(c. 1810-27 March 1891, born perhaps 14 Dec. 1810, age at death given on gravestone and in burial record as 81), piper. (O’Kane Cameron, O’Kain Cameron) Born probably at his parents’ home on Lot 26, 5th Concession of Lochiel Township, GC. Parents: Allan Cameron, known as Squire Allan Cameron, and his wife Janet. It is reported that in 1870, at the age of 60, while standing on the crossbar of a church spire at Belleville, O’Kane Cameron played several tunes on the bagpipes. At Caledonian games held in Chicago in 1871, he took a prize for bagpipe music by pipers in Highland costume. Besides being a piper, he is remembered to have been an accomplished Highland dancer. He may have lived in Cornwall subsequent to 1870, but his residence at the time of his death and probably throughout his last years was Greenfield, in GC. He was married, at a date given as 13 April 1836, to Annie (or Nancy) MacIntosh, whose father was Angus “Pope” MacIntosh. Anselm McIntosh was her nephew.

     O’Kane Cameron remains largely a shadowy figure, with regard both to his personality and accomplishments, but we get a glimpse of him in a newspaper report from his final weeks, in 1891, “As we go to press we hear with regret that the old veteran piper O’Kane Cameron is about passing to a better world. Ever since the night of the last election [5 March 1891], when the sterling old loyalist tuned his pipes to celebrate the success of Major R. R. McLennan [R. R. “Big Rory” McLennan of this dictionary], he has been confined to his bed, and now his condition is so low as to cause his friends no hope of his recovery. The boys of the 59th battalion will hear with sorrow of their old comrade’s serious illness. When their comrade receives his final muster call no doubt they will lay the old soldier to rest with military honors.” (undated clipping, in ASC ii, 32) He is buried at St. Alexander’s cemetery, Lochiel, where he is commemorated by a slim, tall, good sized gravestone of polished red granite. The inscription states that the stone was “Erected by his wife,” but there is also a tradition that it was donated by the people of the parish in gratitude for his entertainment free at parish events. There is no reason why there should not be truth in both these claims. There is nothing surprising in the burial at St. Alexander’s of a Greenfield resident. At this time, Greenfield was still a part of St. Alexander’s parish. The first burial at Greenfield appears from the 1994 parish history (p. 9) to have been in 1895. The bishop of Alexandria and Big Rory McLennan were both at Cameron’s burial. Cameron’s widow, aged about 92, died at Greenfield 17 March 1901.The GC area appears to have had at least 2 other Camerons with the O’Kane name in his time, one of them being his nephew. Mgr Ewen J. Macdonald is remembered to have held that the O’Kane name derives from the period of Montrose’s uprising in Scotland.

Butternuts and Maple Sugar 192, 282 * gravestone * St. Alexander’s CR, I, 180 (burials of Cameron and wife) * Belleville story: Cornwall Freeholder 1 Nov. 1889 (based on current Witness), cited DTL, Standard Freeholder 2 Nov. 1946; preliminary enquiries by the present author (which have taken into full consideration that Belleville and Brockville have rather a similar sound) have turned up no further evidence on this matter * Roy F. Fleming, “Glengarry Athletes…,” SFH 23 July 1949 * Villeneuve 196 * MacPhee 8 (this anecdote may also have been told about other people) * The Story of St. Andrews West as Recorded on the Index Cards of Edwin McDonald, ed. Duncan MacDonald (1987) 115