Woodside Farm the home of James(3) and Margaret Allan was located on rock-studded land adjacent to a large quarry just to the south of the village of Cove in Nigg Parish on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Cove was a fishing village of closely related fishermen consisting of 20 or so families who would have nothing to do with the crofters or quarrymen. The village was at its height in 1878 when a pier and breakwater were constructed. Their were 200 boats fishing for herring and salmon. Moir's of Aberdeen was the largest cannery in Scotland in the 1860s producing over a million kilos of canned foods a year. Salmon was plentiful in the River Dee when Thomas Ramasy Cameron became a Salmon fisherman as listed in the 1891 census. The quarry was noted for it's hard, close-grained texture granite that used for causeway stones in the construction of roads and widely exported to cities in England. Railroads were expanding around 1860 but main local traffic was coach or horse and buggy. The Aberdeen Railway was built along the top of the coastal cliffs in 1848-50 running from the south to Aberdeen with a train station at Cove. The station in later years was abandoned when the quarry became in disuse and shut down. The drop in quarry business would be the reason David Mackie went with William Cameron to America in 1897 to seek other employment. Other close buildings were the Cove school and the St. Mary's Episcopal Church. The church looked down on the fisherman's village and showed it's allegiance to the fishermen with a sailing vessel floating above the alter. Close to Aberdeen, urbanization was creeping steadily southward. James(2) Cameron lived first on Charleston Road and as more homes were built, moved to Cove Bay Road closer to his croft. Eventually urbanization took over Woodside Farm and it became the Woodside Cottages development.
James(3) was the first son in his family and 4 years older than brother William and 8 years older than Peter. James (3) as the potential inheritor of the family 45 acre croft was responsible to help his father and also save enough money for his future. James(3) did not marry Margaret Allan until he was 31 years old in 1868. By this time he may have rented the much larger 137 acre Woodside Farm croft with its profitable potato crop. It was not until 1886 and the passage of the Crofter Holding Act that James(3) may have been able to buy the farm. Woodside Farm was a simple home, hand built with local rocks to withstand the wind and rigors of the North Sea. It was L shaped with 3 fireplaces to provide comfort throughout. Whether Jame(3) built the farm home is not known until the land records can be checked. With eight children it may have been crowded, but those were the conditions at the time. It has since been torn down in recent years for the housing development. Photos show the old Woodside Farm and the new housing development. A map illustrates the location next to the North Sea and the quarry where the men would work when not required on the farm. Located on the edge of the quarry was the home of Joseph Mackie who was the Quarry master and the father of David Mackie who later married Margaret Ann Cameron in Chicago, a relationship started in Scotland and fostered by brother William Cameron who hired David as a Superintendent in his company, Cameron Can Machinery Co.
The children of James(3) came quickly with James(4) in May 1869, Janet Milne in June 1870, John in November 1871, William in October 1873, Catherine Ramsay in April 1875 and Margaret Ann in 1877. There was then a six year lapse before Rosaline was born in October 1883 and Alexander in February 1865 completing the family. There were many changes in the 1870s when James(3) was starting his family. His father James(2) Cameron died in 1873. James(3)'s sister, Anne and brother John went to Canada with Anne returning and going to New Zealand to join brother William who had gone there earlier. Sister Janet got married in 1876 and youngest brother Thomas Ramsay married in 1878.
For the children of Jame(3) growing up in the late 1800, life and conditions were changing rapidly. The Crofters Act was passed allowing farm ownership instead of renting. Aberdeen, whose main export had been shipping stone from the over 125 quarries surrounding the city is now becoming a center for bustling steamship building replacing the old sailing ships. Steamships in turn opened up a whole new world of travel and exploration to the developing countries around the world. Steam locomotives and railroads were also developing with more movement of people and communication. Cameron family education was limited to 8 years or less of grade school at the nearby Cove School. There is no record of any one attending high school which was a distant away. While there is no record of William or Catherine attending school, they are listed in the 1881 census records as "Scholars" indicating that they were attending school. As the family grew up, James(4) and Janet Milne, the first 2 children, left school after only 5 years probably to help on the farm and take care of the increasing family. Catherine and Margaret left home when they were not needed to take jobs in other homes and were replaced by Rosalina in taking care of the home. William helped James(4) and John on the farm until Alexander came along. James(4) was the first of the family to leave the farm for foreign shores, perhaps lured by letters from William Cameron, his Uncle who had gone to Dunedin, New Zealand in 1876. James(4) left as a young man for Australia and New Zealand and came back in his 30s. He married late in life in 1915 to Jessie Low, a women in her 40s and had only one child. When James(4) left the Woodside Farm the farm went to John Cameron as the second son to own, run and manage. John later sold the farm and with the money brought the Kinkell farm and two others for his son-in-laws. This caused discontent because other children could have used some help and didn't have access to the asset sale. William was able to go out and find work and wound up at the Moir's of Aberdeen cannery. There he gained his engineering experience and probably ideas for improvements to the canning equipment when he would have corresponded with the Torris Wold Co. who were making the simple equipment used in the cannery for making the cans by hand. Possibly this was the reason he went directly to Chicago to contact Torris Wold when he left home in 1897 at the age of 23 along with David Mackie who went to St. Thomas, Ontario, were he had an uncle. William Cameron did not stay in Chicago but went East to Buffalo other cities to work in setting up can making companies when sponsored by can company owners who were impressed by William's business and engineering ability. David Mackie went to Canada to work on railroads and later joined William Cameron in Buffalo in 1901 for William Cameron's marriage after which he returned to Scotland. William made a trip to Scotland in 1904 with his wife Kathryn and baby Allan Marshall Cameron. When they returned to Chicago William brought his sister Margaret Ann with him and was also accompanied by David Mackie who accepted a position in the Torris Wold & Co. Alexander also left and went to Toledo, Ohio. The other children of the family married local sweethearts and remained in the Aberdeen area.