San Diego County
Biographies
CHARLES H. CAMERON
Charles H. Cameron, United States
customs inspector at Campo, is a native son of California and a representative
of a family whose name has been closely identified with the history of this
great commonwealth for more than four score years. He was born near the city of San Francisco,
November 6, 1863, his parents being Thomas R. and Mary Catherine (Lee) Cameron,
whose marriage was solemnized in one of the eastern provinces of Canada. The father was Scotch and the mother of
English lineage. Thomas R. Cameron
became a pioneer of California, in which state he and his wife arrived in the
year 1851 and established their residence on a ranch near San Francisco. Mr. Cameron was for some time carpenter on
river boats at Yuma, Arizona, and thence came to Lower California, where he
conducted a stage station for the Staley-Capron Stage Company, which ran
through to Nogales, Arizona, this being before any wagon roads had been
constructed in the portion of the United States bordering on Mexico and Lower
California. He had varied pioneer
experiences in that section, where he remained several years. In 1868 Thomas R. Cameron came with his
family to San Diego County and took up a tract of land near Campo. This property he improved and developed as a
productive ranch, first running sheep and later cattle. Both he and his wife were residents of Campo
at the time of their death, passing away in the years 1917 and 1920,
respectively. They were the parents of
two sons: Charles H.; and George W., who
still maintains the home ranch comprising approximately six hundred acres, and
runs a number of fine cattle.
Charles H. Cameron was about seven
years of age at the time when the family home was established in San Diego
County, where he was reared to adult age and where he was afforded the
advantages of the public schools of the period.
Prior to entering government service in 1906 he gave his attention
principally to stock raising and blacksmithing, and finally he was made
immigration inspector, in which position his service was largely in San Diego
County, California, and at Douglas, Arizona.
He resigned from the immigration department in 1911 and subsequently
entered the United States customs patrol service. His command of both the Spanish and English
languages has been of great value to him in this district. For many years prior to the introduction of
the automobile he rode the border on horseback, and he is known far and wide as
an honest, fearless and capable official.
In August, 1914, he was appointed deputy collector and inspector of
customs at Campo, and later he was advanced to his present office, that of
mounted inspector at this point. There
are two patrolmen on his staff. Writing
of Mr. Cameron, a contemporary biographer said:
“He is one of the efficient and popular government executives in the
county that has represented his home from boyhood, and his official duties have
gained him an especially wide circle of acquaintances and friends in this
section of the state. He has had no
desire to enter the arena of practical politics, but is found arrayed as a
staunch advocate of the basic principles of the Republican Party.”
Mr. Cameron was twenty-eight years
of age at the time of his marriage to Miss Rachel Dukes, who likewise was born
and reared in California, and who was about twenty-six years of age at the time
of her death. She is survived by three
children: Mabel, the wife of C. R.
Collins, of San Diego; Amos, who entered the nation’s military service at the
time of the World War and is now a resident of Mexico; and Pearl, who is the
wife of J. W. Wood and resides in Iowa.
The second wife of Mr. Cameron, who bore the maiden name of Manuela Salazar, passed away leaving five children, namely: George A., who is in the employ of the San
Diego & Arizona Railway; Charles F., who is head of the Merchant’s Patrol
of San Diego; Thomas W., at home; Mrs. Julia McClister,
of San Diego; and Henry, who is at home with his father.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 317-319, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
GOLDEN
NUGGET'S SAN DIEGO BIOGRAPIES