Mary Cameron 1791-1858

Nicolara · Post by **Nicolara** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 2:03 am

Hi.
I am new to this forum so please don't hesitate to tell me if I make an error with my post. I am searching for information on the family of Mary Cameron.
Mary married Donald Dallas in Nairn as follows:-
Old Parish Register for 1813 shows Donald & Marys marriage as:- "Dec 13th Donald Dallas, soldier in the 73rd Regiment of Foot and Mary Cameron of this parish regularly and lawfully married".
She had 5 children that I know of William born abt 1818,John 1822, Mary 1825, Ann 1829 and Donald 1833. There may have been other children.

She died as a widow in 1858 aged 67 years.
Statutory Death Registration 1858 Deaths in the Parish of Maderty shows;- Cameron Mary, a widow, a field labourer died January 3rd 1858 at 7pm at Craig Muir, Maderty. Further it shows Mary to be a female aged 67 years.
Cause of death:- Infirmities of old age, not certified.
Burial:- Maderty Churchyard as certified by James Davidson, Sexton.
Informant:- William Dallas, son.
Registered:- January 9th 1858 at Maderty.
Signed:- David Ritchie, Registrar.

I have been unable to discover her parents or her husband's death registration.

I would be very grateful for any help or suggestions.
Kind regards,
Nicolara

Post by **AndrewP** » Sun Apr 26, 2009 8:00 am

Hi Nicolara,

Welcome to TalkingScot.

From the information you have, I am guessing you have seen the 1841 and 1851 census pages for this family (both in Madderty, Perthshire), available from www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk on a pay-per-view basis.

It is unfortunate that her son did not know the names of his grandparents when registering his mother's death. He initially registered her by her maiden surname, then that was scored through and replaced by her married surname. His mother's age seems to be uncertain - she ages 30 years between 1841 and 1851, but gets some of these years back by the time of her death.

Her husband died at some time between the 1841 and 1851 censuses. I see in 1841, husband Donald and son Donald are both listed as Daniel - that is not uncommon, these names are often used interchangeably. I see wife Mary was a former cook for the 95th regiment.

As Donald (Daniel) senior died pre-1855, the chances of finding a death record are slim, particularly as there is not a record on the OPR for Madderty for that event (assuming he was buried there).

In 1851, there is a William Dallas and family a few miles away in Crieff. William is of an appropriate age to be the one you list as born about 1818, and was born in Dublin (was the regiment in Dublin at this time?).

It does look unlikely that you are going to find the parents of Mary and Donald through the records. The next possibility to consider is the monumental inscriptions for Madderty Churchyard. Could there be any more clues on a headstone there? The (pre-1855?) MI's may be published.

All the best,

AndrewP

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 6:19 pm

AndrewP wrote: It does look unlikely that you are going to find the parents of Mary and Donald through the records. The next possibility to consider is the monumental inscriptions for Madderty Churchyard. Could there be any more clues on a headstone there? The (pre-1855?) MI's may be published.
AndrewP

Hi Nicolara,
I have the pre 1855 M.I's for South Perthshire, Lower Strathearn which includes Madderty and Crieff. There is no-one with a name anything like 'Dallas' and there are no Camerons mentioned in Madderty and in Crieff none link with yours. I'll continue to have a look through other areas and will get back to you if I find anything.
Rae

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:58 am

Hello Nicolara,

I couldn’t find any references to the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot being in Ireland during the period in question. Regiments.org has the 1st Battalion in New South Wales 1809–1814 and Ceylon 1814–1821. The 2nd Battalion was at various places, and was disbanded May 1817, but I can’t see any reference to Scotland or Ireland.

The Wiki seems to confirm the above although you can never be absolutely certain with these things. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/73rd_Regiment_of_Foot

You could try searching the National Archives. The closest I can see is an Alexander Dallas, born Nairn, in the 90th Regiment. http://tinyurl.com/dbf857

90th Regiment of Foot (Perthshire Volunteers) The 1st Battalion was in the Americas and France and later possibly in England 1816-1820. The 2nd Battalion was in Scotland and Ireland from 1804 until disbanded 1817. See also http://www.lightinfantry.org.uk/regimen ... imline.htm

All the best,
Alan

Nicolara · Post by **Nicolara** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:15 am

Many Thanks AndrewP, Rae and Alan,

Andrew- I found Donald/Daniel & Mary & children on the 1841 Census this afternoon thanks to your direction - I would never have thought to look under Daniel. Try as I might I could not find a Mary Dallas on the 1851 census. Did you find her under Dallas or Cameron?

Rae - I would appreciate that very much.

Alan - Yes I have had the same problem with the 73rd. Donald and Mary were married in Nairn 1813 so whereever the regiment was, Donald was in Nairn. Now there is a five year gap before their first Child [William was born in 1818] and that seems to be a long time for no children to have been born. One census shows William born in Dublin, the next in "I" and the 1861 census has him born Madderty.
Andrew found a census which showed Mary as a former cook for the 95th regiment - would it be likely that Donald left the 73rd and joined the 95th?

So many questions and so many brick walls.

Thanks All again for you help,
Kind regards,
Nicolara