclusion, so caution is called for. It might be possible to disprove it because if their son William, born 1802 in Duthil and Rothiemurchus, died in Scotland after 1855, his death certificate ought to tell you.

You may just have to accept either that your William's baptism was never formally recorded, or that if it was, the record has not survived. I reckon that, of the people in my tree who were born in Scotland between 1800 and 1854, about one in five is not recorded in any baptism register.

[jk22]

You certainly are an 'Aristocrat' - thank you so much for your excellent commentary and cautionary advice.
 
I don't like sloppiness, and always admit to my deficits - at least where this genealogy research is involved!

I'm not a groupie of any sort, and the clans information i took from what appeared to be a good internet site.  It was very explanatory and detailed so i found it helpful to get a handle on the subject only.  Marvellous stuff.  Such a small country, but so much history and culture.
I was in Scotland in 1975 - i worked as a barmaid/housemaid at Ballathie House in Perthshire for a few months around the time of the superb Tattoo.

I so regret not having had at that time any idea of my family history, except that Fife and The Highlands were involved!

Thanks again,
Cheerio,
Julie.