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I descend from Jane and Archibald F. Cameron who moved to Jefferson, Texas after 1870, and who died young (in my opinion), according to family legend, from undulant fever from working with cattle in Jefferson.  Jane (Boyle) Cameron and Archibald F. Cameron died in Jefferson (and are buried in Oakwood Cemetery according to burial records), but I don't think there's a legible tombstone, and I can't find the death date, or cause, or any other information about the circumstances of their life there and deaths.  Jane's burial record says 20 september 1872, and Archibald died 13 Sept 1873.  They had four children who were still minors at the time when they were orphaned: Eva Maud Eliza Cameron (1858-1935), Emily Marion Cameron (1863-1960), Mary Caroline Cameron (1864-1927), and Angus Lochiel Cameron (1865-1894).

Once orphaned, my great-grandmother, Eva, and her little brother, Angus, ended up in St. Paul, Minnesota with a German America couple, the Diederichs, with whom they lived until adults.  The other two children went to live in Picton, Ontario, Canada, with their Uncle Robert Boyle.

My question is why aren't  there papers regarding guardianship of the four children?  I am hoping to find more information about how it was decided that the children would leave Texas and go to Ontario and Minnesota.

I found a court case #1656 William F. Duncan vs. Eva Cameron, but couldn't find any papers connected with this case. What was this case about? What was the outcome.  I did find another case, #1691 (I'm not sure of the case number because it's hard to read) W. F. Duncan vs. August Lamenstein?, in which Archibald F. Cameron is mentioned as someone not included in the suit, but it doesn't explain why he's even mentioned.  By then he was deceased, of course, but was he a partner of August Lamenstein? and purchased land and cattle with him?  I have no idea.

Might there be land records or cattle records associated with Archibald F. Cameron?  I am encouraged to have finally found that Archie and Jane were indeed buried in Jefferson.  I have letters from them written around 1870 in which they talk about wanting to go to Jefferson, where Jane Boyle Cameron had a brother, Edmund "Ned" Boyle, who may have lived in Marshall, Texas.

I would greatly appreciate any guidance that you could give me as I search for more information about this family.  I could certainly share letters from 1870, and more information that I know about their heritage, etc.

Judy Jeon-Chapman

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