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05 September 2012

McIntyre + Cameron + Graham

Exhaustive searches have a way of shrinking thanks to a small pool of sources. Therefore the FAN principle expands. Let's not say I'm desperate (I am) in pushing Friends, Associates, and Neighbours to the max for Margery McIntyre, one of those ancestors who dropped in from outer space. First the Camerons; now, this.

Some Cameron researchers say Preacher John Cameron had a Graham son-in-law, an unresolved side issue, but still of potential benefit for a Scottish place of origin. John Cameron, likely the Preacher, named his wife Catherine McIntyre in his will, and eight children. None of those daughters married a Graham. He probably had some older children by a first marriage. It's known that a John Graham, married to a Mary Cameron (born ca.1799 in Scotland), lived in Roxborough Township, Upper Canada.[1] I want to leave that aside because of the different migration history to that area: not exactly FAN club candidates in my mind.

Nevertheless, a person of interest is a man called Walter Graham who settled at Cote du Midi in the St. Andrews East area of Argenteuil, Quebec. Men, actually. I've counted at least three. The name was also closely associated with my John Fraser. And probably the phantom McIntyres, object of my angst. There's far too much math calculation for my liking in what follows.

Walter Graham of Montreal, gentleman, married Jane McIntyre of the same place on 26 September 1818 by licence.[2] ... another McIntyre connection. Both were of the age of majority. Hugh McMillan and Allan Cameron were the witnesses. I have no idea who Jane is or where she came from.

Good questions: What does gentleman imply? A man of “means”? ... he became a farmer. What does licence imply? ... one or both were not members of that congregation. Who the heck is Allan Cameron? ... not Preacher John's son who was born in 1807.

In the 1842 census Walter Graham appears a few lines above Hugh Cameron (another dangling thread in himself). Walter had been in the province for twenty-five years.[3]  An emigration date of about 1817 means he arrived in Quebec only shortly before his 1818 marriage. Walter Graham and Jane McIntyre are both shown as age 50 in the 1851 census.[4] They have a son Walter aged 25.

Four months after the 1818 marriage, the couple had a daughter Joan born; her baptism was witnessed by John Fraser and Hugh Cameron.[5] This girl could be “Joanne” Graham who married a John Cameron in September 1836 at Chatham, Quebec, both “residing at Cote du Midi.”[6] Witnesses were Archibald McCallum and Alexander Cameron. The groom is thought to be the son (1803-1893) of John Cameron and Catherine McIntyre;[7] the bride would have been 17 and the groom 33. The witness Alexander could possibly be her brother born in 1809.

On the other hand, a Joanna Graham married a John Cameron in 1845, recorded in the same church register.[8] On this occasion the witnesses were A. Cameron and H____ Nor[ton?]. Residence/s were not noted, but the clergyman’s reference to duly published banns suggests the couple lived in or near Chatham.

Which Graham-Cameron marriage involves Walter’s daughter and the Preacher’s son, if either? The 1851 census shows John Cameron age 30 and wife “Jane” Graham age 31 in a Graham-Cameron cluster.[9] (Most nineteenth-century Quebec censuses show a wife's birth surname.) If the census ages are fairly reliable, this man is not John and Catherine's son born in 1803; he was born more or less about the same time as his wife. The age of their oldest child–14–infers a marriage at least by 1838, fitting with the known 1836 marriage and Jane’s young age at the time.

A third marriage entry is that of Jane Graham to Duncan McCallum in 1847, which took place at Cote du Midi but recorded in the same register as the first two mentioned.[10] Zachariah McCallum and Donald McSorly were witnesses.

John Cameron, son of John and Catherine, likely found his bride elsewhere. Walter Graham and Jane McIntyre of Cote du Midi may have had two daughters with similar names (Jane, Jean, Joan, Joanna, etc. were variables of one name) but it’s equally likely that several women with the same name and different fathers (oh yes, no lack of candidates) lived at the same time ... illustrating common same-name problems in Highland family research.

So John Fraser (born ca.1776) and John Cameron (ca.1764) and Walter Graham ((ca.1801) all married McIntyre women of unknown origin. Where am I going with this? To Scotland, I hope, somewhere, somehow.

Just to prove I am having fun (?) ... another Walter Graham perhaps worth mentioning was the man buried 8 January 1852 in the Berthier County parish of Lanoraie.[11] He was described as “formerly servant to the seigneur of this parish.” Lanoraie is located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Trois-Rivières, quite distant from Argenteuil but still in the District of Montreal. The seigniory was the domain of one Ross Cuthbert during the period. Walter was aged about 80 at the time of his death, making his year of birth ca.1772. Thus he was old enough to have fathered a son called Walter who could have been in Montreal in 1818 to marry a McIntyre.

Could have, would have, possibly. It's difficult to decide how far to extend the searches without a few small rewards. Depends how exhausted or desperate you are.

[1] “1851 Census Canada West,” digital image, Automated Genealogy (www.automatedgenealogy.com : accessed 31 August 2012), Stormont County, Roxborough Township, district 4, sheet 20, stamped p. 39 and sheet 21, stamped p. 41, John Cameron household; citing Library and Archives Canada (LAC) microfilm C-11752.
[2] “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 25 August 2012), Graham-McIntyre marriage, 26 September 1818; citing St. Gabriel Street Presbyterian Church (Montreal, Quebec).
[3] Walter Graham, 1842 Census Lower Canada, Deux-Montagnes, Argenteuil seigneurie, Cote du Midi, p.1225, line 6; LAC microfilm C-728.
[4] “1851 Census Canada East,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 August 2012), Deux-Montagnes, ED 11, Argenteuil, Parish of St. Andrews, sheet 2, stamped p. 3, Walter Graham household; citing LAC microfilm C-1147.
[5] St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (St. Andrews East, Quebec) register 1818-1827, p. 13, baptism Joan, 24 February 1819 (born 29 January 1819), daughter of Walter Graham, farmer Cote du Midi, and wife “Jean”; LAC microfilm C-2904.
[6] “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 August 2012), St. Phillipe d’Argenteuil Presbyterian Church (Grenville-Chatham), Cameron-Graham marriage, 28 September 1836.
[7] Cameron researchers often refer to her as “Johanna.”
[8] “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 August 2012), St. Phillipe d’Argenteuil Presbyterian Church (Grenville-Chatham), Cameron-Graham marriage, 29 December 1845.
[9] “1851 Census Canada East,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 August 2012), Deux-Montagnes, ED 11, Argenteuil, Parish of St. Andrews, sheet 2, stamped p. 3, John Cameron household; citing LAC microfilm C-1147.
[10] “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 26 August 2012), St. Phillipe d’Argenteuil Presbyterian Church (Grenville-Chatham), McCallum-Graham marriage, 19 January 1847.
[11] “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca : accessed 25 August 2012), St. Joseph parish (Lanoraie, Berthier County), 8 January 1852, enterrement Walter Graham.

labels: Graham, Fraser, Cameron, McIntyre, Argenteuil

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