Legend
has it that the Loyalist Rose originated in the Damascus region of
today’s Syria and was brought to Britain by Crusaders in the 11th
Century. Identified as "Maiden’s Blush" of the Rosa Alba family it
appeared in Renaissance paintings and is described as "a cupped, very
double fragrant pale pink rose fading almost to white, bushy, densely
branched, blooming well in June."
[1]
Full bloom on a Loyalist rose bush in Kingsville, 2006.
The
role of Highland emigrants John and Mary Cameron of Inverness-shire in
bringing this antique rose to the New World and safeguarding its
Canadian future in the aftermath of the American Revolution is justly
celebrated.
John Cameron’s first loyalty, ironically, was to his
clan and the House of Stuart. In his youth he was an ardent supporter of
the Jacobite cause and the Highland uprising of 1745. He and three
brothers served in the Jacobite army. Their father, Donald Cameron of
Clunes (1680-1753), a clan leader, was too old to serve. One brother,
Allan, was killed at the Battle of Prestonpans near Edinburgh in 1745
but the others, including John, survived the bloody Battle of Culloden
in April 1746 that ended Stuart pretensions to the British throne.
The
Cameron chiefs, like many Highland chiefs, paid a heavy price for their
Stuart loyalties. Both Cameron of Lochiel and Cameron of Clunes had
their estates torched and plundered. The women and children of the
families were turned out of their homes, crops were burned and farm
animals taken. Lochiel, badly wounded at Culloden, had his land
confiscated, and was exiled to die in France. Donald of Clunes, because
he was not involved in the fighting, had his lands restored early on.
After
Culloden John Cameron of Clunes (1725-1824) was able to resume a
Highland farm life, while his brother Allan’s heir, Donald Cameron
(1736-1827), succeeded as chief of Clunes. John’s future bride, Mary
Cameron (1739-1830), and her parents were also uprooted in Glen Nevis,
Inverness-shire, but to a lesser degree. The future Loyalist Rose was
probably nurtured from plants in gardens of Glen Nevis, not from those
torched gardens of Clunes in Lochaber.
[2]
John
and Mary Cameron were likely wed in Glen Nevis about 1761. Perhaps five
of their ten surviving children were born in Scotland before they
sailed for America in 1773, travelling via Fort "St. John and Lake
Champlain" to the Mohawk River Valley where John leased a 100-acre lot
in Kortright Patent, NY, from Sir William Johnson.
[3]
In
May 1777 John and his eldest son Alexander Cameron (1762-184?) left the
family in the Mohawk Valley to enlist in the King’s Royal Regiment of
New York (likely near Fort St. John), but because of their ages, one too
old, the other too young, they were discharged in July to rejoin the
family and to serve as operatives in a British spy network until
hostilities ceased. His post-war Claim for Losses included a certificate
from Major (later Colonel) James Gray, commander of 1KRRNY, stating
that John had been of "very material use to ...[those] on Secret
Service" and to his being "a Good Honest Man." It was also noted that
John assisted "scouting partys [sic] while in Tryon County, and in
procuring intelligence."
[4]
As
Loyalists, John and his family suffered periodic plundering by rebel
neighbours until 1784 when they joined the northward trek of the
dispossessed. He and his son Alexander were granted 200-acre Lot 6, 4th
Concession, later designated within Cornwall Township, Upper Canada.
John received the lot’s W½ and son Alex, the E½. John drew a daily
ration for 10 at first and Alex for one until he was married.
[5]
Cuttings
of this ancient rose, which the couple had shepherded across the
Atlantic and nurtured in upper New York, came with them to grow again in
Upper Canada. They not only enjoyed its perfume and beauty, but from
its flowers, stalks, leaves and hips, they could make medicines, tea and
delicacies. Passed on by some family members and neighbours it still
flourishes as a prized garden rose in Loyalist farms of Stormont and
Glengarry Counties.
[6]
How this
rose came to survive and thrive in Canada has only recently been
revealed fully, especially how it links Camerons and MacLeods of
Loyalist descent. John and Mary’s daughter Margaret (Peggy) Cameron
(c1775-c1840+) is said to have carried the rose shoots to their pioneer
Cornwall lot. She wed Alexander (later Captain) MacLeod (1769-1850) in
December 1796 and passed on the rose to some of their 11 children born
in Locheil Township, but particularly to her daughter Mary MacLeod
(1812-1875), when she married Captain Norman MacLeod (1810-1889) about
1840 and settled on Lot 25.9th in Kenyon Township near Dunvegan village.
Norman
MacLeod had been commissioned to help quell the 1837-38 Rebellion. He
was a great grandson of ‘Big’ Norman MacLeod (c1733-1794), a Loyalist
who served aboard Royal Navy ships blockading the St. Lawrence to
prevent arms and supplies being smuggled to American rebels, and later
was the co-leader of the famed MacLeod migration from Inverness-shire to
Glengarry in 1793-94. ‘Big’ Norman’s son, ‘Big’ Alex MacLeod
(1756-1836+), served with the 71st Regiment (Fraser Highlanders) in
1776-1784; late in life ‘Big’ Alex sought Loyalist status, which was
denied in error.
[7] His son, Alexander MacLeod (1784-1842), wed Sara MacPhee (1791-1877) whose son became said Captain Norman.
Norman
and Mary’s son, Alexander MacLeod (1845-1924), wed Flora McDonald
(1850-1923) about 1876. She passed on the prized rose to her daughter
Isabella Rachael (1881-1956) who became Mrs. Fred K. MacLeod (1872-1960)
about 1905, residing on Lot 26.8th Kenyon, also near Dunvegan. Their
daughter, Flora Margaret MacLeod (who wed Cecil Johnston in 1948), has
provided much new detail about the MacLeod ties to this rose. Long
widowed, she now lives with her daughter Isabelle in Ottawa. Still alert
in her mid-nineties, Flora says her brother Alexander MacLeod
(1911-1989) "had a green thumb and soon became the prime rose gardener."
In August 1943 he married another 5th generation Cameron descendant and
distant cousin, Ethel (Campbell) MacLeod (1914-1978), also a former
teacher of Glengarry, but then near Timmins, Ontario, where he was again
teaching . By 1954 they re-settled in North York, Toronto, with their
four children who kept Ethel busy. There, Alex continued as a teacher,
but also maintained a flourishing garden in Willowdale where nitrogen in
the soil gave his roses a brighter hue.
[8]
Ethel delved into the history of their ancient rose and first garnered publicity for its Loyalist aspect in the
National Geographic Magazine when its lengthy article,"The Loyalists," featured a picture of the couple’s Loyalist rose in April 1975.
[9]
About a year later, 200 years after the KRRNY was first formed, she
registered "The Loyalist Rose" with the International Registration
Authority for Roses. She then donated it to The United Empire Loyalists’
Association of Canada to mark the Bi-Centennial of the American
Revolution and the coming of the Loyalists to Canada. Her Cameron
lineage also became recorded in Scottish history.
[10] Coincidentally, Alex sold cuttings of the rose to help fund the Toronto and Governor Simcoe UEL branches.
Shoots
of the Loyalist Rose are now being sold by the Governor Simcoe and
Hamilton Branches of UELAC – memorials to the persevering lives of John
and Mary Cameron, who survived into their 100th and 92nd year
respectively.
[11]"
