Looking for information on a John Cameron, born around 1806 in the inverness area. His son Donald Cameron was born in 1832 Kilmonivaig and and his son Donald Cameron born 1864 in Hawick, his daughter Flora Cameron born 1909 in Glasgow who is my grandmother. John Cameron appears on Census form1841 as a gamekeeper but can't find him on any other census forms or birth/death/marriage records.
Thanks for the link. I haven't came across that part as yet but will have a look at the weekend to see what I can find re the McPhail surname. I will also have a look at your tree to see where Peter fits in.
Thanks for getting back re this. I just happened to find you and thought
you might be interested in this line of the family, or it might have something
to do with yours.
I think it was John MacPhail, although there were various ways
to spell the name. However on some further research re whisky and his farm being Ayeon which got
taken over by the Cragganmore Whisky company later on. Am guessing he was one of the the barley growers
and whisky distillers way back. Illegal? I dont know. However a John Alexander MacPhail
with a guy called Gordon created Gordon & MacPhail Whisky by 1895. The son changed the name
during the time aliases became the fashion in mid 1700s. He change his name to Cameron alias McPhail
before he married Anne Grant. The Grants were apparently very good friends with the Camerons.
Hard to work out why there was a name change. Would imagine the distilling of whisky would have ran
in the family and a passion of sorts...like wine making. In past history the McPhails had been spiritual people
and tacksmen ie. tax collectors. John MacPhail obviously ran a farm and the sons got farms too.
Hard to trace John's family back as to whether his brothers or fathers were whisky makers too.
No mention of wife at children's baptisms which is quite unusual.
It might just be that the early MacPhails paved the way for the famous whisky later on. I dont think
my rellies were too impressed by the illegal distilling business which they thought he may have been
involved in. So everything gets hushed down when it is probably quite a good story. Perhaps the name change was due to this. The MacPhail name thus becoming one of ill repute due to too many times being caught for illegal distilling.
The son William in despair of not ever marrying made the name change.
