Memorable Manitobans: Neil Cameron (1863-1935)

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Neil Cameron
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Farmer and rancher, MLA (1923-1927), grain merchant.

Born at Owen Sound, Ontario on 1 September 1863, son of Alexander Cameron and Mary McLean, brother of Duncan Cameron, he was educated at the schools of Owen Sound (Ontario) and Burnside (Manitoba). He accompanied his parents on their coming to Manitoba in 1874, via Fort William over the Dawson Trail; five weeks on the journey, the party underwent much hardship. Cameron homesteaded at Carlyle, NWT [now Saskatchewan] in 1882, many miles from a railroad. He was at Qu’Appelle during the 1885 North West Rebellion. He ranched at Youngstown, Alberta for three years then he founded the Neil Cameron Elevator Company at Basswood.

On 17 July 1889, he married Mary Kippen (1863-1943), daughter of Alexander Kippen of Stratford, Ontario. They had seven children: Nellie Cameron (1890-?), Mary Kippen Cameron (1891-?), Edith Cameron (1893-?), Marjory Cameron (1898-?), Nelson Cameron (1900-?), Janet Cameron (1902-?), and Isabella Cameron (1908-?).

He served as Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Harrison for 18 years. He ran as a Liberal Candidate for the Manitoba Legislature in the 1903 general election but was defeated. He was elected as a Progressive to the Legislature in the 1922 general election, and served as Minister of Agriculture and Immigration (1922-1923) and Minister Without Portfolio (1923-1927). He did not stand for election in the 1927 election and spent the last years of his life on his farm near Basswood. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1932 election.

He died at Winnipeg on 22 May 1935 and was buried in the Fairmont Cemetery.

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Cameron Consolidated School No. 406 (RM of Minto-Odanah)

Sources:

Birth and marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1901 and 1911 Canada censuses, Automated Genealogy.

The Canadian Parliamentary Guide, 1925.

Pioneers and Prominent People of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Canadian Publicity Company, 1925.

Members of the Legislative Assembly (deceased), Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

“Outstanding agricultural leader dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 May 1935, page 1.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

We thank Lane Murray for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 21 February 2021

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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