Search just our sites by using our customised search engine

Unique Cottages | Electric Scotland's Classified Directory

Click here to get a Printer Friendly PageSmiley

Scots and Scots Descendant in America
Part V - Biographies
Colonel Bennehan Cameron


FROM ancient times the name of Cameron has been feared on the battlefield and renowned in the affairs of state. The "gentle Lochiel" of 1745, one of the noblest of the Highland chiefs, who put down the raids among his clansmen, was called after his death by a political opponent, "a Whig in Heaven." Sir Allan Cameron raised three battalions for King George, whose name and fame have been nobly upheld by the Cameron regiment. The most celebrated Cameron was the Lochiel of Cromwell ‘s time, "Sir Ewan the Black," noted for killing the last wolf of Britain, champion of the Stewart cause and the last royalist to submit. The Lochiel of to-day, the 25th Chief, Donald W. Cameron, added several new battalions to the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and commanded them at the front in France, as he did in the Boer War. All of his brothers enlisted and attained distinction, and the eldest, Captain Allan Cameron, was killed in the service of his country.

At all times the Camerons have excelled both at home and abroad, and to-day all over the world they hold enviable positions among their fellows in their varied callings. Colonel Bennehan Cameron, one of the most distinguished among the representative men of North Carolina, is a chieftain of his clan and a loyal friend of the present Lochiel. He was born September 9, 1854, at "Fairntosh," Stagville, N. C., the son of Paul Carrington and Anne (Ruffin) Cameron. He prepared for college at Homer Military Academy. 1868-1871, and Eastman National Business College, 1871; and was graduated at Virginia Military Institute, 1875, and admitted to the bar in 1877. He was a director of the Morehead Banking Co., Durham, N. C., and was active in organizing the First National Bank of Durham, and in building the Lynch-burg & Durham R. R., the Oxford & Clarksville R. R., the Durham & Northern R. R., and the Oxford & Dickerson Branch; and is a director in the Raleigh & Augusta Air Line; one of the organizers of the Seaboard Air Line; director of the North Carolina R. H. Co., and President 1911-1913; and director and Vice-President of the Rocky Mount Mills.

He was President of North Carolina State Agricultural Society, 1896-1897; Vice-President of the Southern Cotton Growers’ Protective Association, 1904-1906; Vice-President of the Farmers’ National Congress, 1901-1907, and President, 1907-1909; and is a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.

He served as Captain of the Orange Co. Guards, 1875-1876; as Captain on the staffs of Governors Vance, Jarvis and Scales; and as Colonel on the staffs of Governors Fowle, Holt and Carr. He represented North Carolina on the staff of Gen. Phil Sheridan at the centennial of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1887, and on the staff of Gen. Schofield at the centennial of the inauguration of President Washington, 1889. He is an organizer and director of the Quebec-Miami International Highway; organizer and Vice-President of the Southern National Highway; director of the American Automobile Association; President of the Scottish Society of America, 1914-1915, Assistant Treasurer North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati; VicePresident North Carolina Sons of the Revolution; and Chairman of the Committee on the Co-operation of Patriotic Organizations under the American Committee for the celebration of the Century of Peace among English-speaking Peoples under the Treaty of Ghent.

Col. Cameron is a Democrat and ably represents Durham County in the State Legislature. He was author of the Highway Commission Bill, is Chairman of the State Highway Commission, and was appointed by the Legislature to represent the State at the centennial of the Battle of New Orleans, 1915.

Col. Cameron married, October 28, 1891, Sallie T. Mayo, daughter of P. H. Mayo and Isabelle Burwell Mayo, of Richmond, Va.; a union that has been blessed with two children: Belle May Cameron and Sallie Taliaferro Cameron. His beautiful home, "Fairntosh," Stagville, N. C., is named for the ancestral home in Scotland.

Col. Cameron has travelled extensively through the United States and Europe. As a friend of the present Lochiel, he has been a guest at his castle, Ochnacarry. When the latter visited the United States, he entertained Col. Cameron, as a chieftain of the clan, in New York City. In 1908, he attended the Pan Anglican Congress in London, and with P. H. Mayo and the Bishop of Virginia was present at a garden-party at Marlborough House given by the Prince of Wales, now King George. At present, Col. Cameron is actively engaged in raising an endowment of a college for young women in North Carolina, as a memorial to the heroine, Flora Macdonald, whose residence in the United States during the Revolutionary period was in North Carolina.


Return to Book Index Page


 


This comment system requires you to be logged in through either a Disqus account or an account you already have with Google, Twitter, Facebook or Yahoo. In the event you don't have an account with any of these companies then you can create an account with Disqus. All comments are moderated so they won't display until the moderator has approved your comment.

comments powered by Disqus

Quantcast