52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025: Week 47 (THE NAME'S THE SAME)
Last month I received a message on Ancestry from a DNA match who believed Catherine (Kate) Cameron Powers in our Bramble Bush was the same person as Catherine Ross in his tree.
He asked if I thought it was possible.
After years of searching without success, and coming to that exact same conclusion previously, I felt a quiet ah-ha moment.
I repled with a link to my 2 previous blogs about searching for great grandma Kate.
Catherine Cameron Power ~ Seeking the Source of Power
Catherine (Kate) Cameron Power ~ When The Paper Trail Disappears
Catherine Cameron (Kate) Powers
birthdate: 5 Jul 1888 (Tain, Rosshire, Scotland)
mother: Margaret Connor
father: Donald Powers
Catherine Ross
birthdate: 2 Jul 1886 (Inver, Tain, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland)
mother: Margaret MacIntosh (her mother's maiden name was Cameron)
father: Donald Ross
When I was 20 years old I went to the downtown Vancouver RCMP station for a criminal record search for employment.
An officer took my paper from me, and then almost immediately asked me to follow him where he left me alone in a small room. About 10 minutes later he came back in and fingerprinted me. After he left I tried to open the door wanting to go and wash my hands. When I found the door locked I realized I wasn't free to leave. In the 20 or so minutes I waited there I began to ponder if I hadn't actually gotten away with the teenage infractions I thought I had. None of them were serious so I talked myself down from the beginning panic thinking this is just how a criminal record search is conducted. I was relieved when the officer came back in & told me I was free to go.
A little over 6 months later I needed another criminal record search for school. I had moved back to Nelson so set off for the Nelson City Police station. The officer took my paper, and a few minutes later said thank you. As I stood there thinking ... that's it, I asked him why I had been fingerprinted in Vancouver. He laughed saying they thought they had this person while he held a very long strip of attached printer papers. He followed it up saying that he knew it wasn't me since he knew my family, BUT he understood why they thought we were the same person. She shared my birth name with alternate spelling, she was born in the province beside me, she was born the same month only the day and year were different. He explained this is commonly how folks using an alias will alter details.
In looking at great grandma Kate that same rational appears to fit.
Same birth month: July
Date: 5 became 2
Year: 1886 became 1888
The middle name Cameron is seen in some of her siblings as a middle name over various documents so it's possible that was her actual middle name.
Catherine Cameron Ross
became
Catherine Cameron Powers
Mapping DNA matches supports this supposition.
At the end of what I view as a reasonably exhaustive search I have concluded our Catherine/Kate is the same Catherine found in many records as the daughter of Donald & Margaret (nee MacIntosh) Ross.
Why our Kate changed her name remains unknown.
Maybe she wanted a fresh start, maybe she had a disagreement with her family, maybe she was keeping an early marriage to Powers secret from her new husband (her name was already changed on the ship's manifest to Canada).
 |
Chris' Great Grandparents
Thircul & Kate Aspden |
When a reasonably exhaustive search results in two names for the same person!!!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
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