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"This genial and well-known gentleman, now at the age of 73 years, may regularly be found at his desk at the Jefferson County National Bank of Watertown, attending to his duties as president of that institution, which responsible position he has held for 34 years, for 25 years having had the entire management of its financial operations, under advice of an able body of directors. He has discharged his trust with conspicuous ability and success, and may well derive satisfaction from the knowledge that during these years the policy of the bank has been helpful, by its financial aid and personal encouragement, in developing the resources of Jefferson County; the stock-holders, meanwhile, having received regular and liberal dividends.
Mr. Camp was born in Utica, N.Y., and soon after his father, George Camp, removed with his family to Sackets Harbor, a place of activity and prosperity, where, in 1817, he printed the first newspaper of that village, called the Sackets Harbor Gazette. Sackets Harbor, however, failed to fulfill the prophecy of its friends in regard to its growth and prosperity, and this led many young men of that place to seek homes and occupation elsewhere. Mr. Camp was offered important positions elsewhere, but selected Watertown as a place of advancing growth and influence, and located there in the spring of 1840. He opened a drug and paint store in Loveland Paddock’s block, on Washington Place, and this prosperous business established by him has continued in the same locality for 50 consecutive years, for the last 25 years being conducted by George B. Massey and Mr. Camp’s son, Walter Hale.
Mr. Camp has been identified with numerous enterprises and corporations which have been influential in advancing the material, educational, and moral growth of his chosen residence. At an early day he advocated and assisted in the arduous attempt to build the railroad from Rome to Cape Vincent, and in 1863 was chosen one of the directors of the road, which office he held about 25 years, during seven of which he was its vice-president. The office of the treasurer of the corporation was located in Watertown, and its financial transactions were largely under the care and direction of Mr. Camp, and were so well supervised by him as to meet the hearty approval of the directors and stockholders. He has been connected with several manufacturing enterprises, but more intimately associated with the Watertown Steam Engine Company, continuing as one of its trustees for many years, and has aided in its growth until it has now become a large and flourishing concern, with one of the most extensive plants in the United States.
The Jefferson County Institute, an academy founded in 1837 by the Presbyterians and Congregationalists of the county, and for many years affording advanced educational advantages to the youth of both sexes, found in Mr. Camp a friend and supporter. For 40 years he has been one of its trustees, and is now its president; but the building, library, apparatus, etc., are leased to the city, and used by the High School, in the system of graded schools under the direction of the board of education. Mr. Camp is one of the trustees and officers of the Jefferson County Savings Bank, an institution eminently useful in encouraging persons of moderate income to deposit a portion of their earnings to accumulate and become a sure source of supply for future wants. This bank has paid no salaries to its trustees, their only compensation being the satisfaction they enjoy from the knowledge that the institution has become strong, popular, and helpful.
Mr. Camp has not been desirous of political preferment. As a patriotic citizen he has always sustained the laws and institutions of his native land; but in no sense has he been a narrow-minded partisan. Although eminently qualified, by business and executive ability and unimpeachable integrity, to fill positions of trust and responsibility in the gift of the people, he has left the race for office to be run by others. From the time of his coming to Watertown he has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church, a Christian institution recognized for its beneficient influence and generous charities, to which Mr. Camp has been a liberal contributor.
Mr. Camp is still not only active and engaged in many business pursuits, but is also prominent in social and literary circles. He is a charitable and kind-hearted Christian gentleman, and is ever ready to offer counsel and substantial aid to the numerous deserving ones who seek his advice. His physical and mental activity warrant the belief and hope that he has many more years of usefulness yet before him."⁶