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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