Biography of James Cameron (1856-1933)

In the mid 1870s James, accompanied by his brother Charles, headed west to pioneer in Manitoba, then called the North West Territories.  By June 1875 he was homesteading the west ˝ of 30-16-18, in the Little Saskatchewan area, less than one mile southwest of his brother Charles’ homestead.

James returned to Bruce County in 1881, where he married Elizabeth that October 27^th.  The newlyweds remained out east throughout that winter, heading back to Manitoba the following year.  Although James had the homestead in Manitoba, fate would soon bring him south of the border.  Elizabeth’s brothers (Archibald and John Finlayson) had made contact with James H. Hill, of the Great Northern Railway fame.  Hill had encouraged them to head south into the Dakota Territories to take up homesteads.  The Finlayson boys eventually convinced James to join them and they all headed into the lands that would eventually become Bottineau County, North Dakota. 

The Camerons and Finlaysons all filed homestead claims, each receiving 160 acres, to be proven up by building homestead “shacks” on each quarter section.  James’ skills in carpentry proved invaluable at this time.  He drove ox carts from the homesteads up to the Turtle Mountains, a distance of about 16 miles, cut the trees, hewed the logs and built four homes.  When his residence was complete James returned to Canada and brought Elizabeth and their two year old son, John Daniel to Bottineau.  Their second child, Mary Margaret (Minnie) was born at Botinneau in 1886.

Life on the prairie was not easy.  James hauled all the winter wood from the Turtle Mountains, as aforementioned.  The grain crop was hauled via ox cart from Bottineau to Devils Lake (the end of the west-bound railway and a distance of nearly 100 miles).  There, James sold his grain and bought staples such as flour, sugar and kerosene to last throughout the harsh Dakota winters.  James and Elizabeth were devout Presbyterians and much of their social life was centered around church activities, with other Scottish settlers from Ontario who had also settled in the area.  His skills as an accomplished carpenter were of high demand in Bottineau.  James was the foreman carpenter of the Presbyterian Church, which still stands, in addition to many other original Bottineau buildings.  In addition to carpentry, he also continued farming 640 acres, namely separate quarters owned by himself, his wife, brother-in-law Archibald Finlayson and a fourth, owned by sister-in-law Mary Finlayson.

James and Elizabeth remained in Bottineau until 1908, when they returned to Canada, settling in Victoria, British Columbia.  Their first home there was at 620 Avalon Street, but they later moved to 2842 Douglas Street.  They would remain at that home until the time of their deaths, in the early 1930s.  The Cameron home was always open to family and friends.  They took it upon themselves to raise two pre-school children orphaned by Elizabeth’s brother and wife.  Eva and William Finlayson resided with the Camerons until they reached adulthood.

James passed away on January 13, 1933 and is interred at Royal Oak Cemetery, in Victoria, British Columbia.