Isabella Cameron born Adersier or Petty?.....

[Jean Jeanie]

I have an Isabella/Isobel/Elspet Cameron who married William Fraser in 1848, my husband's great grandmother.

Having exhausted the Fraser line for the moment, I decided to start on the Cameron side.

Brick wall straight away! I have her in 1851, 1861 an 1871 with her husband. Her birthplace is shown as Inverness shire Ardisier(sic). Inverness shire Campbelltown and Inverness shire Campletun(sic)

There is a place called Campbelltown in Ardersier.

However In 1881 an 1891, when she is a widow, her place of birth is Petty Inverness.

She died in 1892, but unfortunately, the informant, her grandson, did not know her parents names!!!

On the IGI there are births for an Isobel Cameron in Petty and in Ardersier of the approx correct age!!

Is there anything else for me to try?

Jean

[JackyHSF]

Hi

I have GORDONs in my tree who lived in this area most of their lives. They used Ardersier and Petty pretty interchangeably on census info and registrations, even though they didn't move (physically anyway). If you take a look at a map then you'll see the village of Ardersier close by Fort George (most of my GGG Aunts seem to have 'bagged' a soldier). I found most of their records In the Petty OPRs and the parish of Petty for post 1855, but between 1830s-1880s they lived in Stuarts Street/Stuartown/Stewartstown Street/Stewart Street, which all seem to have been the same place (and once they give their residence as Campbelltown on a marriage registration).

There is a good community site at www.btinternet.com/~ardersier/, which gives quite a bit of the history of the area, plus some old photos. Amongst other things, it gives this description of Ardersier & Petty:

"The modern village of Ardersier lies in two parishes. The narrow strip of land on which Stewart-town was built belonged to the Earl of Moray and fell within the parish of Petty.
Across the road, the householders of Cambeltown worshiped in the church of Ardersier.
The small burn that drove the mill at Connage and entered the sea by the present Ship Inn was the boundary between the two communities.
Stewart-town is not shown on Thomas Winter's map of 1760 but, by 1808George Brown, surveyor to the Earl of Moray, records 21 stone or clay houses nine gardens and six portions of arable croft land. At the time of the first national census in 1841, the number of houses had risen to 34."

Hope this helps.

Jacky

m

[Jean Jeanie]

Hi Jacky

I have seen the website and it is very interesting.

If only Isabella's grandson had known her parents names then I wouldn't have a problem.

After her marriage she lived all her life in Cromdale, Inverness shire. She is the only Cameron I know of that I can trace back from.

The 2 Isobels I have found are born 25 Mar 1813 in Petty and 22 May 1810 in Ardersier.

My Isobel's ages on the censues are as follows:

1851 aged 39
1861 aged 49
1871 aged 59
1881 aged 68
1891 aged 76

Date at death in 1892 was 80.

She could be either of the above. I am leaning towards the 1813 birth in Petty, but really she could be either.

Unless anyone else can solve the mystery?

Jean

[JackyHSF]

Jean

Will look up both OPR records next time I manage to get to the FHS in Aberdeen (might be a week or two) and see if either of them might give you a clue. 1841 census might also have some CAMERONs on it, so will try to look at this too.

Jacky

[Jean Jeanie]

Jacky

How very kind of you.

Any help at all would be appreciated as I can't think what else I can do

Jean