CAMERON, ARCHIBALD MURDOCH (1868-1945)

CAMERON, ARCHIBALD MURDOCH, farmer, military officer, and welfare official; b. Black River, 7 Jul 1868, s/o Hugh Cameron and Mary MacDonald; m. Elspeth Kerr Fowlie, d/o George Fowlie and Jean Kerr McKnight; d. Black River, 24 Jan 1945.

Besides being a successful farmer at Black River, Archibald M. Cameron's father, Hugh Cameron, was an officer in the militia and an elder of St Stephen's Presbyterian Church. His sons, Archibald M. Cameron and Alexander S. Cameron, followed in his footsteps by playing important roles in the local community and serving as officers in both the militia and the regular army.

Archibald M. Cameron had a lengthy career in the 73rd Battalion of militia, during which he took part in twenty summer training sessions at Camp Sussex. He was a private and non-commissioned officer between 1882 and 1900 and a lieutenant from 1900 to 1908. A period of inactivity followed, but in World War I he enlisted and went overseas with the 132nd Regiment as a lieutenant. After the war he worked out of his home for nearly twenty years as a field supervisor with the Soldiers' Settlement Board of Canada. He was later a claims investigator with the Department of National Defence. In connection with his duties he was appointed a notary public in 1922. He retired from government service in 1943.

In the 1930s Cameron took an active interest in the effort to have a high school established in the Black River-Bay du Vin district, and he was the first chairman of the board under which the Miramichi Rural High School came into being at Bayside in 1939. He continued as chairman until 1944, being active at the same time in Liberal party politics, the United Church, and the Canadian Legion.

Cameron's wife, Elspeth K. Fowlie, and two of their daughters predeceased him. He was survived in 1945 by five sons and six daughters, and by his brother, Maj. Alexander S. Cameron of Douglastown. At that time, when World War II was still in progress, four of his five sons and two of his grandsons were in active military service.