Tehama County
Biographies
JAMES S. CAMERON, M.D.
is a worthy citizen and a leading physician of Red Bluff. He was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina, November 20, 1845. His father, James Cameron, was also a native of South Carolina, born in 1798. He was a planter by occupation. His religious views were in accordance with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and he was a faithful member of the same. His wife, nee Malinda Toland, was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and a sister of the late Dr. H. H. Toland, of San Francisco. The Camerons came from Scotland. Grandfather Cameron was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
The subject of this sketch is the only survivor of a family of four sons and three daughters. He received his education at Erskine College, in his native State, and left that institution in August, 1861, at the age of sixteen, to join the Confederate army. He participated in the fortunes of the army in Virginia until the close of that great struggle, when General Lee surrendered. Our young soldier was with General Johnson when the news of the surrender reached them. They disbanded and he returned to his home and took the oath of allegiance to the United States. He then went to Philadelphia and entered Jefferson College, where he studied medicine under Professor William H. Pancost, professor of anatomy in the college.
May 10, 1866, Dr. Cameron sailed from New York and landed at San Francisco June 13, following. He there entered the office of his uncle, Dr. H. H. Toland, then and since one of the most noted physicians on the coast. He remained with him until November 26, 1868, when he left San Francisco, and on the night of the 28th landed at Red Bluff. Here he opened an office and began the practice of his profession, and his career as a physician in this place has been a successful one.
Two years after he came here he was united in marriage with the second daughter of Mr. H. Gerke. She was born in San Francisco, April 24, 1852. Their union was blessed with two sons, James Henry and George Toland, both born in Red Bluff. Mrs. Camerona was a beautiful and refined lady, a noble and true wife and a loving mother. Their happy married relation was interrupted by her death, which occurred November 6, 1880, her disease being enlargement of the spleen. Her loss was a severe blow to the Doctor and his little family and also to her many friends and acquaintances in Red Bluff.
Dr. Cameron was engaged in building one of the finest residences in the city, and he sold the property soon after his wife’s death. He has since remained single, and he now lives at the Tremont Hotel. He met with two serious accidents not more than a year apart, being thrown from his buggy each time; first, his arm was broken, and July 15, 1884, the other arm was fractured, and he also sustained severe injury to his head. He has since been resting and recuperating. Up to the time of his injury he hand an enormous practice and had made himself a benefit to his race, going night and day to treat the suffering without stopping to ask whether they were rich or poor. In politics the Doctor is a Democrat. He is a Master Mason, a Knight Templar and a Scotch Rite Mason. His office is in the Cone & Kimball building.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
pp 566-567
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
MAJOR E. H. WARD
was born in Wythe County, Virginia, in 1842. He is a son of Robert Newton and Margaret F. (Thompson) Ward, and is the youngest of a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters. Both the Wards and Thompsons trace their ancestry to the English. Mrs. Ward was born in Virginia, a descendent of one of the old families of that State. Mr. Ward was also a native of the Old Dominion, born in Wythe County. He was extensively engaged in the stock business; and was a leading Whig, bitterly opposed to secession. When Virginia seceded, however, he went with his State and became an ardent supporter of the Southern cause. He lost all his property in the war. The family came to California in 1870, and Mr. Ward’s death occurred at Stockton in 1881.
The subject of this sketch received his education in Emery and Henry College, Virginia. He left college in April, 1861, to enter the Confederate army, and enlisted as a private in Company A, Eighth Regiment, Virginia Cavalry. The regiment was reorganized in 1862 and he was made Orderly Sergeant of the company. He was actively engaged in the war in Virginia from its outbreak to its close, and was present at the surrender at Appomattox.
At the close of the war Major Ward went with his father to a place near Memphis to engage in cotton-raising. They employed their own negroes and others and conducted the business for two years. The rapid decline in the price of cotton caused them to give up the enterprise and return to Virginia. There they engaged in stock-raising until 1870, when they came to California. In 1871 Major Ward began a sheep business, in a small way, on shares. Soon after this he bought sheep in Tehama County and drove them to Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. This proved a remunerative enterprise as well as an arduous and severe one, for these trips occupied six or seven months, during which time he was exposed to all kinds of weather, sleeping at night with no covering save the broad canopy of heaven, and faring on the plainest of food. Some time after this he began buying lands in the southern part of Tehama County and accumulated several thousand acres of land, on which he established a sheep ranch. In 1884 he entered into a copartnership in the business with Major J. S. Cone, and since then they have carried on the business very extensively, Major Ward being the acting manager. They have 30,000 acres of land devoted to the business and have about 15,000 sheep. The annual sale of sheep and wool averages $30,000.
Major Ward has purchased lots in Red Bluff and has built a very attractive and pleasant home. In 1883 he was united in marriage with Miss Mellie Howell, a native of Missouri. Their union has been blessed with three sons, born in Tehama County, namely: Gorham C., Robert E. and Clay R. The Major is a Royal Arch Mason. He has been a life-long Democrat, but he is in favor of a high tariff, and felt compelled to vote for Mr. Harrison at the last election; and he is now independent in politics. Major Ward is a representative citizen of Tehama County, one who has by his own well directed efforts secured for himself and family a competency. During the twenty years of his life in California he has risen from very moderate circumstances to a position of prominence, wealth and influence.
Memorial & Biographical History of Northern California, The Lewis Publishing Co., 1891
pp 567-568
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler