The Cairns family name traces its origing back to the parish of Mid-Calder, Midlothian in Scotland. The name derives from the Old Gaelic "carn" meaning cairn i.e., a pile of stones raised as a boundary marker or a memorial. The surname first appears on records in the mid 14th Century.

The earliest confirmed ancestor of our Cairns line is John Cairns of Clackmannan in the late 1700s. It was his grandson James Bain who emigrated to Australia in 1862.

My Cairns ancestry goes back 8 generations and biographies exist for some members as indicated by links

• John Cairns 1780 - ? married Janet Morrison
  • James Cairns 1806 - 1877 
  • Margaret Cairns 1809 - 1862 and Robert Alexander Bain
    • James Bain 1836 - 1892 and Elizabeth McPerson McFarlane
      • Margaret Bain 1860 - 1930
      • Elizabeth McFarlane Bain 1868 - 1955 
      • James Cairns Bain 1970 - 1945 married /wiki/spaces/HFHW/pages/2523599
        • James Bashford Bain 1893 - 1971 married Eva Mary Yates
          • Doreen Bain 1921 - 2000
            • My Father
      • Roderick George Chisholm Bain 1880 - 1945