Mary (Cameron) Tole (1819 - 1903)

Born 27 Jun 1819 in Strontian, Argyll, Scotland

Wife of Arthur Tole — married 2 Jul 1850 in Wollombi, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died 3 Dec 1903 at age 84 in Scone, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Susan Scarcella [send private message]

Biography

Mary was born in 1819. Mary Cameron ... She passed away in 1903.^[1]

Birth

CAMERON MORE MARY DUNCAN CAMERON MORE PEGGY CAMERON FR78 (FR78) F 27/06/1819 505/ 10 73 (1) Ardnamurchan and Strontian or Sunar

Marriage

633/1850 V1850633 36B TOLE ARTHUR CAMERON MARY MR

Death

NSW BDM Death 15824/1903 TOLE MARY DUNCAN MARGARET SCONE

The first in our maternal line is the shadowy Margaret Cameron. All that we know about her is that she married Duncan Cameron on 18th February 1811, in Aharacle, not far from Strontian, according to the IGI , Scotland and died sometime between 1820 and 1849. Given that she is at the top of our tree, however, we can imagine something of what she was like. Intelligent, but frustrated at her lot in life. Insecure, manifesting that insecurity by controlling, even frequently manipulating, those around her. Holding on to grudges and hurts. Liking to use guilt as a means of getting her way. Dominating, loud, with an occasional streak of humour that surprises those who are unused to it. Tight with her money. Obsessive with the things she is interested in. How can we know this? Because down this line come traits that define our women, traits that can only have come from her. They are leadership material, and divide those who know them into two distinct fields: lovers or haters. They are opinionated to the max. They blame their men for all their troubles. Or anyone else for that matter. They are not able to sit in the background. They are full of ideas. They are vibrant, exuberant women, but, because of their insecurity, this vibrancy is easily squashed. But when they’re good, they’re good. Whether it be daring to leave their homelands to go to the other end of the world, riding wildly though the fields in the dark, donning rollerskates at the age of 60, standing on tables at Christmas celebrations to sing Andrews’ Sisters medleys, or graduating from clown school, they’re up to it. Mary and Duncan came from far to the north of Glasgow, on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, in the Cameron heartland. “Ardnamurchan (Scottish Gaelic: Àird nam Murchan: headland of the great seas) is a 50 square miles (130 km2) peninsula in Lochaber,Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its length. Strictly speaking Ardnamurchan covers only the peninsula beyond the villages of Salen (in the south) and Acharacle (in the north), but nowadays the term is used much more generally to include the neighbouring districts of Sunart, Ardgour, Morvern, and even Moidart(which was part of the former county of Inverness-shire, not Argyll). View across Eilean Chaluim Cille bay to Ardnamurchan Point and lighthouse Ardnamurchan Point, which has a 36 metres (118ft) tall lighthouse built on it, is commonly described as the most westerly point of the British mainland although Corrachadh Mòr, a kilometre to the south, is a few metres further west. The whole north western corner of Ardnamurchan contains a complex of volcanic structures, often described approximately as a "Caldera". Broadly, this area is the underground structures of a 55 million-year-old volcanic complex (relatively small areas of lavas that were erupted onto the surface are found in some parts of the peninsula). At least 7 other similar complexes of the same tectonic episode are dotted up the west coast of Britain, and so are popular stops in geological training courses from many universities. Geological research continues in the area to this day, as well as training. The sub-concentric rings of the volcanic complex can easily be seen in the satellite photograph, or topographic map, though they are less obvious on the ground. Donaldson equates 'Buarblaig' (now Bourblaige about 5miles east of Kilchoanon the other side of Ben Hiant, grid reference NM546623) with Muribulg, where the Annals of Tigernach record a battle between the Picts and Dalriads in 731. It may also be the 'Muirbole Paradisi' mentioned by Adomnán. Although its stone foundations still remain, the village of Bourblaige no longer exists, having been subject to destruction during the period of the Highland Clearances in the early nineteenth century. Tradition has it that there have been at least two battles in the bays between Gortenfern and Sgeir a' Chaolais, in the northeast of the peninsula across Kentra Bay from Ardtoe. One involved the Vikings, the other may have been fought in 1297 in Cul na Croise between the forces of Edward I and islanders under Roderick of Bute and Lachlan MacRuari of Garmoran. Relics of a Viking ship burial in Cul na Croise have been given to the West Highland Museum at Fort William. In 2011, a Viking ship burial, probably from the 10th century, was unearthed at Port an Eilean Mhòir on Ardnamurchan. Grave goods buried alongside a Viking warrior found in the boat suggest he was a high-ranking warrior. The Ardnamurchan Viking was found buried with an axe, a sword with a decorated hilt, a spear, a shield boss and a bronze ring pin. Other finds in the 5m-long (16ft) grave in Ardnamurchan included a knife, what could be the tip of a bronze drinking horn, a whetstone from Norway, a ring pin from Ireland and Viking Age pottery.“ Wikipedia

Only a few generations before, this part of Scotland had risen twice, in 1715 and 1745, in support of the ousted Stewart Dynasty, and had been punished cruelly as a result. Among the Hanoverian measures taken was a systematic Clearance of many Highland villages. Thus began the great movement of Scots to places like Canada, the US, New Zealand and Australia. “The Highland Clearances (Scottish Gaelic: Fuadach nan Gàidheal, the expulsion of the Gael) was the forced displacement and genocide of a significant number of people in the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th century, as a result of an agricultural revolution (also known as enclosure) carried out by the British Government and some Scottish landowners, such as the Duke of Sutherland. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies. The clearances were particularly notorious as a result of the late timing, the lack of legal protection for year-by-year tenants under Scots law, the abruptness of the change from the traditional clan system, and the brutality of many evictions.” Wikipedia

(My) Last Farewell To Stirling (Trad)

Nae lark in transport mounts the sky nor leaves in early plaintive cry

But I maun bid a last goodbye, my last farewell to Stirling O

Nae mair I'll wander through the glen nor disturb the roost o' the pheasant hen

Nor chase the rabbits frae their den when I am far frae Stirling O

There's one request before I go, and that is to my comrades all

My dog and my gun ye'll keep for me when I am far frae Stirling O

So fare ye weel, my Jenny dear, for you I'll shed a bitter tear

But I hope you'll find another dear when I am far frae Stirling O

Margaret’s and Duncan’s daughter, Mary Cameron, was born in Strontian, Argyleshire on 3rd February 1819. Mary’s baptism, which took place in the kirk on 27th June 1819. She was the third of possibly seven children to the couple: 1. Catherine Cameron 2. Elspit Cameron bap 22 Jan 1817, Strontian ARG 3. Mary Cameron bap 27 Jun 1819, Strontian ARG (father then in Resipole, Strontian) 4. Colin Cameron bap 07 May 1821, Strontian, twin 5. Hugh Cameron bap 07 May 1821, Strontian, twin 6. Angus Cameron bap 17 Mar 1822, Aharacle ( may not be from the same family) 7. John Cameron bap 28 Jan 1825, Strontian

Strontium had made it onto the world map in the 19th century as a lead mining centre. The radioactive mineral STRONTIUM was named for the town. Duncan Cameron was a lead miner. I remember when I first told my mother that I had found documents that mentioned Lochaber, that she automatically began to sing a song about it:

The Road To The Isles

A far croonin' is pullin' me away

As take I wi' my cromack to the road.

The far Coolins are puttin' love on me

As step I wi' the sunlight for my load.

Chorus

Sure by Tummel and Loch Rannoch and Lochaber I will go

By heather tracks wi' heaven in their wiles.

If it's thinkin' in your inner heart the braggart's in my step

You've never smelled the tangle o' the Isles.

Oh the far Coolins are puttin' love on me

As step I wi' my cromack to the Isles.

It's by Shiel water the track is to the west

By Aillort* and by Morar to the sea

The cool cresses I am thinkin' of for pluck

And bracken for a wink on Mother knee.

The blue islands are pullin' me away

Their laughter puts the leap upon the lame

The blue islands from the Skerries to the Lewis

Wi' heather honey taste upon each name.

Then she stopped and asked “Where did I learn that?” She had no idea. She was sure it wasn’t at school, so we firmly believed that Nanny had taught it to her, having learned it from her own grandmother. “Strontian Scottish Gaelic: Sròn an t-Sìthein) is the main village in Sunart, an area in western Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, on theA861 road. It lies on the north shore of Loch Sunart, close to the head of the loch. In the hills to the north of Strontian lead was mined in the 18th century and in these mines the mineral strontianite was discovered, from which the element strontium was first isolated. The village name in Gaelic,Sròn an t-Sìthein, translates as the nose[ie. 'point']of the fairy hill, meaning a knoll or low round hill inhabited by the mythological sídhe. The nearby hamlets of Anaheilt, Bellsgrove, and Upper and Lower Scotstown are now generally considered part of Strontian, with Polloch several miles away on the terminus of the road to Loch Shiel. Strontian is the location of Ardnamurchan High School, the local fire station, police station and other facilities.

Telford Parliamentary Church (Church of Scotland)

The village church was built in the 1820s by Thomas Telford, one of 32 "Parliamentary Churches" he designed for the Highlands and Islands. The government set up a commission in 1823 under John Rickman to build churches in some of the most thinly populated parishes. The project was funded by a grant of £50,000 and meant to include a manse with each church - each church and manse to cost not more than £1,500. Telford decided that it would be most economical to build all the buildings to the same plan. The layout of each church was a simple T-plan. There were two doors and windows in the front wall, which measured 52' 6". One gable had a belfry of four plain pillars supporting a pyramidal top. The bell rope came down the outside of the gable. At each side of the building there were two windows. The exterior and interior were undecorated. There was a hexagonal pulpit against the inside front wall. The church is still in use today. The Old Manse, former Church of Scotland Manse, was built to a standard H-plan by Telford in 1827. It is a category C(S) listed building and is today a private residence which also houses the Sunart Archives.

Floating Free Church

Strontian was the site of reputedly the first moored boat church in the country. Following the Disruption of 1843 in which the Church of Scotland Free (later the Free Church of Scotland) walked out of the Church of Scotland General Assembly, a congregation of 500 members around Strontian petitioned Sir James Riddell, who then owned the entirety of Ardnamurchan, for land and permission to build a new church. A number of attendants affirmed, in testimony to the Select Committee on Sites for Churches, illnesses contracted by worshippers attending services held outdoors in inclement weather. A letter by Riddell to Graham Speirs, Esq., notes "I find it impossible, conscientiously, to grant sites for churches, manses, and schools, which would imply a sanction on my part, and give a perpetuity on my estates, to a system which I believe to be anti-social and anti-Christian." With permission refused, subscriptions were taken from the local congregants of £1400 to have a suitable craft built in Clyde. A floating church was established 150 meters offshore in Loch Sunart in 1846. Eventually a site was obtained in nearby Acharacle and a Free Church was built there in 1868. 19th Century According to John MacCulloch in his descriptive letters to Sir Walter Scott during the 1820s, Strontian is described as "a wild and uninteresting country, though there is some grandeur in one scene, in a deep valley which is terminated by the fine form of Scuir Donald... Strontian possesses now an excellent inn." An 1830 source describes it: "The village of Strontian is very pleasantly situated, directly at the head of Loch Sunart, the hills adjoining to which are crowned with beautiful and very thriving plantations. The Loch itself is here extremely picturesque ... [i]n a neighbourhood civilized and populous it would speedily become a favourite retreat."

In the 1830s, residents from Strontian and the surrounding area were among the first to use the "Bounty Scheme" to emigrate to Australia. The Brilliant, a Canadian-built ship, sailed from Tobermory to New South Wales in 1837 with 322 passengers, 105 of whom were from Ardnamurchan and Strontian. The Bounty Scheme, which ran from 1835 to 1841, was proposed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield as a way for Australian settlers to subsidise the emigration of skilled tradespeople from Britain. In the 1850s more emigrants left from the Strontian and Anaheilt area. The Allison sailed from Liverpool in 1851 for Melbourne with a number of Highlanders from the area aboard.” Our Mary Cameron travelled to Australia aboard “The Blonde” “SHIP, TONNAGE 613, MASTER SOULTAR, SAILED 19TH SEPTEMBER 1849 FROM WHENCE, PLYMOUTH TO PORT JACKSON, 27TH DECEMBER 1849” In the shipping records, she stated her parents as Duncan (living in Strontian) and Margaret (deceased). (By the way, Duncan is known as Duncan “Whiskey” Cameron in census documents!!!) When Mary left for Australia, she did not go alone. On board The Blonde were several cousins, Margaret and Dugald McDonald of Lochaber (their mother, Mary, was Margaret Cameron’s sister). Both Mary and Margaret stated that they were coming to stay with Aunt Christina Cameron at Glengarry. Dugald also mentions aunt Margaret McDonald at Glengarry. This may be the property out of Murrurundi, but it was a common place name wherever the Argyllshire Scots settled. Trying to work through the maze of the clan system is taxing. Many are said to be cousins, although the relationship is sketchy. So it is with Mary Cameron’s family. Great-grandmother Margaret Schofield (aft. Alterator) always said that Dame Mary Gilmore was a cousin. Years later, it became clear that the famous poetess had been born Mary Jean Cameron. The Gilmore family have a family tree, in which the brothers and sisters of Mary Gilmore’s father, Donald, are listed with some details. Sadly for us, Donald had a brother named Duncan and a sister named Mary, so we are still at stage one in this research. Moreover, Clan Cameron have a number of families, descended from Camerons, who also claim Mary Gilmore as a cousin! Mary’s brother, Colin Cameron, born 22nd May 1822, followed Mary to Australia. He had married Rosanna McPhee in Scotland on 15th June 1848, and took her to Adelaide in 1852 on The Lysander. They came to Wollombi in the 1850’s, probably because Mary was there, and settled at Ellalong. He died there on 4th July 1905 and his death was reported in the Scone Advocate. Mary and Arthur Tole had four daughters: 1. Margaret Tole b 05/04/1851, Wollombi 2. Mary Ann Tole b 11/11/ 1852, Wollombi 3. Euphemia Tole b 7 Jun 1854, bap 09/07/1854, Wollombi 4. Sarah Tole b 16/09/1856, Wollombi After the death of her husband, Mary Tole lived with her daughter, Mary Ann and son-in-law, Robert Spencer Duckworth. She was part cause of some friction in the household of her daughter, Euphemia in 1896, which led to an estrangement between the latter and her daughter, Margaret. Mary died on 3rd December, 1903 and was buried with her husband in the Presbyterian Cemetery, Scone. The four Tole daughters were regarded as amongst the most beautiful girls in the area. This is borne out by the photographs that survive of Sarah and Euphemia (2). The four were also educated, but spelling seemed to be not one of Euphemia’s strong points!

Sources

NSW BDM

1. ↑ A source for this information is needed.

A Band of Gypsies II- Susan Scarcella

(1) https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/record-results?search_type=People&surname=Cameron&forename=Mary&forename_so=exact&from_year=1819&to_year=1819&surname_so=exact&church_type=Old%20Parish%20Registers&event=(B%20OR%20C%20OR%20S)&record_type[0]=opr_births

(2) https://boydhouse.com/alice/Cameron/Camerons%20in%20Strontian.html