James Cameron, son of John and Elizabeth, nee Lee, Cameron was born in White county, Tennessee, and came to Hancock County, Illinois, with his parents in the spring of 1832, when he was ten years old.  When he became grown he was a fine specimen of manhood, standing six feet two inches in height.  He had very dark hair and gray eyes.

He had farming interests but also worked at both the Tyrrell and Bartlett water mills on Crooked Creek.  About the year 1844, he leased the Pleasant Valley water mill from W. H. Roosevelt of Warsaw.  This mill stood on the East Branch of Crooked Creek, in McDonough County, about three miles west of Colchester.  It was a combined saw and grist mill.  He operated this plant until near the closing of the milling season of 1847, when the water which had been low during a succession of dry seasons, failed entirely to generate sufficient power to run the machinery.  He then abandoned the enterprise and devoted his entire time to his farming interests.

Just as Cameron was reaching his majority the Mormon troubles were becoming serious in Hancock county and from first hand information and and personal information and personal experience, he aligned himself with the Anti-Mormon faction.  He was a man of firm convictions as well as outspoken, and his attitude naturally engendered the animosity of the leading Mormons.  He was one of the few people who owned a watch at this time, and the only ______ available who could repair a watch was a Mormon at Nauvoo.  On one occasion his watch needed some repair work and he took it to Nauvoo and left it with the _____to be repaired.  Everything in Nauvoo was under absolute Mormon control at that time.  When Cameron returned a few days later to get his watch, and while in the jewelry shop, some officers appeared and placed him under arrest on some fake charge.  He was taken at once to the Council Chamber, where he claimed, that under dire threats made by a number of Mormons, he was finally compelled, though under protest, to sign an affidavit retracting certain statements which he had made concerning his experience with some of the Mormons.  They also extorted a promise that he would discontinue his anti-mormon activities.  From similar experience of other Anti-Mormons, previous to this he knew that his life was at stake.  As both affidavit and promise were made under duress, he knew that neither one was legally binding. Soon afterwards, he joined one of the militia companies that was being organized in that part of Illinois, and that was later active during the troubles that led up to and during the Mormon war.

On the 24th of June 1844 Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader and his brother Hyrum Smith surrendered to the authorities and were lodged in the county jail at Carthage.  These men were charged with treason the charge being based on the alleged fact of levying war against the state of Illinois, by declaring martial law and ordering out of the Nauvoo Legion to resist the execution of the laws.

State troops had been ordered from the adjoining counties to mobilize with those of Hancock county for the purpose of opposing the Nauvoo Legion.  Upon surrender of the Smiths, all the state troops were disbanded by order of Governor Ford, except two companies that were stationed at Carthage for the purpose of guarding the jail where the Smiths were being held as prisoners.  Under General Minor R. Deming, Captain Robert F. Smith was in command of the two companies at Carthage.  James Cameron was a member of one of these companies.

A special guard consisting of ten men was posted around the jail and they were relieved by a like number at regular intervals.

On June 27, just three days after the surrender, a mob composed of about thirty men appeared at the jail and overpowered the men who were on guard and killed the Smiths.  Hyram was killed inside the jail and Joseph outside.  General Deming was temporarily out of town and Governer Ford was at Nauvoo, eighteen miles distant, when the killing of the Smiths took place.  To the credit of James Cameron it should be stated although a member of the guard, the detail to which he had been assigned was not on duty at the time of the assassination of the Smiths.

Early in the spring of 1849, James with his ox team, started west with one of the first companies that crossed the plains to the gold fields of California.  He engaged in mining near Hangtown, the place now known as Placerville.  Before he had been in California a year he contracted typhoid fever and died on June 20, 1850.  His remains now lie in one of the unmarked graves in the old Miners cemetery up on the hill overlooking the town.

James Cameron and Almira Ballou were married February 20, 1845, in McDonough County.  Marriage License

Efforts to locate either James or Almira in the 1850 Federal Census were unsuccessful.  For James that is not surprising, but we do like to tie up loose ends.  What happened to Almira?