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Granish to Chapelton.
Going back to John Cameron & Elspet Cumming
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Large families were the rule rather than the exception in those days, John & Elspet had nine who lived long enough to show up in the records. Elspet Cumming was born and grew up a few miles up the road at Deshar. Whilst I have been unable to find a record of her birth or baptism, the OPR entry for their marriage is as follows.
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John Cameron of Caigin in the parish of Alvie and Elspate Cumming daughter of James Cumming farmer at Deshar was married the 8th Day of March 1798
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There are of course a number of houses and farms at Deshar, however subsequent events and records indicate that it was almost definitely Chapelton Farm.
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John Cameron & Elspet Cumming had six sons and three daughters, as was the way of things in most families, when parents died the eldest sons got the goodies ! John died in 1835 age 70. Elspet however outlived him by 40 years living to be 98 ! Over the years she turns up living with different parts of the family in different houses. Presumably being passed around, on a "Whose turn is it to look after her now "type arrangement. Perhaps I am being unfair and there was great competition to get to look after 90 year old Granny.
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John & Elspet's eldest son John (1804-1860) took over running the family farm at Granish, this being the usual arrangement. On his death in 1860 his eldest son, also John (1844-1915) continued working the farm. The final John Cameron did not marry and after him the farm passed out of the family.
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John & Elspet's second son James (1806-1888) married Anne Watson in 1832. This is the entry in the OPR.
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Alexander (James) Cameron in Deshar and Anne Watson Eilan-uaine were married the 3rd day of May 1832.
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Caigin ( Caggan) and Eilan-uaine were farms in the remote Dulnain valley that runs through the hills to the North of and parallel to the Spey Valley. (On the old OS maps they are spelt Caggan and Ellanuan, more anglicised versions of the names, showing the drift from Gaelic to English names.) This farm was at the upper end of the Dulnain valley and was not just remote, it was seriously middle-of nowhere-ville. It is quite literally miles to even get to the nearest village. Here is a link to an old map to demonstrate the point.
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For some bizarre reason James is usually referred to as Alexander even though he has a younger brother called Alexander. They were very handy at swapping given names, family pet-names just call me.....names, this can get very confusing. You will notice that on the OPR entry of his marriage to Anne his name is Alexander crossed out and James written in above, clearly the Minister knew him as Alexander !
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As can be seen in the marriage record, James was living at Deshar when he got married, after this all subsequent documents give Chapelton Farm in Deshar as their home. It would seem reasonable to assume thatJames was living at and presumably working the farm before they were married and that the tenancy was passed to him after the death of his Grandfather James Cumming. Exactly how this came about is not clear, perhaps James Cumming's sons did not want to take over the family farm, by the time James died his three sons were all in their 30's with families of their own and settled.
However it came about, in 1832 James Cameron & Anne Watson married and set up home. The Camerons had arrived at Chapelton and there they stayed for the next five generations.
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