CAMERON family from Leith

[wiggo53]

HI, I have been looking for quite some time now, for some/ANY information on my grandmother's family. Her name was Ellen Mona Cameron and she was born in Leith in 1897. Her parents names were Matilda Kelso and David Cameron. He was an Inn Keeper. Nana lead me to believe that she was from a very large family but I cannot find any trace of them anywhere that I have looked.
If you have any news of them, I would really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks
Heather

[MonicaL]

Hi Heather

Welcome to RootsChat 

I'm struggling to find them too! Have you actually found your gran's birth cert? I cannot see a birth on Scotlands People at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk for an *El*en (to pick up on variants) Cameron in Leith in the year that you have. I also cannot see a marriage for a David Cameron/Kelso marriage at any point 

Monica

[KirstyG]

Hi Wiggo, welcome to Rootschat

Can I ask where you have tried looking so far to prevent duplication of effort? The official source of BMDs in Scotland is www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk so if your grandmother was born in Scotland after 1855 she should be on there. It is a pay-per-view site, but quite reasonably priced.

www.familysearch.org is another very useful website, although Scotland coverage stops around 1874, and there are gaps, although it is free, so always a good place to start.

Have you tried looking at the census records? Scotland's people have them, and there is also the FreeCen project which is gradually transcribing them. www.freecen.org.uk/ There are other sources of census data but the transcriptions can sometimes leave a lot to be desired!

If you can find them in the 1901 census that should give you somewhere to start. Do you know if the family staying around the Lothians of if they moved away?
1901 census search on SP shows 10 matches for Matilda Cameron, and 1 for Matilda Kelso, so a good place to start.

Have you tried searching for the death certificates of David and Matilda? They may give names of other children, depending on who registered the death. It should also give an address which might help.

There is no marriage showing in Scotland before 1933 for David and Matilda. Did they show as married on Ellen's Birth certificate?

Where in Leith were they living at the time of Ellen's birth?


Sorry lots of questions an no answers yet!

Kirsty

[KirstyG]

Hi Heather

If David and Matilda did not marry then Ellen may have been registered under Kelso at birth. There are 2 matches on SP for *el*en kelso 1896-1898 in all Scotland.

Kirsty

[wiggo53]

Thank you so very much MonicaLesl and Kirsty for your quick reply. I am very new at this, but have been tearing my hair out  (mainly the grey ones!) over my nan. I have such great memories of her.
I got her parent's names from nan's second marriage to my grandad - Angus Alexander Reid of Huntly, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia in 1920. I may have read Matilda's name wrong as now it looks like Matildia. I can find a few of the entries as well on the 1901 census. She was visiting her parents on that evening, but not with her hubby David Cameron.  The only other info I have is that nan moved to London at 15 (1913) to work as a nurse. She met and married a man named E Priestly in Jan 1918 and became a widow in June 1918, during the WW1. Nan has an entry on the Passenger Lists of 1919 on the Port Lincoln travelling from London to Sydney, Australia. She then met Grandad and moved to Huntly with him and then married in 24/1/1920. 
On her marriage certificate to grandad, she is listed as Mona Cameron.  I will keep looking for death certificates, as, as you suggested, this may give more information. It is driving me crazy! She was such a bright and important part of my life, I wish she were still around to ask all of these questions!
Many thanks again for your time and effort.

[MonicaL]

HI wiggo

What 1901 census entries have you found that might help in finding out more info?

Monica 

[wiggo53]

Hi again ladies. Thank you for the suggestion of *l*en Kelso or Cameron. I searched for the 2 entries in the 1901 census, but sadly, neither were my great grandmother. I cannot find any indication other than the 1891 census where Matilda was with her parents at her grandmother's house with her brothers and sisters. David seems to be an enigma with no sign of him either. I have searched as many bases as I can to find Ellen, or Mona as she was named on her war wedding certificate to my grandad. It was on this certificate that I found her mum and dad's name and she nominated Leith as her birthplace in 1898. I have now sent for her first marriage certificate to E Priestly in 1918 to see if I can get any more information from that. Due to the fact I am an Aussie, I have to have it sent to me by post which I assume will take a few weeks. I will endeavour to keep searching for clues though!
Thanks again for both your interests. It really is catchy isnt it?

[KirstyG]

Beware, all this research can be addictive 

I hope you get some more info from the first marriage certificate.

Fingers crossed

Kirsty

[Akwaba]

If you are interested you can find Eric Priestly's army enlistment papers at:

http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/list-name.aspx?name=Priestley

12 hours later:  Having now read through the records, Australia should be proud of this man.