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The family of James Cameron & Anne Watson 2.
DUNCAN Born 1844. As with most men Duncan is recorded as being a farm servant during his younger life, this can of course mean just about anything to do with farm work. After his marriage in 1873 he became a game-keeper and lived at a few shooting establishments. By the time he retired he was head keeper for a large estate at Bonar in Sutherland.
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In 1873 Duncan married his cousin Margaret McGregor who came from Balnacruie Farm, the next door but one farm to Chapelton. Her mother Elspet Watson would appear to be sister of Anne Watson, Duncan's mother. Whilst being perfectly legal cousin marriages seem to have been uncommon, and from what little I can find out, they were frowned upon. Whilst they did not know the reason at the time, there are very strong arguments against marrying someone as genetically close as a cousin. Mainly the problem is a greatly increased risk of inherited diseases, particularly those passed on by what are known as recessive genes. Duncan & Margaret had two children James & Jessie who so far as I can tell were fine.
Duncan Cameron,
OPR Birth.
Gregor Cameron,
OPR Birth.
ROBERT Born 1840. I have very little information about Robert.So far as I know he lived to be 80 though quite how this is known puzzles me, I have been totally unable to find a death certificate, neither can I find any evidence of his having married. It may be that he lived a very long, healthy, celibate and incredibly quiet life.
I have checked the OPR for Duthil and all of the surrounding parishes and there is no sign of his having died in infancy or childhood. He really did exist as we have the OPR for his birth & baptism.
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This leaves not many realistic possibilities. It may be that through clerical / filing errors records pertaining to him have simply got lost. This happens surprisingly infrequently so it would not be near the top of my list.
He may have emigrated, got married somewhere else and spawned a dynasty. This has to be the most likely, his brother Peter certainly did just that, and I am in contact with a number of the current generation of his dynasty. More of him later. The final option would be that he may have been abducted by aliens. How near the top of the list should this be ? actually probably just above the chance that the National Archive may have made a mistake !!
ELSPET Born in 1843. As with Robert apart from her birth record I can find no information about Elspet. Once again I ave searched statutory records and OPR and can find nothing regarding childhood or infancy death. I can find nothing as to whether or not she ever married, so I have to give the same three possibilities.
Elspet Cameron,
OPR Birth.
Peter Cameron,
OPR Birth.
PETER / Born 1846. Peter is another interesting person and like James has a section all to himself later on.
However, one thing that I will clarify here. Quite a number of other people's family tree have another boy named Patrick. It is however my belief that they are the same person, Peter emigrated to the USA and changed his name to Patrick. In addition as with Elspet, apart from the entry in the OPR re his birth and baptism there are no other records of a person called Patrick Cameron.