Capt. James Cameron of Lochiel

Captain James Cameron, a third son of the “Gentle Lochiel” “A man of great hopes and spirit,” was born at Lochaber the home of Camerons of Lochiel in 1735. He was a Captain in the Royal Regiment of Scots, in the service of France, commanded by Lord Lewis Drummond. There is no record of his marriage in the Scotch archives, so it is supposed he may have married while in France. His wife died and left one daughter Jennie Cameron, who eloped to the North of Ireland with her cousin James Cameron. The family tradition shows that her father disapproved of her marriage, for he almost immediately sold out his commission in the army and went to America, about 1761. In those days there were no banks that had international dealings. His money was in Spanish Doubloons. It took four men to carry his chest of belongings aboard the ship. He bought a place called “Long Canes” at or near Philadelphia. After his death, his daughter was notified that she was heir to the estate. Her husband was a man of literary and musical ability, but a poor financier, so they were poor, but they managed to send a man to America with power of attorney to act for them in taking over the estate. In those days it was a voyage of from two to three months in a sailing vessel. (about 1776.) The man did not communicate with them in any way and not having means to prosecute an inquiry, or to leave with their two small children for America, they were obliged to let the matter drop. Subsequent inquiry and an examination of the archives of Pennsylvania reveals the fact that Camerons bearing the family names owned land in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia, in lots of from twenty to five hundred acres, so the natural supposition is that the man sent out by the Camerons to act for them personated a Cameron, and took possession of the estate himself. He burned his bridges behind him leaving no documents, except the purchase or transfer of lands to show that he had done so. A James Cameron’s name is among the taxpayers of that date. A later generation shows the family names of Donald and Allan. James and Jennie Cameron had two children. Susan and James. James Cameron was born in 1761. He married Letitia Moore, a daughter of Robert Moore, an ambassador to Spain. (Walter Scott Cameron)