Cameron Family Compilation A History of the Camerons - 1884 & The Clan Cameron - 1894

$25.00

Cat No.:   CAB0420:

This CD holds a compilation of two of our individually published digital reproductions of books about the origins of the Cameron family in Scotland. The individual books are described below and remain as two separate books other than having been arranged, end-to-end, into one digital file for your convenience. Each book retains all its individual page numbers (prefixed to avoid ambiguity), Chapter divisions and Digital Bookmarks. Computer text searches will be conducted on BOTH books simultaneously and you will see all the results for both books.

We want to recognize the generosity and far-sightedness of Cathy, a descendent of the Cameron family in Canada, for allowing us to reproduce her copy of these books so the history and traditions of the Cameron family may live on.

This reproduction in the digital format has been made with our usual care and attention to providing an accurate and convenient user experience, including an image of every printed page in the book and the convenience of computer search-ability with search speed enhanced by our FastFind technology.

As always this digital edition provides you with an image of every printed page in the book and the printed text has been processed so that your computer can understand it, so allowing you perform computer searches for the occurrences of words or phrases within the text.

ABOUT: History of the Camerons; with genealogies of the principal families of the name - 1884 (CAB0418)

Title continues: “…with Genealogies of the Principal Families of the Name, by Alexander Mackenzie F.S.A., Scot.” The author during his life, 1838 - 1898, seems to have been a professional historian / author and has many books bearing his name most being histories of Scottish clans or Scottish social history. This is reinforced by the list of subscribers carried by the book meaning it was already paid for before it was published.

Nonetheless it is an impressive piece of work which, after a short introduction on “Origins,” lists the first 24 Clan leaders (or chiefs) giving some details of their lineage and notable achievements. This is followed by 16 chapters, each providing personal information on a particular family which is a part of, or is associated with, the Cameron Clan. The book concludes with three appendices carrying details pertaining to the clan finances, and providing some interesting insights into the relative value of currency at a particular point in time.

This book reports and discusses events which occurred as early as the mid 400s A.D. and clearly ranges through the 1700 and 1800’s but it is always difficult to ascribe a specific cut-off date at which it reported events. In the Preface, however, the author mentions the construction of the index to the book in 1884, so it would be fairly safe to use this date as the latest at which reporting took place.

Family history books are notorious for propagating “romances,” but this book was clearly researched and constructed by an experienced and knowledgable scholar who would, we hope, be able to detect any significant “straying from the simple truth” on the part of his informants. The author also appears to have had the authority, and so (presumably) cooperation of the Clan’s leaders. He also recognizes some “notable” primary sources in his Preface. Taking all of this into account gives hope that the information contained here can be be given some significant credence. On the other hand our other digital digital book reproduction on this subject, “The Clan Cameron, by John Cameron, our CatNo. CAB0417, calls this book into question Chapter 13, where an error of dates seems to have been made. And even the author, in his Preface, recognizes the possibility of errors.

In the original book we also found a number of newspaper clippings, all relevant to the Camerons, which had been placed there by previous owners of the book. These also have been processed and may be read and searched to provide a bonus over, and above, the already ample contents of the book.

ABOUT: The Clan Cameron - 1894 (CA0417)

The title continues: “A Brief Sketch of its History and Traditions with Short Notices of Eminent Clansmen, by John Cameron, J.P.

In his Preface to the book the author identifies the origins of this book as being a lecture he delivered on 17th November, 1893 in Glasgow, “under the auspices of the Social Committee of the Clan (Cameron) Association.” He realized he had far too much material to present in the proscribed 105 minutes he was allowed and so had to be very selective about his choice of material to present. His lecture was so much appreciated he was invited to return but instead undertook to produce this book which, incidentally, satisfied several other requests he had received to write a more permanent record of the Clan’s history and its relations with the general history of the Highlands. As a result this book was published in the following year.

The book identifies the first documented appearance of the the Cameron name when “Angus” married “Marion,” daughter of Kenneth, Thane of Lochaber in approximately the year 1,000. There have been some variations in the spelling (and perhaps pronunciation) of the Cameron name over the years but the lineage of the Chief or Captain of the Clan is followed over 24 generations into the late 1800’s.

The remainder of the book adds “meat” to these “bare bones,” providing more details of each link in the chain and relating these individuals’ lives to the historical events through which they lived, including the identification of the clan with its ancestral home in the Western Highlands of Scotland.

This copy of the book also contained a number of newspaper clippings relevant to the clan, including a report of a (1895) Clan Cameron meeting in Glasgow; the death of a Edward C. Howard, on 15th April, 1925, in Chambly, Quebec; an obituary for Margaret Jean Ruttan of Toronto, Ontario in 1914; and a full length portrait of the late, right Rev., John Cameron, Roman Catholic Bishop of Antigonish, N.S. (no date). Although these are clearly not an original component of this book they appear to be relevant to the Clan Cameron, particularly those who took residence in Canada, so copies of the clippings have been included.

No. of CDs is:  1 ;   Format is:  PDF ;   Searchable?:  YES;

FastFind:  Yes;  ISBN No.:   978-1-927503-28-7 ;