John Fraser Cameron, born January 1878 in Memphis, Tennessee, is believed to have been the son of Col. John Fraser Cameron, Sr. and his wife Mary A. Myers. Since John Sr. and his wife died in 1882 and 1883 respectively, it is likely that their six orphaned children were raised by relatives. Three of the Cameron daughters—Mary Belle, Chloe Ann, and Nancy Louise--made advantageous marriages.
John F. Cameron was working as a telephone lineman when he enlisted in the U. S. Army at Galveston on April 28, 1898. It was just a few days after President McKinley had declared war on Spain.
Cameron was regarded as a very good soldier. He rose to the rank of sergeant in Company C, 30th U. S. Infantry and might have made a career in the military, had it not been for his contracting tuberculosis.
He was at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, when he was discharged on May 16, 1905, as unfit for duty. Fort Bayard was a decommissioned frontier fort which was being used as a tuberculosis sanitarium for Army personnel. A week later, Cameron was awarded a disability pension.
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