PROF. ERNEST T. CAMERON

 

        The life of the scholarly or professional man seldom exhibits any of those striking incidents that seize upon public feeling and attract attention to himself.  His character is generally made up of the aggregate qualities and qualifications he may possess, as these may be elicited by the exercise of the duties of his vocation or the particular profession to which he belongs.  But when such a man has so impressed his individuality upon his fellow men, as to gain their confidence and, through that confidence, rises to a high and important public trust, he at once becomes a conspicuous figure in the body politic of the community and state.

     Prof. Ernest T. Cameron, commissioner of public schools of Isabella county, is one of those scholarly men, who, not content to hide his talents amid life’s sequestered ways, has, by the force of will and a laudable ambition, forged to the front in a responsible and exacting calling, and earned an honorable reputation

as the head of one of the most important branches of public service.  he was born on April 14, 1879, in Leith, Ontario, and is the son of John R. and Anna (Morrison) Cameron, the father born in New Brunswick in 1849; they were married in Ontario, where the mother was born, in Gray county.  Their living children are, Ernest T. of this review; Erma, who married I. D. Wallington, a well-known citizen of Mt. Pleasant; Morrison, who is attending the State Normal School at Mt. Pleasant.

     Professor Cameron was brought by his parents to Millbrook, Mecosta county, Michigan, when six months old, and there his father engaged in the mercantile business, and there the son grew to boyhood.  In 1885 the family moved to Sherman City, Isabella county, the father being one of the early settlers there and one of the first to engage in the drug and hardware business.

     The subject received his education in the district schools at that place, his father remaining there the rest of his life, dying on January 9, 1908; the mother is still living, making her home with her son, Ernest T., during the winter months and on the old homestead in the summer time.  After passing through the district schools, Ernest T. attended the Central Normal, where he received a graded life certificate in 1898.  After working in his father’s store one year, he attended the Normal College in Ypsilanti and got a life certificate in 1900.  He taught in the Holland high school one year, and while living there was married to Mattie Johnson, of Sherman City, who was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1878.  She moved to Sherman City from Bay City, Michigan.  To the Professor and wife three children have been born, one dying in infancy; Ronald was born in February, 1907, and Ernestine’s birth occurred on September 26, 1908.

     After teaching school a year after his marriage, Professor Cameron went to Lansing, Michigan as clerk in the auditor-general’s office, where he remained three months, then was transferred as clerk to the state tax commission, remaining in this position three years.  He then returned to Isabella county, and spent two years teaching and in business with his father-in-law, Gilbert Johnson, in a stock farm.  The father died at this time and Ernest T. took charge of his affairs in the spring of 1907.  About the same time he became a candidate on the Republican ticket for the office of school commissioner, and was subsequently elected.  His term expires on July 1, 1911.  He taught science in the Central Normal in the summer of 1908 and in 1910 taught the institute courses.  His chief work as commissioner has been, first, in placing the buildings in all the school districts throughout the county in good sanitary condition and seeing that they are perfectly equipped, thereby permitting a larger amount of work to be accomplished, also in keeping the financial conditions of the various districts in better shape; and in bringing the county commissioner in closer touch with the schools of the county.  He has been very successful in his work, considering the short time he has served as commissioner.  The enforcement of the compulsory educational act has to the present time resulted in doubling the number of the eight grade graduates in the last two years.  The financial affairs of the school districts are in such condition that the directors’ reports of 1909 were, according to the state department of education, the first to be received in perfect condition.

     Professor Cameron is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees of Sherman City, Hammond Tent O. 307, he being past commander of the same.  He is a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 1164, of Mt. Pleasant; he is a trustee of Castle Hall No. 66, Knights of Pythias, and a member of Mt. pleasant Lodge No. 217, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  He is senior warden of Waubon Lodge No. 305 – Free and Accepted Masons, of Mt. Pleasant, the chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Mt. Pleasant, the council of Royal and Select Masters, at Lansing, and the Bay City Consistory, he being a thirty-second-degree Mason and prominent in Masonic circles.  He is also a member of Moslem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Detroit.  Mr. Cameron was the first president of the library board of Mt. Pleasant.