Researching William Cameron

He was born in Sutherland's River, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, a descendant of Scottish immigrants, and was educated at Dalhousie College. In 1882, he married Mary Catherine Dawson. Cameron taught school and was also a high school principal. He was first elected to the provincial assembly in an 1887 by-election held after Adam Carr Bell resigned his seat to run unsuccessfully for a federal seat.

William Cameron died in 1920. At the time of his death he was serving as county clerk of Pictou County.

He was born at Rouchel Brook to grazier Donald Cameron and Elizabeth, née McMullen. After serving in the Boer War, he settled near Scone as a grazier and became active in the local community, serving on the Upper Hunter Pastoral Protection Board, the Graziers' Association and Upper Hunter Shire Council and supporting the New England New State Movement.

He was well known in the district as a cricketer, a clever leg-spin bowler and big-hitting batsman. He toured Ceylon with a New South Wales cricket team led by Mick Waddy in 1914. He was the leading bowler on the tour, taking 36 wickets at an average of 6.80.

In 1918 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Nationalist member for Upper Hunter. He was one of the members of Maitland while proportional representation was used from 1920 to 1927, and represented Upper Hunter again from 1927 until his death in Muswellbrook in 1931. He left a wife and six children.

In 1885 he was working as a clerk for the Hudson's Bay Company store at Frog Lake in the District of Saskatchewan, North-West Territories. He survived the Frog Lake Massacre of the North-West Rebellion on April 2, 1885, and was held captive for two months by Big Bear's band of Cree.

After being freed he was attached to Major General Thomas Bland Strange's column and later was awarded the North West Canada Medal for his role as a scout and guide.(pages 51–52)

Cameron was in Regina in 1885 during the trial of Big Bear, where he testified in Big Bear's defence. He testified he had heard Big Bear try to stop the massacre at Frog Lake.

Cameron founded and edited the newspaper Vermilion Signal, served on the town council of Vermilion, Alberta, and was briefly editor of the magazine Field and Stream, New York.

He died in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, on March 4, 1951, of double pneumonia at age 88. The inscription on his headstone reads "G. Scout, William B. Cameron, Northwest Field Force, 4th March, 1951—Rest In Peace."(p. 155)