Biography of Margaret Cameron (1834-1910)

After her mother's death, sometime between 1836 and 1841, Margaret lived with her paternal grandmother, her namesake, Margaret McLeod Cameron.  In or around 1855 her father John, stepmother Isabella and siblings left Scotland, bound for Canada.  Margaret remained behind in Scotland, as did her brother John Cameron Jr.  She would join the family in Canada sometime between 1861 and 1871.

Around 1870 Margaret married Thomas Collins, a Plymouth, England native.  Tom had arrived in Canada during 1870, first living in Ottawa for seven or eight years and then possibly in Kingston, Ontario for a period of time.

She and Tom homesteaded for a brief time near Margaret's half-brother, David Allan Cameron, in Woodside, Manitoba.  Farming may have been a diversion or supplemental occupation for Tom, since he was an established newspaperman.  The Collins' moved onto Winnipeg and eventually settled in Portage La Prairie, where Tom established the first newspaper on the prairie: The Marquette Review, around 1879.  He also assisted in organizing the local council and was mayor of Portage La Prairie from 1879-1881.  Tom Collins is remembered in Portage La Prairie as having "given liberally of himself, his talents and abilities to any public movement on behalf of the community."  At least two children were born to the Collins' while they lived in Manitoba, with at least two other children passing away at an early age.

The family moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1888.  Tom was employed as manager of several publications, including The Standard, The Times and the Chilliwack Progress.

Tom Collins died in January 1898, succumbing after a lengthy illness.  Margaret and Tom's daughter Mary was married by that time, but their son John was still living with his mother, in the family home at 14 Avalon Street.  Margaret is reported to have made one or two trips after her husband's death, and moved into a retirement home for women, where she passed away in January 1910.