Sterling Cameron AKA, "Robert Ford” born December 25, 1902 died May 1969
(picture provided by Shalanda Wilson)
(picture provided by Shalanda Wilson)
My great grandfather Alec Cameron and his second wife Laura Byrd-Cameron had a son named Sterling who left home at approximately 12 years old. My mother told this story throughout the years of how he just packed up one day and was never seen again. I located Sterling in the 1910 federal census, however he was not in any census after that..
When I was ten years old (1964) and still living in Winnsboro Louisiana my grandfather Bryant Cameron had died. The day after his funeral a man came to my grandmother’s Carrie’s house, he was driving a big black shiny Cadillac. I will always remember that day because this man looked rich and successful. Sterling looked like my grandfather Bryant. He was very sad that he had not gotten to Winnsboro before his older brother Bryant died. We never saw him again. He told my grandma and my mother that he lived in Indiana..
When I got older and started family researching my Cameron side of the family; I searched for Sterling Cameron in Indiana, I could find no trace of him. In 2009, I received an email in response to a post I placed on Cameron Family Genealogy Forum. This person was the granddaughter of Sterling’s sister Francis whom had kept in contact with her brother Sterling. Frances was the half sister of my grandfather Bryant Cameron and had died in the 1940’s.
He had indeed moved to Indiana and the reason I was unable to find a record of him, he had changed his entire name to Robert Ford, and kept the same birthdate 12/25/1902.
When Francis died in the 1940's Sterling raised her children in Indiana. Apparently, he did very well for himself, owned his own business in Evansville Indiana.
Today Francis daughter Kathleen and granddaughter Shalanda are in contact with me. Thanks Mom for the oral history!
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