Husband Judge James Campbell 1 2
Born: 25 Jul 1813 - Kishacoquillas Valley, Mifflin Co, PA 1 3
Christened:
Died: 3 Aug 1892 - Clarion, Clarion Co, PA 3
Buried:
Father: John Campbell (1766-1845) 1 2 4
Mother: Rachel Oliver (1783-1871) 1 4
Marriage:
Wife Nancy Jane Hallock 5
Born: Sep 1824 5
Christened:
Died: 2 Feb 1909 5
Buried: - Clarion, Clarion Co, PA
Father: Rev. John Keese Hallock ( - ) 5
Mother: Melissa Griffith ( - ) 5
Children
1 F Mary Rachel Campbell 5
Born: 19 Feb 1848 5
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Rev. Thomas Johnston Sherrard (1845-1905) 5
Marr: 21 Dec 1871 5
2 M James Hallock Campbell 5
Born: 10 Aug 1850 5
Christened:
Died: 10 Jul 1851 5
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
3 F Elizabeth Lyon Campbell 5
Born: 4 May 1852 5
Christened:
Died: Nov 1852 5
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
4 M Robert Douglas Campbell 5
Born: 21 Mar 1854 5
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Sarah Henderson (1858- ) 5 6 7
Marr: 1 Oct 1878 5
5 M John Keese Campbell 5
Born: 8 Jul 1856 5
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Elizabeth F. Sloan ( - ) 5
Marr: 21 Feb 1883 5
6 F Harriett Hallock Campbell 5
Born: 8 Dec 1858 5
Christened:
Died: 17 Mar 1909 5
Buried:
Spouse: Ross Reynolds (1854-1908) 8
Marr: 10 Mar 1885 5
7 F Emily Clark Campbell 5
Born:
Christened:
Died: 12 Nov 1898 5
Buried:
Spouse: Dr. Charles James Jessop (1851- ) 9
Marr: 5 Jun 1895 5
8 F Virginia Campbell 5
Born: 5 Sep 1866 5
Christened:
Died: 15 Nov 1871 5
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
General Notes: Husband - Judge James Campbell
Like most farmers' sons, he spent his boyhood in work on the home place and attendance at the district school. But he early resolved to enter some pursuit more congenial to his tastes than farming. His father, himself a man of strong mind, appreciated the fact that his taste in reading had shown an inclination toward the higher and more substantial books, and he determined to give him a classical education. In 1831, when a youth of eighteen, he left home to enter the Germantown Normal Labor School at Philadelphia, and his experiences for a number of years thereafter are not only typical of the times, but show how earnest he was, and what sacrifices he made to secure the learning he so coveted. He started out from home on foot, walking to Reading, Pennsylvania, from which place he proceeded to Philadelphia by stage. After studying a short time at Germantown he went to Lafayette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania, and returned home after a year's absence. At Christmastime, 1832, he set out for Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Washington County, Pennsylvania, where he continued his studies until his graduation, in the fall of 1837, meantime going home but twice. A paper highly prized in the family, given him voluntarily on the last day of his college life by Matthew Brown, the venerable president of Jefferson College, testifies to his industry, scholarship and high moral character, and states that he will receive the degree of A. B. at the next commencement.
Soon after graduation he commenced to read law with E. S. Benedict, a successful practitioner at Lewiston, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1840, passing the examination very creditably. As the erection of Clarion County (from parts of Armstrong and Venango) was then being considered, he decided to locate there as soon as the matter was settled, and set out for his chosen field in August, 1840, making the journey on horseback. Clarion County was then considered the "far west." The town of Clarion was a pioneer place-"having the appearance of a camp meeting in the woods." The room given him at the "Loomis House" had a sheet hung up for a door, and similar makeshifts took the place of sash and glass in the windows. Dr. James Ross, with whom he had ridden into town, introduced him to a number of the citizens, and he remained a short time, returning to his old home without having made any definite plans. But on Oct. 23rd he again set out for Clarion, with fifty dollars in cash-his entire earthly possessions. This time he came by stage, and put up at the "Great Western," a new hotel. The room west of its barroom was the general sitting place of all the lawyers, not one of whom had an office at the time. It was more than a month before Mr. Campbell became established in a place of his own, renting the front part of a house. He furnished it with a bench and three chairs, some boards for bookshelves, and a second-hand stove, and his first case was the first case tried in Clarion County after its organization as such. This first court was held in November, 1840, and as there was no courthouse it was conducted in a carpenter shop. The first day of that court twenty-six lawyers were admitted to the bar, so although there were advantages of starting in a new county, he had plenty of competition to contend with. His professional life and subsequent career on the bench form a part of the history of the county. In the fall of 1861, without solicitation on his part, he was made an independent candidate for president judge of the Eighteenth Judicial district (composed of the counties of Mercer, Venango, Clarion, Jefferson and Forest), and elected by a handsome majority. The district was a large one and the work laborious, Venango County being then the center of the oil development, which occasioned a large increase in population and brought up many new and difficult legal problems, which had to be solved without the guidance of precedents. "The oil business, then in its infancy, furnished more novel and complex questions for the courts of Venango county than any court, prior to the time, in the State was required to face and decide. A new industry, involving millions of dollars in single transactions, and bristling with new law points, developed many disputes and controversies which were brought into court for adjudication and settlement. Judge Campbell grappled with these questions as a master of legal principles." During the sixties his district was divided, cutting off Venango County, but it is interesting to note that the most important decree he made, in a case involving nine million dollars, though set aside by his successor was sustained by the Supreme court. Judge Campbell served his term of ten years on the bench with distinguished ability and fairness. He held as high as thirty-two weeks of court in a year, traveling hundreds of miles by stage coach between the various county seats in his district.
Resuming private practice, Judge Campbell continued to devote much of his time to legal work for almost fifteen years thereafter, retiring from professional cares in the spring of 1886 to give all his time to his private interests, which demanded considerable attention. For almost forty-six years he had been connected with the bar of Clarion County, and he stood at the head of his profession, commanding the esteem of his fellow lawyers. The remarkable "memorial" of the Clarion County Bar Association is unusual enough to deserve recording here:
The death of Honorable James Campbell, the Nestor of the Clarion Bar, on the morning of Wednesday, August 3d, 1892, at the age of seventy-nine years, makes it proper that our Bar, of which he was long the leader, should give a public expres-sion of its sentiments upon the sad event.
We have often been called upon to express our sorrow for the death of a member, but we have never before followed to the grave one who was so prominent in life or lamented in death,-one so ripe in years, fruitful of good deeds and crowned with honors, and so universally esteemed by the community in which he has resided for more than half a century.
No mere compliance with a time honored custom dictates this memorial. It is inspired by a sincere respect for the memory of our deceased brother and by our great admiration of his many sterling qualities of mind and heart.
Starting in the race of life with little of this world's goods, but blessed with robust health, a stalwart frame, indomitable will, great industry, unquestionable integrity, a wholesome ambition and a liberal education, he turned these advantages to a good account, and soon won for himself a place in the front rank of the Bar, followed by a place on the Bench, where he justly acquired a reputation as an honorable and upright Judge.
In his worldly business he achieved an enviable success, and in his civil, social and domestic relations he has left behind him a still more enviable good name as citizen, neighbor, friend, son, brother, husband and father.
Possessed of a vigorous intellect, he was studious in his habits and scholarly in his tastes; and the extensive course of reading to which he loved to devote much of his leisure, gave him a comprehensive knowledge and broad culture, and this added to his genial nature and happy power of expression made him a conversationalist of more than ordinary capacity to entertain and instruct those who had the pleasure and privilege of his acquaintance and companionship.
In common with the entire community we mourn his loss, and we deeply sympathize with his family in their bereavement.
Jas. Boggs, B. J. Reid, W. L. Corbett, W. W. Barr, J. H. Patrick, David Lawson, John W. Reed, Committee.
Order of the court.
And now Aug. 8, 1892, on the presentation of the within memorial as a further mark of respect to the memory of our deceased brother, it is ordered that this memorial be recorded on records by the Prothonotary of this county, and that a copy of the same with these proceedings be made and presented to the family of the deceased; and as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, it is ordered that the Courts adjourn until Tuesday morning, the 9th day of August, 1892, at 9 o'clock a. m.
By the Court,
E. Heath Clark,
Pres. Judge.
Though he withdrew from legal work in the last years of his long life, Judge Campbell was actively engaged with his own affairs up to within a few days of his death, at the beginning of his eightieth year, and was hale and hearty in spite of the arduous career he had led. He not only attended to business, but continued the reading he always enjoyed so thoroughly and kept up his social relations with the many in business, professional and literary circles whose friendship he possessed. All the affairs of the community enlisted his interest and sympathy. He was a valuable citizen in every sense of the word, associated with the most progressive movements of his locality, and ready always with his aid and influence, which was invariably exercised for good. At the organization of the Clarion State Normal School he was elected president of the board of trustees and filled that office until his death, being indefatigable in his labors in behalf of the institution, which profited greatly by his friendship and activities. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a "working" member of the committee which built the first Presbyterian Church, for which, as an old account tells us, he "rolled stone, shoveled sand, and, as a lawyer, kept off creditors until money could be raised to pay for the church." In politics he was an ardent Republican, and though he did not unite with the Prohibition party, he was an advocate of temperance and himself a total abstainer.
The Clarion Jacksonian at the time of Judge Campbell's death said: "Judge Campbell was so prominently and favorably known in this county, that it seems difficult to write or say anything about him that would be news to our readers. . . . He prospered with the growth of the town and county. . . . Clarion has lost a good man and an eminent citizen. . . . Long will our citizens remember the genial countenance and manly presence of Judge Campbell."