Archibald Cameron

[frances]

Looking for any information on Archibald Cameron and his brothers Duncan & John. There parents were Susan Mcnaughton and Alexander Cameron.

All three were said to have joined the army and went to an Uncle in Canada.

Archibald became Paymaster General to the Canadian Forces.

Sorry have no dates for any of the above.

Any help appreciated.

Frances

[Montrose Budie]

An Alexander CAMERON married a Sarah MACNAUGHT in 1861.

mb

[Currie]

Hello Frances,

The information you’ve given could possibly be made to fit into any period of Canadian History for the last two or three centuries.

What was the source of the information and are there any clues there as to roughly when these events are supposed to have occurred?

All the best,
Alan

[frances]

This information was found in some paper work by a friend who is looking at her family history. Someone has done a fair bit of research, but there is nothing on it to say what the sources were.

I have had a look this morning and found what could be a marriage between the boys parents Alexander Cameron and Susan McNaughton 1789 at Fortingall. There is a birth on IGI of a John Cameron 1798 . Couldn't find any record of Duncan or Archibald although the IGI has other siblings.

Hope this helps

Frances

[speleobat2]

Hi Frances,

The Fortingall, Perthshire area certainly was home to many Camerons, but I'm not seeing any named Archibald, John, or Duncan who dropped out of sight and reappeared in Canada. I have found an Archibald and an Archy Cameron, but both are still in Scotland late into life as are the Duncans and Johns born within ten years of 1798. Maybe someone else has found some?

Here's one census for you:

1901 Scotland Census 1901 Scotland Census
Name: Archibald Cameron
Age: 89
Estimated birth year: abt 1812
Relationship: Head
Gender: Male
Where born: FortingallFortingall, Perthshire
Registration Number: 59A
Registration district: Avoch
Civil Parish: Avoch
County: Ross and Cromarty
Address: Killen Farm House
Occupation: Farmer
ED: 4
Household schedule number: 5
Line: 13
Roll: CSSCT1901_16
Household Members: Name Age
Archibald Cameron 89
Duncan Cameron 55
Archibald Cameron Jr 48
Adam M Cameron 46
Helen Stewart Cameron 31
Hellen Mclennan 26
Thomas Tolmie 38
John Sharp 30

Both Archibalds were born in Fortingall, Perthshire, but as you can see they are still in Scotland in 1901. This is from Ancestry.com.

Carol

[frances]

Hello carol,

Thank you for that information.

I had another look last night at all this paper work . I now think that the Archibald who went to Canada and became Paymaster General to the Canadian Forces was actually a brother of Susan McNaughton-mother of Duncan, John and Archibald.

If I am now reading this correctly , the Archibald who became Paymaster General was ARCHIBALD MCNAUGHTON and the three brothers who went to join him in Canada were Duncan, John and Archibald Cameron sons of Alexander Cameron and Susan Mcnaughton

Frances

[speleobat2]

Hi Frances,

That opens up many new possibilities, but the problem you're going to have is that the records for the early 1800's are so sketchy. There are several references to Archibald McNaughtons in the military for much later on--1870's and, of course, there are many Camerons in Canada!

I will be out of the house all day today so I'm going to have to wish you best of luck on this one for now!

Carol

[SarahND]

Hello Frances,
Here are two records that may or may not have anything to do with Archibald:

An Archibald McNaughton, merchant, died in Montreal in 1898 aged 83

There was an Archibald McNaughton who was Captain of the "Buckingham Infy coy" in 1863 listed in the Volunteer Militia Infantry and Rifle Corps in the database: Canada, Militia and Defence Forces Lists, 1832, 1863-1939

Otherwise, while trawling through the 19th century newspapers looking for an Archibald Cameron, I came upon this interesting tidbit which is now entirely beside the point, but I can't resist posting it (I was going to suggest that Archibald was probably still alive ):

Provincial Intelligence .
Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland), Tuesday, March 25, 1856; Issue 20746

ABERDONIAN LONGEVITY. – Dr Webster, of the Scottish Hospital, London, in a work on Scottish longevity, has some interesting observations on the longevity of the residents of Aberdeenshire. Longevity, he says, "is one of the characteristics of this part of Scotland. This may be shown, irrespectively of any data detailed in subsequent paragraphs, by the well-known fact that many speculators on the London Stock Exchange have often selected aged inhabitants living in the neighbourhood as lives upon which to purchase annuities; by this process considerable sums of money were once gained at the expense of Government, and a former Chancellor of The Exchequer was not a little mystified. At length some check was put upon these gambling proceedings, heavy losses having been entailed on the public revenue from the unexpected vitality of numerous annuitants resident in this northern district. He gives the following remarkable instances: – "The longevity of the Aberdonians is not an event of the present period. A soldier named Alexander M'Culloch, who served under Cromwell, and in the three following reigns, died near the city in 1757, at the age of 132 years. Donald Cameron of Kinnichlabar, in Rannach, who married when 100, died in 1759, aged 130. Another person of the same clan, viz., Archibald Cameron, a piper to seven Lords of the Isles, during the long period of 94 years, died at Keith, in 1791, aged 122 years. A woman named Catherine Brebner died near Aberdeen in 1762, at the age of 124; while another female, named Mary Cameron, but whether any relation of the two Camerons above reported, does not appear, died at Braemar in 1784 aged 129 years."

All the best,
Sarah

[Currie]

Hello Sarah,

I’ve seen quite a few of those miraculous cases of longevity. There’s usually never any attempt to question the word of the elderly individual, or their descendants, and on the very rare occasion when the matter is looked into the claim falls flat on its face. One notorious case was that of Peter Laing, the ‘Elgin Centenarian’. He really knew how to work the system and he did quite well out of his fabrications, but a genealogist got him in the end.

But for Frances, I couldn’t find anything useful. There are scattered references here and there to the military variety of Paymaster-General in Canada with names mentioned but I couldn’t see anything for a McNaughton.

Here’s the setup for the Militia in Lower Canada in 1828.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=UTo ... 22&f=false

No help at all,
Alan

[SarahND]

Hi Alan,
No, I couldn't find anything either, hence the irrelevant posting!

As for the longevity of Aberdonians, I have to say that my Aberdeen ancestors had unfortunately some of the shortest lives in my family tree, inevitably dying just before the 1841 census, or in a gap in the OPR deaths...

Regards,
Sarah