Movie Director James Cameron’s Ancestral Roots in Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland

Was James Cameron a Descendant of the Stewarts of Balquhidder? Likely yes.

Disclaimer: The Stewarts of Balquhidder Research Group shows respect for the privacy of living persons by not publishing their personal information except in the case of famous persons whose information is already published in the public domain or where specific permission has been given. James Cameron is one such famous person whose family information is already published in the public domain.

(James Cameron likely shares at least a mutual 8th-great-grandfather with the author and possibly a closer connection.)

Canadian movie director, James Cameron, is one of the most successful Hollywood movie directors of all time. He is back in the spotlight with the recent release of the movie, Avatar: The Way of Water (℗ 2022, Lightstorm Entertainment, TSG Entertainment, 20th Century Studios), which has already broken the top ten highest grossing films of all time mere weeks after its release. A glance at James Cameron’s Wikipedia entry reveals an intriguing tidbit of information for those with an interest in genealogy and who have roots in Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland:

“James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, to Philip Cameron, an electrical engineer, and Shirley (née Lowe), an artist and nurse. He is the first of five children, with two brothers and two sisters. His paternal great-great-great-grandfather immigrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, in 1825. (sic) Cameron spent summers on his grandfather’s farm in southern Ontario.”

Wikipedia

A 2010 New York Times article presents the following excerpt from a biography of James Cameron:

Cameron’s great-great-great-grandfather, a schoolteacher, migrated from Balquhidder, Scotland, to Canada in 1825. (sic) “He was a bit of a free thinker. He didn’t like the king,” explains Philip (Cameron’s father), a plainspoken electrical engineer, understating things a bit. The Cameron clan is one of Scotland’s oldest, a family of notoriously fierce swordsmen who were leaders in the Jacobite uprisings, the bitter Anglo-Scottish religious wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Some were executed for treason, others exiled. Philip Cameron’s branch ended up on a farm near Orangeville, Ontario, about fifty miles northwest of Toronto, where he attended a one-room school before following work north as a nickel miner to earn the money to enter the University of Toronto in 1948.

The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron, Rebecca Keeghan, 2010, New York Times

If James Cameron had an ancestor in Balquhidder in 1825, what are the chances he could be related to a branch of the Stewarts of Balquhidder? Pretty high, actually. Balquhidder parish was heavily populated by Stewarts and they intermarried with just about every local family. From information available in the public domain (including the biographies above and public census, birth, marriage, and burial records), we can reconstruct James Cameron’s family tree and trace his roots back to Balquhidder, as follows:

James Cameron’s Ancestors in Balquhidder

John Cameron, b. 1782, Lochearnhead, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 5 Jan 1848, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 66 years). He married Helen Ferguson, b. Abt 22 Feb 1786, Kipp, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 28 Sep 1864, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age ~ 78 years). They had the following children in Glenbeich, Balquhidder, Scotland and immigrated to Canada in 1831 when their youngest son is recorded as having died at sea. (The date of 1825 given above is incorrect and more likely refers to the birth of James Cameron’s same-named great-great-grandfather rather than the family’s date of emigration.)

1. Hugh Cameron, b. 17 Jan 1814, Glenbeich, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 13 Jul 1898 in Chinguacousy, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 84 years)
2. Duncan Cameron, b. 11 Jul 1815, d. 06 Aug 1902, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 87 years)
3. John Cameron, b. 1819, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 1913 in Cheltenham, Peel, Ontario, Canada. (Age 93 years)
4. Margaret Cameron, b. 1819, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 1858, Howard, Chatham-Kent Municipality, Ontario, Canada (Age 39 years)
5. Donald Cameron, b. 15 Nov 1820, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 1903 in Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 82 years)
6. Peter Cameron, b. 22 Aug 1823, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 18 Oct 1906, Howard, Chatham-Kent Municipality, Ontario, Canada (Age 83 years)
7. James Cameron, b. 30 Oct 1824, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 16 Apr 1913, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 88 years). He married Mary McGill,   b. 1827, d. 1910, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 83 years). They had four children, including:
   • George Andrew Cameron, b. 5 Jun 1865, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada, d. 5 Aug 1932, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 67 years). He married in 1894 to Charlotte McClellan. They had two children, including:
     • Pte. John Harold Cameron, b. 10 Jun 1896, Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada, d. 1987, Alton, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 90 years). He married in 1923 in Dufferin, Ontario, Canada to Helen Ruth Babcock. They had three children, including:
       • Philip Cameron, b. 3 Jun 1929, Guelph, Wellington, Ontario, Canada, d. 24 Jan 2022, Calabasas, Orange, California, USA (Age 92 years). Philip’s obituary confirms that he was the father of James Cameron and the son of Private John Harold Cameron of Caledon, Ontario, Canada. He married Shirley Lowe. They had five children, including:
         • James Francis Cameron, b. 16 Aug, 1954, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada.
8. Helen Cameron, b. 27 Nov 1826, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 02 Aug 1889 in Caledon, Peel, Ontario, Canada (Age 62 years)
9. David Cameron, b. 29 Nov 1828, Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland, d. 1831, At sea, crossing the Atlantic (Age 2 years) 

The Cameron Family Farm in Alton, Ontario

The family farm mentioned in Wikipedia is located near Alton, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada, northwest of Toronto. (If you have further information to add about the family farm in Alton, please contact us.)

Earlier Balquhidder Roots in Glen Beich

John Cameron’s children were born between 1814-1828 in Glenbeich on the northwest shore of Loch Earn in the parish of Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland. Glen Beich contained the settlements of Glenbeich, Dalveich, Ardveich and Carnlia, which were all located close to each other. It was also home to several Stewart families all belonging to the Stewarts of Ardvorlich Branch VII: The Stewarts of Dalveich.

John Cameron’s wife, Helen Ferguson, was born 1786 in Kipp in Strathyre, in Balquhidder parish, as the daughter of Duncan Ferguson and Helen McFarlane, but her family later moved to Glenbeich which is where she grew up. Kipp was also the residence of another family from Stewarts of Ardvorlich Branch VII: The Stewarts of Dalveich.

Several unverified online trees give the parents of John Cameron as Donald Cameron and Catherine Stewart, born 1762 as the daughter of Donald Stewart and Isobel McGregor in Dalveich. Donald Stewart resided in Carnlia in Glen Beich and belonged to Line 7 of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich Branch VII: The Stewarts of Dalveich, which happens to be this author’s family.

However, if John’s parents followed the traditional Scottish naming custom (as most Balquhidder families did) then those parents do not fit for John. His father’s name should be Hugh. There just happens to be such a family, namely Hugh Cameron and Margaret Stewart, whose marriage is found in the Balquhidder Old Parish Register:

“1777, Decr 26th, Contracted Hugh Cameron in the parish of Killin and Margaret Stewart in this parish. dues 3 sh ster.” (Balquhidder OPR)

Balquhidder OPR

Hugh Cameron and Margaret Stewart had only one documented child, namely Janet (b 1792 in Fortingall), which could be a different family with coincidental same names. There is no birth record for John Cameron, but this family is a near perfect match. Unfortunately, this does not give us enough information to identify mother Margaret Stewart’s birth family. However, given the rest of the evidence, it is most likely she came from a family in or near Glen Beich, which means that she most likely belongs the Stewarts of Ardvorlich Branch VII: The Stewarts of Dalveich. DNA evidence supports this suggestion.

DNA Evidence

The documentary evidence is supported by autosomal DNA evidence. This author is a match to several descendants of this Cameron family with a range of 4.5-13.2 cM. In most cases, the possibility of a connection post-immigration can be ruled out, thus making the connection almost certainly pre-immigration back in Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland. While autosomal DNA evidence is not sufficient to confirm a connection on its own, it matches with the documentary evidence presented above.

If you have additional information to help further identify the ancestors of this Cameron family, please get in touch at genealogy at rykbrown dot ca.