Cameron

The ScotlandsPlaces website lets users search across national databases by geographical location. It includes, amongst other material,

• catalogue entries for maps and plans held by the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh; some maps and plans can be viewed
• photos and details of historical buildings and archaeological sites recorded by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh
• 17th and 18th century tax rolls
• Ordnance Survey [place] Name Books
• an opportunity to transcribe thousands of historic documents

A very good description is to be found in the relevant chapter in History of the County of Fife: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time by John M Leighton, published 1840, online at Google Books.

Cameron Churchyard, off A915, Cameron (grid ref. NO 485116, GPS: 56.29422 -2.834549):

• The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are listed in Fifeshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855) vol. 3 The north east parishes by John Fowler Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society. ISBN 0901061999
• Another listing has been published by the Fife Family History Society in their Publication 15, Monumental Inscriptions.
• The current lair registers (dating from 1842) are administered by Fife Council, Bereavement Services East, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar, KY15 4TA. Tel. 01334 659336. Fax 01334 412896.
• The pre-1854 entries from this burial register have been published by the Fife Family History Society Journal (vol 9, no 1). They are also available on the Records pages of their website.
• Transcripts of many of the older stones were made by an unknown hand in the 1870s. They are recorded in the Minute Book of the Anstruther Mortsafe Society, 1830-1874, held by the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library. They are included in Publication 38, Monumental Notes part 2, published by the Fife Family History Society.
• War graves can be seen at the Scottish Wargraves Project.
• A CD with photographs of the stones and transcriptions is available from Scottish Monumental Inscriptions or from The Parish Chest.

Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 412

The 1841 and 1851 returns can be searched on the FreeCEN website.

The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.

The 1861 census has been indexed and can be downloaded here

Some census records on microfilm may be consulted in LDS Family Search Centres around the world.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Cameron	1042699	1042253	103826	103988	203518	208749

(Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Further information on the main Fife page.

In addition to the parish church, there was also a United Presbyterian Church in Lathones.

The Old Statistical Account (written in the 1790s) does not mention any dissenters from the Established Church.

The New Statistical Account (written in 1837) gives this information:

• There is one Burgher meeting house situated on the border of this parish, adjoining the parishes of Kilconquhar and Carnbee, where there are a considerable population at a great distance from the ir parish churches.
• The number of families of Dissenters is computed at 12.

The 1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists the parish church and the United Presbyterian Church at Lathones.

Information and pictures of the churches at the Scottish Churches website.

Details of church history

• Cameron Church
  In 1645 an Act of Parliament was passed which erected the Parish of Cameron. The parish church of Cameron was also built in or around this year and the original church remained in use until 1808 when the present day building was constructed. In 1949 Cameron established a link with the charge of Largoward and in 1975 a further link followed with St Andrews: St Leonard's, the linkage with Largoward however was later terminated in 1983. The Kirk Session of Cameron has fallen under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of St Andrews throughout its existence.

• Lathones Associate Congregation (later United Presbyterian, United Free and Church of Scotland)
  Lathones Associate Congregation first originated in 1824 when the Secession Presbytery of Cupar was petitioned by a group, requesting that sermon be provided at the hamlet of Lathones, which sat midway between St Andrews and Largo. This request was granted and a church to house the congregation was erected by the end of that same year. In October 1825 the congregation met to discuss the appointment of a permanent minister to serve Lathones and the first minister, David McRae, was ordained on the 6th March 1827. In 1900, upon the union of the Free Church and the United Presbyterians, Lathones Associate Congregation became Lathones United Free Church and in 1924 the congregation was linked with that of Colinsburgh. Following the 1900 union between the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland, Lathones U.F. became Lathones Church of Scotland and in 1933 the link with Colinsburgh was dissolved in favour of a union with Largoward. After this local union Lathones was dropped from the title of the charge and the former church and manse of Lathones were sold.

Data provided by the  Scottish Archive Network (SCAN)

The Parish Church (Established Church, Church of Scotland):

The original Old Parish Registers (of baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages, and deaths / burials) of the Church of Scotland, which cover the years up to 1854, are held in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, and they can all be consulted there at the National Records of Scotland. The baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages and deaths / burials indexes can be searched at the ScotlandsPeople website. Copies of the register entries may be purchased.

Parish reference number: 412

The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) span the following dates (although there are gaps within these ranges):

Cameron OPR	Births / baptisms	Proclamations / marriages	Deaths / burials / mortcloths
412/1	1695-1819	1695-1819
412/2	1820-1854	1820-1854	1832-1854

(Data supplied by the National Records of Scotland)

 

The Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland, published 1872, provides this information about the content of the OPRs, including the gaps within them:

B.  and M.  intermixed till 1709. Separate entries of Contracts and of Marriages prior to that date. Both Records blank June 1709 - 1717, after which separate Registers kept. The fact of Marriage very frequently omitted about 1782 - 1797 incl.

Copies of the registers on microfilm may be consulted in some local libraries and at LDS Family Search Centres around the world. The indexes to baptisms / births and proclamations / marriages can also be searched on the LDS Family Search website or on the IGI on microfiche in local libraries.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

1040151 Item 5	Baptisms, 1695-1820; Marriages, 1695-1819.
1040152 Item 1	Baptisms, 1819-1854; Marriages, 1820-1854; Burials, 1832-1853.

(Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Deaths / burials are listed on Fife Family History Society's  Pre-1855 Fife Deaths CD.

Some of the OPR entries can be searched on the FreeREG site.

Further information on the main Fife page.

Kirk Session records are held at the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library, with digital copies at the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Heritors' Records (HR41) are at the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh.

At the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library, with digital copies of the earlier volumes at the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• CH2/49
  Cameron Kirk Session
  Minutes, 1694-1739 and 1833-1952; Cash book, 1717-1739; Accounts, 1752-1792; Communion roll, 1855-1868.

At the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• HR/41
  Cameron parish heritors' records
  Minutes, 1823-1928; Cash book, 1849-1928; Report, 1924; Papers relating to transference to Church of Scotland, 1927-1928; Correspondence, 1879, 1919, 1921; Assignation, 1924.

Other Churches:

Records for other churches are held at the National Records of Scotland.

At the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• CH3/206
  Lathones Associate Congregation (later United Presbyterian, United Free and Church of Scotland)
  Session minutes, 1827-1933; Manager's minutes, 1872-1933; Baptismal register, 1906-1933; Communion roll, 1892-1933.

The Cameron page of the LDS Family Search Research Wiki has more information about church history and records.

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.

Registration districts covering this parish:

Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts.

Surrounding parishes: St Andrews, Dunino, Carnbee, Ceres, Kilconquhar.

• Geograph
• Flickr

Westwood's ParochialDirectory for the Counties of Fife and Kinross for 1862 and 1866 are online at Google Books. On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of the 1862 edition.

Several old gazetteers are available. They all contain descriptions of the parish and many are also worth searching for entries of places within the parish.

• David Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1819, online at Google Books.
• Fullarton's Topographical, Statistical and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, published 1842, online at Google Books.
• Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1846, online at British History Online.
• Barbieri's Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, published 1857, is at Google Books.
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) and John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887), are on A Vision of Britain (click on "Historical places and writing").
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland(1892-6) on Electric Scotland

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Cameron to another place.

A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.

Details of historic buildings and archaeological sites in this parish held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, are catalogued at ScotlandsPlaces. In the results, click RCAHMS. Unfortunately, not all entries have digital images.

Historic maps:

• On-line maps:
  • National Library of Scotland map collection - main page
  • For 17th, 18th and early 19th century maps, see the National Library of Scotland map collection.
  • Using the geo-referenced maps at the National Library of Scotland allows historic maps to be viewed on top of a modern map or satellite view
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch, 1st edition (1855) Fife sheets 11, 12, 18 & 19 at the National Library of Scotland (for the best images), or at old-maps.co.uk or British History online.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch editions of 1895, 1919 and 1938 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • Ordnance Survey 25-inch editions of 1894 and 1914 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • A Vision of Britain has the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1850s) and the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1920s) - both showing parish & burgh boundaries; Land Utilisation mapping (1930s); and more.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1857-1888) sheets 41 & 49; 2nd edition (1899) sheets 41 & 49; and 3rd edition (1906-1907) sheets 41 & 49 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1927) sheet 64 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 56 at the National Library of Scotland.
• Paper maps:
  • The National Library of Scotland sells paper and digital copies of their maps (select "Enquiries & copies").
  • The Caledonian Maps Victorian Ordnance Survey Map Series sheet 41 (reprint of the 1899 1-inch maps).
  • Old-maps.co.uk sell paper copies of all their on-line maps.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 56
  • The best collection of large scale local and estate maps and plans is held by the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh. The RCAHMS also has some plans. They are catalogued on the ScotlandsPlaces website. N.B. Only a few maps and plans are available as digital images.

Present-day maps:

• On-line maps:
  • National Library of Scotland map collection - main page
  • Streetmap
  • Ordnance Survey maps
• Paper maps:
  • Ordnance Survey Landranger (scale 1:50000 -  about 1 inch to 1 mile) sheet 59 - St Andrews
  • Ordnance Survey Explorer (larger scale 1:25000 -  about 2 and a half inches to 1 mile) sheet 371 - St Andrews and East Fife

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NO483113 (Lat/Lon: 56.291674, -2.836361), Cameron which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

War graves can be seen at the Scottish Wargraves Project.

Andrew Campbell has produced Fife Deaths from Newspapers 1822-1854 - a compilation of deaths recorded in local newspapers. Copies of this index are held by the Fife libraries and the Family History Societies.

Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 - a compilation of overseas deaths recorded in Fife newspapers - has been produced by Andrew Campbell of Fife Family History Society. The Society have re-published it in their Publications Series, 26.

The parish is included in Andrew Campbell's compilation of Fife Shopkeepers and Traders 1820-1870 taken from newspapers and directories. It is available in most Fife reference libraries, in the libraries of the family history societies, and at the Manuscript Department of the Special Collections Department of St Andrews University Library. It is also available as Fife Traders and Shopkeepers on CD from Fife Family History Society.

The relief of paupers after 1845 was carried out by the Parochial Board and later by the Parish Council. Their records are at the Fife Council Archive Centre. See Public Records below.

There is a page with census statistics from 1755 to 1961 here.

See also A Vision of Britain and Histpop for population statistics.

Probate records are 'Confirmations' in Scotland.

Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Cameron may be found in either the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824, commissary business has been conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20).

Indexes and finding aids are given on the main Fife page.

Local sources worth searching for deeds include St Andrews Commissary Court and Cupar Sheriff Court.

Parochial Boards and their successors, Parish Councils, administered many local functions including poor relief.

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• FCC/6/12
  Cameron Parochial Board / Parish Council
  Minute book, 1926-1930.

School Board Records and / or school logbooks are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre. Cameron records:

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• Cameron School
  Log books, 1863-1972; admissions registers, 1940-1972.

• Radernie School
  Log books, 1874-1985; Managers' Minute Books, 1881-1919.

• Denhead School
  Log books, 1874-1932.

• Cameron School Board
  Minutes 1873-1919.

Entries less than 50 years old may contain sensitive personal information and are not on open access. If you are a former pupil you are entitled to see your own entry. Please contact the Archivist for further details.

Education statistics for Fife schools in 1891-2 list the following board schools in the parish:

"Statistical accounts" giving fascinating insights into the local topography and history, social and economic conditions, and even the daily lives of people, were written by the parish ministers in the 1790s and the 1840s. For more information see the main Fife pages

• The 'Old' Statistical Account is at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland and Google Books.
• The 'New' Statistical Account is also at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland and Google Books.

The hearth tax, clock & watch tax, male servants tax, female servants tax, and farm horse tax are all on ScotlandsPlaces.

See also the Early Taxation Records page.