Annie Ruffin Cameron

(1842-1915)

Annie Ruffin Cameron as a Young Woman
Historic Hillsborough Commission

At a Glance

Annie Ruffin Cameron was the third daughter of Paul Carrington Cameron and Anne Ruffin. Her grandfathers included Chief Justice Thomas Carter Ruffin [1] and Duncan Cameron. She was named for her mother--Anne Ruffin--and her grandmother--Anne Kirkland Ruffin [1].

Story

Annie likely attended the Burwell School during its closing years of 1856 and 1857. It was probably because of Annie that Mrs. Burwell's music master, Signor Antonio di Martino, was given a home in the old James Hogg cottage at Burnside, the Cameron home. He had previously stayed at Fairntosh with the family until they moved to Burnside in 1856. At the age of eighteen, Annie Cameron married George Pumpelly Collins, a planter and later a major in the C.S.A. Army [1].

Biographical Data

Important Dates

Annie Ruffin Cameron was born on July 16, 1842. She died on November 15, 1915.

Places of Residence

• Hillsborough, NC, between July 16, 1842 and November 15, 1915 [1].

Schools Attended

• Burwell School, from 1856. Annie Ruffin Cameron is not listed in the Burwell catalogue. She probably attended the school only in its closing years when she was about fourteen or fifteen [1].

Relatives

• Parents: Paul Carrington Cameron (1808-1891) [1] and Anne Ruffin (1814-1897) [1]. Annie's father Paul Carrington Cameron bought the old Norwood-Mickle-McNair House (partly of logs) across from Eno Lodge; and in 1877 he enlarged the house to the east, added a porch and new roof and presented it to the George Pumpelly Collins family.
• Spouse: George Pumpelly Collins (1835-1903), married from 1860 to August 30, 1903 [1].
  Children:
  
  • two sons, George William Kent Collins (1869-1946) [1] and Paul Cameron Collins (1877-1961) [1].
  • three daughters, Mary Arthur Collins (1866-1871) [1], Henrietta Page Collins (1870-1955) [1] and Alice Ruffin Collins (1874-1958) [1].
• Maternal grandparents: Thomas Carter Ruffin [1] (1787-1870) and Annie McNabb Kirkland (1794-1875).

References

1. Mary Claire Engstrom. The Book of Burwell Students: Lives of Educated Women in the Antebellum South. (Hillsborough: Hillsborough Historic Commission, 2007).