Janet Campbell was born in Tyndrum, Clifton Perthshire, Scotland, around 1795 to Robert Campbell and Anne McIntyre. Her father died when she was 2 years old. Her mother subsequently remarried Thomas Cairns, and the family lived in Argyll. She had six half-siblings. John Cairns was the eldest of them and was our great great grandfather. Janet was the only member of the family that stayed in Scotland. We have correspondence with her and her stepfather Thomas and half-brother, William. Janet married Thomas Train on April 8, 1816, in Campbeltown Argyll. Thomas was the lightkeeper at the Mull of Kintyre. They had 12 children. Her husband died in 1841 at the age of 54. The family moved to Glasgow, where her son, Thomas, became a merchant.
We only learned these facts thanks to letters saved by descendants of the Train family. The correspondence includes letters to her stepfather Thomas and her half-brother, William Cairns. Janet had to work in the shops while living in Glasgow. The family had contemplated moving to Canada, but Thomas Cairns wrote that while they had their problems in Scotland, Canada also posed challenges. Janet Cameron’s life took quite a turn for the better later in life. Her son Thomas became a whiskey merchant and founder of Train and McIntyre Whiskey. This company still exists today. Janet died in Glasgow in 1887, and the family headstone was located in Kintyre.
