I’ve never concerned myself particularly with the family tree.
With my surname, Cameron, I romantically assumed that my ancestors were highlanders; if they didn’t perish on Culloden Moor in 1746, they made their way to the Scottish lowlands, or perhaps further afield to make their fortunes.
My mother was Ruth Nicolson, born in 1916, the eldest of three children. Her family were originally from Pittenweem, a fishing village in the Kingdom of Fife.
Her father William was a minister in the Church of Scotland, first in Edinburgh, then later in the parish of Elgin. He wanted to become a missionary, but was prevented by rheumatic fever, which led to his premature death in 1921 at the age of 34, leaving three young orphans: my mother, her sister Aunt Jessie, and Uncle Bill.
I knew little more about him, apart from his portrait photograph as a minister; he has a strong resemblance to one of my nephews.
This year I came across a family photo I hadn’t seen before. If I hadn’t been told they were my relatives, I might almost have thought they were members of a minor Sicilian mafia clan; these sturdy people look as if they have had a hard life.

The Nicolson genes are strong; the boy in the back row is my grandfather.
He’s perhaps 16 years old, which dates the picture to about 1903. My guess is that the two young women on either side of him are his sisters; I dimly remember knowing Auntie Maggie, and I believe the other was Aunt Madeleine – my great aunts.
Along with the family photo was an extract of the Register of Marriages from 1912, when my grandfather William, aged 25, (described then as a lecturer) married Jessie Hogg (spinster), aged 24. Jessie’s parents were David Hogg, a plasterer (deceased) and Rachael (née Scott).
William’s father, also William, was a retired hairdresser. His late wife was Christina (nee Doig). They must be the seated couple in the photo. Perhaps one of the boys is my Great Uncle Bill, who became a member of The Magic Circle; when I was a small boy he still performed tricks at his flat in Edinburgh.
They say you can’t choose your family, but I’m glad to have met them face to face at last. Now I know more about who I am.