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- Information from
Margaret Cameron, Box 621, Long Sault, Ontario KOC 1PO
margaret077@sympatico.ca
From the Ottawa Citizen, 1937
Outstanding Personalities Of the Ottawa District
The Cameron clan is as intimately associated with the township ofLochiel, in Glengarry, as it once was with the glens of Scotland,Dumbarton, or Stirling, where the clan bivouacked and fought underWallace.
The pioneer, Donald Cameron, (killed 1809) left the vicinity of (Partmissing here). Sumerstown 1808 to FinchR surrounded by dense forest andan acute form of nostalgia. He was a courageous soul. He had to beRRR..Inthe soil of FinchRR. He does not appeared to have tarried in Lochiel verylong. He went over to Finch township, and there, on concession four,about three miles from Finch village, the roots of this particular branchof the Cameron tree were planted deep and permanent in the soil of thisnew land.
Three generations were born on that 200 acre homestead, cleared by thepioneer and his son Duncan.
After Duncan came Donald Cameron, who is still remembered as a reave offoresight and ability and as a assessor and collector who continued inoffice over a period of thirty years. He married a comely Scottish miss,Catherine Sutherland of Roxburough township, a member of another familyof Highland pioneers, and born to them was a son whom they named Joseph.He is the subject of this brief sketch.
Born on Pioneer Farm
Joseph G Cameron was born on the homestead farm of his forbearers, andafter graduating from the primary school of the countryside and from highand model schools of Cornwall he taught for a year. That was probably tooprosaic an existence for one in whose fiber surged the restless activitythat history accords the Cameron Highlanders.
Thus in 1914 he graduated from Queen's as a Bachelor of Science in civilengineering and he's been building better roads almost ever since
From 1917 his life had been pretty much an open book in the unitedcounties of Dundas, Stormont and Glengarry; he has gone a long distancein his chosen sphere of activity, most of his waking hours appear to havebeen spent among blue prints, graphs and cumulative figures, but hepossesses the na?ve reticence and modesty of his Highland progenitors andaffects to envision nothing particularly singular or unusual about hisachievements or his importance in the community. That attitude mayprobably be ascribed to native Scottish modesty.
Becomes County Engineer
In 1917, just when Ontario's present improves system of county andprovincial highway construction was in a chrysalis stage, Mr. Cameronbecame the united counties engineer in charge of the highwaysconstruction. In the intervening score of years vast changes have takenplace in the system of making and maintaining roads and he watched itclosely and studied it assiduously. Now, despite of his inherent modestlyabout it all, he is pretty generally recognized throughout Ontario as anauthority on the subject and is presently first vice-president of thatinfluential, quasi-governmental institution - the Ontario Good RoadsAssociation.
Much Willing Service
Mr. Cameron is recognized as more than just a capable engineer. He isalso a useful citizen in those spheres pertaining to some of Cornwall'shigh attainments. For years he has been a member of the trustee boardwhich administers the affairs of that town's public school, admittedlyone of the foremost in the province. He was chairman of the board for oneterm. He is a member of the board of the managers for the Presbyterianchurch, is a member of the Cornwall golf club who knows intimately allthe bunkers and traps on the course. He is credited with talents as anafter diner speaker and finds relaxation in perusing the classics andworks on science and mechanics, but his greatest enjoyment is found amongthe cultural atmosphere of his own home where he may impress his youngson with Mark Twain philosophy that "all people were born equal with theScotch a little more so". He doesn't any use for shams for shibboleths,he is obviously sincere in his friendships, and one could well imaginehim in complete agreement with the cult of Robert Burns
"Frien'ship makes us mair happy.
Frien'ship ies us delight.
Frien'ship brings us here tonight."
R.A.J.
Joseph G. Cameron
Mr. Cameron was born m Finch Township in May 1890. He was the son ofDonald Cameron and the grandson of Duncan Cameron, who was the firstmale white child born in Finch Township. Mr. Cameron attended high schoolin Cornwall, and then attended Normal School. He taught for one year, andwent to Queen's University where he received his Bachelor of Science. Hewas appointed Counties' Engineer in 1917, and held this position for manyyears. Many of the fine roads in the county's road system can beattributed to the engineering skills of Mr. Cameron. He died March 8 1968.
From Finch Booklet by A Empey 2001 (page 91) Chapter Eight. PROMINENTCITIZENS (Sent by Margaret Cameron)
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