My Cameron Line Found Defiance County, Ohio - Part THREE

 We  will now back up to Mordecai (b. 1775), Simon's second son.  In about 1807, Mordecai married Nancy Isaacs from Maryland.  They would have eight children.  Their first two children were christened in the Donegal Presbyterian Church - John Eagan Cameron (b. 1807) and Harriet Cameron (b. 1810).  John's christening record shows his middle name as Eagan.

When Charles moved North, Mordecai decided to move farther west.  He had listed his work as a tanner in Maytown, PA in 1807 and 1810, but showed up on tax records n Monogala County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1813.  It seems odd that to move West from Pennsylvania, one would travel via Virginia to get to Ohio, but roads were few and travel by water was, perhaps, easier. He may have taken the great road south.  He had a son born in Virginia in 1815, Samuel P. Cameron.  In 1819 and 1820, Mordecai shows up in East Union Twp. of Wayne County, Ohio.  By 1830, he is in Salt Creek Township of Wayne County and by 1840, he is in Williams County, Ohio, mostly due to his son, John Eagan Cameron.

Mordecai's wife died in 1860, and Mordecai died in 1862 and they were buried on the farm of their daughter, Harriet Bostater (nee Cameron, b. 1810).  The grave yard was 500 feet north of Bostater Road, near Evansport, Ohio, but in 1944, it was declared abandoned and the stones moved.  No records exist where they were moved to.

Mordecai and Nancy's children were: John Eagan (1807), Harriet (1810), Samuel (1815), Mary Louisa (1820), Stanbery Looman (1820), Mathew Milton (1823), Ellen Jane (1825), and Lucretia Ann (1826).

Mordecai's son, John (1807) married Lydia Stenger in 1829, and they had nine children.  In 1834, John walked from Wooster in Wayne County, Ohio, up to Lake Erie and along the shore to the settlement of Toledo, where he painted a schooner to earn money for supplies.  He then traveled up the Maumee River to the Auglaize River to the Tiffin River to Lick Creek (near Evansport, Ohio).  He made several trips and then convinced his family to move there and homestead land.  

His wife, Lydia was 24 when they arrived.  In the 1860s, John heard of McKenzie relatives in Pennsylvania and that perhaps his family was entitled to some of the estate.  He traveled to Pennsylvania to talk to people there about it and kept a journal of his travels.  As mentioned earlier, John, the grandson of the Simon who had married three times, would talk to people with firsthand knowledge of the early Camerons who came to Lancaster County through Philadelphia.

The following are excerpts from his journal: 

(John E. Cameron first heard of Alexander McKenzie's estate by Elisa J. Karns, Nov. 15, 1867.

"Lewisburg, Pa, Dec. 8th, 1867 -

This is to certify that in the summer of 1865, I was employed to arrange the papers of William Cameron, Esq. of Lewisburg County of Union, Pa.  In examining the papers, I found a letter from a man in the western part of Pa, stating he was a relation of William Cameron and he and his brother was getting older and had no family and that said Wm. Cameron and his brother, Simon, were the only relations they had in the United States that they had any knowledge of.  And that they had considerable property.  I read the letter and asked Wm. Cameron what I should do with it, telling him what the contents was.  He said he cared nothing about the property as he had enough and told me to burn it which I did with many other papers.  

Paul Geddes"

*This referred to Sec. of War, Simon, and his brother, William.

Inscriptions on tombstones in Lacock Cemetery, East Rochester, Beaver County, Pa -

ALEXANDER MCKENZIE died June 21, 1864, aged 76y 8m  (Oct. 21 1787)

GEORGE MCKENZIE died August 24, 1862, aged 74 years, 10 m and 23 d (1787

(*Note - I think that these two men were twins and when George died, of course, his brother could give the exact age; but when Alexander died, only the year and month of his birth were known.)

This was entered into John E. Cameron's journal:

"...and that Mordecai Cameron was a son of his Grandfather Simon Cameron by the second wife, but her maiden name he has no recollection of.  Our Grandfather, Simon Cameron was married three times, his first wife's maiden name was Katharin Cameron of Glasco, Scotland.  The third wife was Katherin McCoy (widow)  The second wife's maiden name unknown but supposed to be McKenzie."

Quotation from Wm.Cameron, brother to Sec. of War, Simon Cameron.

William would only have known his grandfather's first wife by Katherine Cameron, but her maiden name was perhaps Catherine McKenzie  The third wife's name was clearly Catherine McCoy and if the second wife was a McKenzie, it is assumed by the author that it was Ann McKenzie.

John never found any inheritance in Pennsylvania as he had hoped and some reported Mary Wilson burned most of his papers and many church records and other papers.  In a book entitled Colin McFarquhar (1729-1822), Pastor of Donegal Springs Presbyterian Church, written by Alexander Preston Reed, the following is stated:

"That we have so little valuable information about Colin McFarquhar is due to Aunt Mary Wilson.  After her mother's death, she was left in Grandfather McFarguhar's care and went with him to the Cookes at Hagerstown.  On his death, Aunt Mary seized all his papers and burned them, all the letters, all information to Grandfather's business affairs.  On hearing of grandfather's death, cousin Colin Reed of Washington, Pennsylvania, hastened to Hagerstown, but the mischief was done.  After destroying her grandfather's papers, she proceeded to destroy the church papers and so lost to the Camerons an estate in Scotland, as no proof of a marriage could be found.  When I was at Lochin, Mr Cameron (Simon Cameron) asked me, 'How is that woman, I always call her that, since she burned all the proofs of a marriage by which I have lost an estate in Scotland.'"

John and his wife, Lydia, are buried in Evansport Cemetery just south of Evansport.  John and Lydia's family consisted of Nancy Jane (1831), Harriett Bostater (1833),  John Stenger (1835), Lucretia Ann (1838), Simon Mordecai (1841), William Wallace (1843), Robert Bruce (the author's great grandfather) 1845, Edward Ruthvin (1848) and John Porter (1851).

From this point on, the records are rather modern and easily verified.  The difficult part of the document was researching the 1700s and very early 1800s.

If you have an comments, corrections or additions, please leave a comment on this post or message the genealogy society and they will get the message to me.

Virgil Cameron.