Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/119

 CAMERON

CAMERON.

newspaper. In 1827 he became editor of the Political Sentinel at Lancaster, Pa. He served during the Mexican war as sutler. In 1861 he was appointed colonel of the 79th regiment, New York state militia, "Highlanders,"' and -was kiUed at the battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21, 1861. CAMERON, James Donald, statesman, was born at Middletown, Dauphin county. Pa., May

14, 1833; son of Simon and Margaretta Cameron. He was graduated at Princeton in 1852, and entering the Middletown bank as clerk, soon became cashier, and ultimately president of the institution. He was president of the Northern central railroad company from 1863 to 1874, and in this capacity rendered effective service to the Union cause during the civil war. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Chicago in 1868, to that at Cincinnati in 1876, to that at Chicago in 1880, and he was chairman of the Republican national committee in the latter year. From May, 1876, to March, 1877, he w^as secretary of war in President Grant's cabi- net, and was then elected to the seat in the United States senate made vacant by the resig- nation of his father. He was re-elected for a full term in 1879, in 1885, and in 1891, the last term ex- piring in March, 1897, when he was succeeded by Boies Penrose.

CAMERON, Robert Alexander, soldier, was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 22, 1828; son of Robert A. Cameron. He removed with his par- ents to Indiana in 1842, and was graduated at the Indiana medical school in 1850, after which he studied for a time at the Rush medical school at Chicago. He practised his profession, pub- lished the Valparaiso Republican and served a term in the Indiana legislature. In 1861 he raised the 9th Indiana volunteers, served as cap- tain, was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy and to a colonelcy in the 34th Indiana, and took part in the engagements at Philippi, Carrick's Ford, Island No. 10, New Madrid, Fort Gibson, Mem- phis and Vicksburg. He was promoted brigadier- general in 1863, and commanded the 13th army corps in the Red river expedition of 1864, after General Ransom was wounded. From this time until the close of the war he commanded the district of La Fourche, La., and in March, 1865, received the brevet of major-general. After the war he became actively engaged foimding col- onies in the west — Greeley, Manitou, and Colo- rado Springs being among the number. In 1885 he was appointed warden of the Colorado peni- tentiary at Caiion City, and in 1888 became commissioner of immigration of the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth railroad, and directed public attention to the rich resources of the southwest. He died in Carson City, Col., March

15, 1894.

CAMERON, Roderick William, Sir, capitalist, was born in Glengarry county, Canada, July 25, 1825; second son of Duncan and Margaret (McLeod) Cameron. He was educated in Canada, and in 1849-"50 was a member of the Canadian delegation which A'isited Washington to advocate a reciprocity treaty. In 1852 he re- moved to New York, and, establishing a line of packet shijDS between that port and Australia, soon made for himself a great name in Canada, Australia and the United States. As an hon- orary commissioner from Australia to the Inter- national exhibitions at Philadelphia in 1876, at Paris in 1878, and from Canada to the Sydnej^- Melbourne exhibitions of 1880 and '81, he did much to bring the commercial importance of those countries to the attention of the business world, and to encourage the breeding of thorough- bred stock in the United States, importing many well-known horses. In 1883, while on a visit to England, he was knighted by the Queen, on tlie refoinineiiihitidn of the Marquis of Lome. He died in New York city. Oct. 19, 1900.

CAMERON, Simon, statesman, was born in Donegal, Lancaster county, Pa., Marcli 8, 1799; son of Charles Cameron, a country tailor, whose ancestors of the third generation had immigrated to Pennsylvania from Scotland. Charles Cam- eron's life was a continual struggle with poverty, and at last his failure in business caused a dispersion of his fana- ily. Simon, then but nine years of age, was adopted by a physician, whose idea of fitting the boy for a medical career de- termined him, at the age of ten years, to apprentice himself to a printer, and after learning the trade he worked as a jour- neyman at Lancaster, Harrisburg and in the

government printing-office, Washington. While emploj'ed in the office of the Harrisburg Repub- lican he met Samuel D. Ingham, then secretary of state for Pennsylvania, and owner of the Doylestown Democrat, which had fallen on evil daj's. He was invited by Ingham to undertake the editorship of the paper, and so cleverly did he fulfill the requirements of the position that the journal was shortly restored to j)opular favor, and he became a prominent figure in local politi- cal circles. In 1821 he purchased the Har'-' > burg Republican, which he renamed the Intelli- gencer. This paper he conducted with great

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