Discoveries in the Cemetery

Before we left Fort William, we made one last stop at Kilmallie Old Cemetery and Church. We had driven by a couple of times and not been sure if the pathway that seemed to lead up to the church was a pathway or a laneway. Turns out you can drive up there - Google did, so we did too.

John McIntyre the minister at Kilmonivaig was the son of a minister and also had at least two brothers who were ministers and sons as well. John had given character witness statements for most of Lauren's Cameron family and his brother Duncan who emigrated to Australia in 1836. His father Duncan McIntyre was the minister at Kilmallie from 1816 til ? He died in 1830, so maybe then ? Anyways, since there was a large headstone erected by the parishioners at Kilmonivaig for John McIntyre, also for his son John Walker McIntyre (also a minister there) and for Thomas Ross an earlier minister related through the Cameron's, I felt sure there must be something at Kilmaillie. And there was.

It is a little difficult to read

"Rev Duncan MacIntyre ~ Lochaber Camusnaherie Minister of the Parish of Kilmalie (sic) born 22 June 1757 died 12 Aug 1830. Also of his spouse Jean the daughter of his ~ James MacIntyre of Glenoe himself being a ~ from that family. She died 26th July 1855 aged 78 years"

Turns out James was the head of the clan - so more great connections.

There are some other headstones to note which we found in our exploring, two with New Zealand connections, some early Cameron ones buried in the ruin of the old church and one for an engineer who had worked on the construction of the Caledonian Canal.

Pretty awesome cemetery finds we thought. Then it was time to leave the highlands and begin our journey southward - in the pouring rain.

We missed Kilchurn Castle after specifically driving that way to see it. Annoying. But we did make a detour en route to Edinburgh to the Falkirk Wheel. A pretty amazing piece of engineering to manoeuvre boats on canals. We didnt stay long as the heavens opened and we were (again) totally unprepared - one umbrella, 2 puffer jackets - and got pretty much drowned.

Glasgow, Inverness and Fort William

We've done a bit of driving again this week. And the whole time we've just been in awe of the scenery. English people that go to NZ for the scenery should make sure they have seen what the Highlands offers as well. Just awesome, so many Kodak moments.

One morning we got up early to go and get some early morning misty moody photos on Rannoch Moor. I just LOVE that landscape and all the lochs, small and large. One day, maybe next summer if I am still here I want to do the Great Glen walk - or at least part of it.

We also went to Glasgow, by bus which was great to be able to actually take in a bit more of the scenery and not have to concentrate on the road. That day the reflections on the lochs on Rannoch Moor were stunning, sadly they weren't on our early morning trip. We'll have to go again.

Glasgow was crazy busy, as you would imagine a city hosting the Commonwealth Games would be. I met a friend for lunch - which was an exercise in itself, but fun and we wandered about soaking up the Games atmosphere. We'll need to revisit when it isn't quite so busy I think.

We went to Culloden Moor near Drummossie and Inverness - the site of the brutal battle of Culloden. It is such an eerie place, and both times I've been - windswept. We went up through the Cairngorms and then drove back down the side of Loch Ness. No Nessie to be seen though. 

We didn't have time to stop in Inverness, so we went back the next day - just up and back the same way this time. When we walked out of the mall in search of a better selection of food we came upon a caravan with owls. We had to stop, donate and take photos.

"Granny will be so jealous"

We found somewhere to eat (finally) that doesn't just serve toasties and mac cheese or nothing vegetarian at all. It was lovely though apart from the giant size servings. While we were eating the heavens opened and the rain poured down. It had eased off by the time we left and made our way back to the mall. After another unsuccessful shopping expedition (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a skirt here) we returned to the car park to drive back to Fort William.

We made it back to Kilmonivaig by the skin of our teeth, to be able to see inside the church which is celebrating its bicentenary this year. A lovely lady told us a lot about the church and its ministers, some of whom were related to Lauren. She produced a Gaelic bible which had belonged to the minister and had been passed to his brother in law and then his brother, and also a communion plate which dates from 1814 so surely had some DNA on it.

The fiercely loyal Highland spirit still seems strong here, with local Highland games and Shinty tournaments, signs written in Gaelic and English and such pride of their history and struggles with those sassenachs from the south. The people are so friendly and welcoming, it makes it hard to have to leave.

Beetling about

We've driven miles and miles and miles over the last couple of days and the biggest things we have learned are :

1. Some of us don't like being here one day and somewhere else the next, and

2. Google lies when you ask what the driving times are to places.

From Royal Tunbridge Wells we travelled to Nottingham. Before we left Kent though, we paid a visit to Hever Castle where Anne Boleyn spent much of her childhood, and some of her courtship with King Henry VIII. We were early enough to be able to be the 2nd people into the Castle when it opened so had much of it to ourselves. The gardens open earlier than the castle itself. There are some wonderful portraits there and a lot of information about her and the family. No inside photos though - they're not permitted. We are such history (and in particular Tudor) geeks that this was a must-see for us.

Then the long hot drive - hours and hours on the M25 to get to the M1. Masses of traffic and queues, but still faster than Auckland I reckon. It was 30C according to the car, but the tv said 28 - whichever it was we were glad to be out of it and in an airconditioned room at the Holiday Inn.

Next morning we began the next part of the epic journey north. To Galashiels via Middlesborough. We only went there for a joke since before leaving NZ a friend had said to Lauren "don't go there". So we had to, just to see. It was another hot driving day, but seemed to get a bit cooler as we approached the border. We stopped for the obligatory photos to record the crossing into another country where no passport needed to be produced, then continued on our way. Turned out the actual Scottish pub I had booked for the night was a tad further north than Galashiels itself. But, it was not too bad, they had a restaurant so we could get dinner, breakfast was part of the deal and there was free wifi.

Today, we started off with a plan to go to the James Hogg monument (Border minstrel reputed to be related to Lauren) then drive through the area where the family was living for generations prior to emigrating to Australia. Some years ago Mum and Dad had taken a photo for me of a James Hogg statue near Tibbie Shiel's inn at St Mary's Loch. He used to frequent the Inn with his mates William Wordsworth & Sir Walter Scott who were all inspired to publish poetic verse about the location. Turns out this is not the monument marked on my new road map. The one we found today is in Ettrick and marks the site of the cottage where he was born in 1770. 

 look at these !! just growing wild everywhere on the side of the road - YUM

on the road from Ettrick to Traquair - just us and nature

From there we found our way to Traquair where the last Scot born Hogg was born in Lauren's branch of the family, then had a cuppa at Traquair House. Traquair House is the oldest inhabited house in Scotland, it dates back to 1107; has been visited by 27 kings and queens; and became a refuge for Catholic priests and the family supported Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobite cause.

So back to the drive - via Edinburgh and Stirling so as not to get caught up with the traffic around Glasgow and the Commonwealth Games - to Fort William. It took a lot longer than we thought and thankfully we had the foresight to stop at Stirling and buy things to be able to cook (yes COOK) dinner. As well, the temperature dropped the further north we came and we had rain. Woohoo. We got caught behind slow traffic and those of you who have been to the Highlands will know that dual carriageways (passing lanes in Kiwi-speak) are a rarity. We'd have loved to stop and take photos of the mist hanging in the glens and covering the peaks. It makes it all look so much more moody. Hopefully it will hang around (excuse the pun) so we can get photos tomorrow, or another day this week.

We are staying in the most amazing apartment next to the Caledonian Canal by Neptune's Staircase, close to the Road to the Isles and the Clan Cameron museum. Both on our list of must-do's.

Wonderful Escape From Injury By Lightning

After my post  last week, I have been looking to see what else I might learn about the Graham family from Garryowen, near Queanbeyan. I came across this dramatic report of a lightning strike. The title of the article says it all really.

The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) Tuesday 26 November 1872, page 4

Rebecca, from last weeks post will have been about four years old at the time of the lightning strike, her brother Robert though was about twelve.  I'm not sure I'd have referred to him as a little child, though I do wonder if I had a career in newspapers in a former life, because I seem to write in very long sentences just as they did !

 I have discovered other bits and pieces about this family which I will save for another time. But I have included the article immediately before the lightning strike report. Living in the Shaky Isles as I do, I like to read about how earthquakes were reported when there wasnt a great understanding of their cause, or how the shockwaves travelled, and how they were often reported as separate events in different locations, as if they had happened in isolation and werent in fact the same shock felt over a wide area. (It's a morbid fascination I have) 

 What a fortnight they had had in Queanbeyan though,  earthquakes, lightning strikes - I wonder if there was anything else out of the ordinary.

This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.


A couple of shillings for a kiss

In a bit of a contrast to last weeks blog where it was "acceptable" in 1880 to marry off your fifteen year old daughter and have her thirteen year old sister sign as a witness to the marriage. This weeks find on Trove is a report from the Queanbeyan Police Court in 1878, where Frederick Chambers faced a charge of indecent behaviour towards two little girls.  The girls concerned were aged eleven and thirteen.

Perhaps there was a fine line around thirteen ? Were you a little girl or more of an adult ? Did society influence this ? Or was it a case of the circumstances determining the manner in which people behaved ?

Anyway, I came across the article when I was searching for tidbits about the McIntyre and Cameron families in and around Queanbeyan.

Annie McIntyre was 3rd of fifteen children of Alexander and Sarah Ann (nee Dickinson), who I have written about previously. Rebecca was her cousin - well really her father's cousin, which may have been why she referred to Rebecca's mother as Mrs Graham rather than as an aunt. Rebecca's mother was the youngest sister of Annie's paternal grandmother Margery (nee Cameron).

Queanbeyan Age (NSW 1867-1904) 23 November 1878 p2 article30674589-3-001

I wonder what sort of character Frederick Chambers was, how old was he ? He seemed to have a bit of loose change on him to try to lure young girls that day. Was it just a bit of "harmless fun" ? Or was he truly dodgy ? But seven days seems like a fairly lenient sentence to me.

I think that Rebecca and Annie were quite sensible and responsible young ladies. Annie was already working at what appears to have been babysitting. now we cant even leave a child under 14 years old in charge of children. How interesting that they actually appeared in court themselves and gave their account of the events - not someone appearing for them or reading their testimony on their behalf.

There was definitely a lot of good in the simple unbridled upbringings that our pioneering forebears (and a few of us) had that should be re-adopted today and less of the pc-ness that abounds

After I realised that there was a family connection and that Annie wasnt merely a friend tagging along with Rebecca that day, I've been able to add another family name to my search list for Trove. I also wondered whether Mrs Davis, referred to in their testimonies, was possibly the widow of Annie's grandfather Joseph Dickinson. Annie would have been seven when her grandfather remarried. His new wife may well have been known to her and Rebecca as Mrs Davis before that marriage took place - and possibly throughout the marriage and after Joseph's death by adults in their families. I dont suppose I will ever be able to be sure of that though.


This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.

Aonaibh Ri Chéile - Let us Unite

I had planned to post something interesting from papers of old about Halloween, since that is the date today. But somehow I got sidetracked, and discovered a couple of pretty amazing articles unrelated to Halloween - but relating to the branch of my daughters father's family that would have celebrated Samhain instead of Halloween - so there is a slight connection still.

So this is about her Cameron forebears.

When I first began researching I went back generation by generation tracking direct descendants through birth and marriage certificates. One of the earliest marriage certificates I have is for my daughter's 4 x great grandparents - married at Christ Church in Queanbeyan 27 October 1862 - just over 150 years ago. Fortunately the names of the bride and grooms parents were on the certificate allowing me to step back another generation on both sides. Alexander McIntyre's parents were Margery Cameron and Duncan McIntyre both deceased. I set about looking for their immigration and found them on a card index at NSW State Archives at The Rocks, where I was able to view the film and get some pages printed. Margery had emigrated with most of her family - parents and 10 siblings ranging in age from 26 to 2 years. Duncan had come on the same ship as a single man. They were a part of the Bounty Scheme sponsored by Charles Campbell, resettling highland shepherds to care for his stock and work his land as they would have done in Scotland. There is some great documentation about this scheme, for every passenger for whom a bounty was paid on immigration there is a description and references from employers and parish Ministers in Scotland. The Hooghley arrived in Sydney 12 October 1836. Then, I thought I would look in the newspapers to see if there was anything about the arrival of the ship. Imagine my surprise reading microfilmed copies of the Sydney Morning Herald when I found this.

The Sydney Herald (NSW 1831 - 1842) Thursday 27 October 1836 page 3 article12862554-3-001

Another of Margery's sisters married a fellow passenger some years after their arrival. Was it a shipboard romance ? Or had they been an item before they left ? They were both from the same area of Scotland, in fact Duncan's brother John was the Minister who gave references for most of the family.

A family reunion was held in 1986 and a family member published a book "Cameron of the Waterholes" (Waterholes being the name of one of the properties where the family were employed.) There is also a lot of information on Cameron Genealogies, which is where I found the most exciting link. I often thought wouldnt it be great to be part of Clan Cameron, but how could a shepherd be related to the Lochiel ?

There was the twist - the connection is actually traced back throught the McIntyre line, daughters marrying sons of rival clans to try to make alliances, keep the peace or build their own clan strength. So there are Campbells in the mix too. Lucy Cameron was the 3rd daughter of Ewen Cameron the Black Lochiel by his 3rd wife Jean Barclay. Ewen Cameron was born 1629 at Kilchurn Castle and is my daughters 9x great grandfather. How exciting. Amongst Lucy's children - Colin Campbell aka The Red Fox who was the victim of the Appin Murder in 1752. So much history right there at our fingertips. Culloden and all the campaigns beforehand in the Stuart uprisings - they were there, some even paying with their lives on the battlefields or the scaffold.

In 1989 my parents toured through Scotland and spent some time near Spean Bridge and Fort William which are in the general area where the family originated. I visited myself in 2007 and found the actual Kilmonivaig church with adjacent schoolhouse. I met a local who had bought the schoolhouse and was moving in. It was built in 1836 so about the time the family left, but it was built by Rev John McIntyre, Duncan's brother who was Minister at the parish at the time. In the churchyard I found the headstone for John. 

The church itself was built between 1802-1814 so will have been the church used by the families before they left Scotland. Oh to have had more time to chat to that gentleman.

Each time I visit Sydney I manage to fit in a bit of research at the Mitchell Library or even roadtripping down around Queanbeyan, Royalla and Michelago. This branch really intrigues me.

So, as I said it wasnt my intention for this week to talk about this family, but then it was the 176th anniversary last Wednesday of Duncan and Margery's marriage as well as the 150th anniversary of Sarah and Alexander's. I remember wondering at the time I got their marriage certificate why they were married "at" the church rather than in it. A bit of research helped with that. The church was being rebuilt and not completed at the time of their marriage. They were married by the Rev A D Soares though who was the driving force behind the building of the new church.  Then over the weekend what did I find on Trove but this

The Canberra Times (ACT 1926 - 1954) Tuesday 25 October 1927 page 4 article1218757-3-002

I'm 95% sure that the baptism just mentioned by chance is the first child of Duncan and Margery born August 1838. (I feel another trip coming on !) A little mystery surrounds Duncan death. No record has been found and some members of the family assumed he had gone to the goldfields and met his end. Margery remarried in 1849 and died in 1853. Recently, I came across a tree online which had a death date for Duncan in 1844 and cause of death "accidentally shot". I still need to contact the tree owner to verify the source of this information. I wondered then, if his past had caught up with him as on the Cameron Genealogies site there is a reference to him in the Kirk sessions. He was named as the father of a child borne to Isabella Cameron (I dont believe she is related to Margery). It stated that the father had left the country already and gone to Australia (and married as soon as he could it would seem !) Isabella Cameron's family also emigrated to Australia, had they found him and dealt some form of justice ? No, a little more research found that they did not arrive until after this new death date.

Just in case I could find a report in the paper I searched some more, and came across this last wedding notice instead. Duncan's niece had emigrated to Tasmania, I wonder if she had any contact her cousins in New South Wales ?

The Courier (Hobart Tas 1840 - 1859) Wednesday 6 April 1859 page 2 article2468910-3-001

So, that's a little bit about the almost royal blood running through my daughters veins - never mind how diluted it is now. She is proud of this branch on her tree and I am sure that some of the characteristics of those fiercely loyal people are amongst her strengths today.

Thanks Trove for delivering such treasures again for me. Happy Halloween.


This post forms part of Trove Tuesday as suggested by Amy, from Branches, Leaves & Pollen.