John Cameron

John Cameron (May 28, 1846 – October 6, 1919) was a merchant and politician in Alberta, Canada and a municipal councillor in Edmonton. He is regarded as one of the city's pioneer citizens.

Born in Canada West (later Ontario), Cameron worked as a merchant in his birth province and Manitoba before coming to Edmonton in 1881. In Edmonton he continued as a merchant, owning and operating a store for 15 years. In Edmonton he quickly established himself as a prominent citizen, serving on the inaugural Edmonton Board of Trade as president, which he would remain for five years. Cameron also was involved in the development of the Edmonton Public School Board, serving on the board in the 1890s. He was also involved in the town's politics, winning election to Edmonton's first town council in 1892 and serving an additional term when elected in 1895. After his retirement from politics, he worked in the coal and real estate business until his death in 1919, at the age of 73. Upon his death, he was lauded as one of the pioneer citizens of Edmonton; a street, neighbourhood and ravine were named for him.

Early life and career John Cameron was born at East Hawkesbury, Canada West in 1846, the son of Colin and Anna (née McLaurin) Cameron. His brother was Sir Douglas Cameron, John attended school in Hawkesbury and Renfrew and in 1871 became a merchant at Vankleek Hill, with a partner in the firm Cameron & Mode General Merchants. In 1876, he went west and relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba to establish Cameron & Company general merchants, where he remained until 1881. travelling through Carlton and Battleford, bringing with him of freight on a journey that took three months. Once in Edmonton, he used this freight as the initial inventory of a store, the A. McDonald Company, where he entered into a partnership. He would operate until 1896. After the sale of the store, he entered into the real estate and coal business. He also played a vital role in the development of the school system in Edmonton, involving himself in education-related affairs as early as 1881, and serving on the public school board from 1886–87 and 1889 until 1897. In 1881, he was part of a group that provided funds for the first school teacher in the city. He would serve as secretary-treasurer from 1882 to 1884 and later as chairman of the school board from 1890 to 1892 and 1894.

Civic politics Cameron was one of six candidates elected as aldermen to Edmonton's first town council in 1892; he received the fifth most votes of the fourteen candidates. He was defeated in his 1893 re-election bid, in which he finished seventh of nine candidates. He briefly returned to the council after being elected again in 1895, but did not seek re-election the following year and remained out of politics thereafter.

Personal life At Vankleek Hill in 1872, he married Jane Vogan. She would die some time afterwards, and John Cameron, aged 29, would remarry Elizabeth Ann McCann on November 8, 1875. They had two sons, John Hilliard and Howard, and four daughters, Mabel, Florence, Alice and Jessie. Along with his wife Elizabeth, he was an early member of the Presbyterian church in Edmonton, attending First Presbyterian Church, where he was an elder. Though he served as an independent on the Edmonton Town Council, he was a Liberal. He was survived by his wife and children. After his funeral at his home on Cameron Avenue, he was buried at the Edmonton Cemetery. At the time of his death, the Edmonton Bulletin praised Cameron for his efforts in establishing the foundations of the city Edmonton, and remarked that "the city owes much to him because of his strenuous efforts with others in maintaining this as the permanent site for the city". Elizabeth Cameron died in Edmonton in 1933 at the age of 79.