The Campbell Family Story
The Scottish Campbell clan has many limbs worldwide, and ours is but a small one with a limited (and tragic) history that all begins in Quebec in the 19th century. Our family's records trace us back to Neil Campbell, a Scottish-born immigrant who landed in a small town called Lochaber, Quebec, which was originally settled by Campbell family immigrants.
Neil and Maggie Campbell, Residents of Quebec and Michigan
Back in the days when Neil Campbell (b.1832) was new to the Quebec area, he met a young lady ten years his junior. Margaret "Maggie" Champan was a 16 year-old Canadian girl born on June 22, 1842. The two wed in 1858 and settled in Quebec to start a family. Young, fertile Maggie went on to have at least eleven children. They were a large farming family that suffered some of the worst luck out of the entire McClure-Boylan family tree--and that is saying something.
Their offspring, almost all born in Lochaber, Quebec, were:
1. Anna "Annie" Campbell (b.23 Apr, 1859)
2. Alexander "Sandy" Campbell (b.1860)
3. Sarah E. Campbell (b.26 Mar, 1862)
4. John "Jack" Campbell (b.11 Apr, 1864)
5. James B. Campbell (b.14 Dec, 1867)
6. Joseph Campbell (b.23 Apr, 1868)
7. Gordon H. Campbell (b.1869)
8. William "Willie" Campbell (b. 1872)
9. Neil Campbell, Jr. (b.1875)
10. Arthur "Art" Wellsley Campbell (b.31 May, 1877)
11. Russell Campbell (b.16 Apr, 1884)
In about 1878, the large brood picked up and immigrated to Alpena, Michigan, where eleventh child, Russell, was born. By then, poor worn out Maggie was 42 and was able to get a wee bit of a well-deserved rest. Below is the tale of the Campbell couple and their eleven children.
1870s-1900s: Four Siblings Start Families
Out of eleven siblings, curiously, only the four oldest had any children. And so our story starts with eldest child, Annie Campbell.
Annie Campbell
By the time the Campbell family packed up to move en masse to Michigan, eldest daughter, Annie, was already wed and settled in Quebec. She married Lewis A. Howard in 1873, and the couple had five children of their own. Their first child, Maggie Howard, was born in Quebec in August, 1876, while mother Maggie was newly pregnant with Art. Annie and her husband packed and moved all the way out to Casper, California for prosperity's sake in 1878, but headed back east by 1880. The formerly Canadian family settled long-term in Alpena, Michigan in 1880, near Annie's large family, which must have been helpful to have such a large support structure around.
Alexander "Sandy" Campbell
First son, Sandy Campbell, married a young lady named Lottie Blackburn in Ottawa in 1886, years after the rest of the Campbells had moved across the border. The two had a son named Oliver Campbell in 1891. But poor Lottie probably cashed in all her chips about that time, possibly dying during Oliver's birth, or shortly thereafter. By 1896, Sandy and Oliver relocated to Alpena, Michigan, where Sandy met his second wife, Isabelle Alexander, whom he wed on March 25, 1896. The couple had two more children: Ruby Georgina Campbell (1898-1985) and Roy A. Campbell (1902-1972). Then, by 1911, the family of five moved back Canada, settling permanently, and presumably happily, in Ontario.
Sarah Campbell
Sarah was the eldest Campbell sibling to move with the family to Alpena in 1878. There, she met and married William Gilbert Wilson. They had four children: Arthur Wilson (1881-1957), Lulu Wilson (1884-1974), George H. Wilson (1887), Lila Wilson (1890-1983). Sarah also took in her deceased sister's daughter Anna in 1903, making for a full and hopefully very happy family settled permanently in Alpena, Michigan.
Jack Campbell
34 year-old Jack, resident of Alpena alongside the rest of his family, married Sophie Moulds on April 5, 1898. Jack and Sophie had three children: Russell James Campbell (1900-1968), Mabel Elizabeth Campbell (1902-1985), Hugh Powell Campbell (1906-1970). Our best research indicates that Hugh was the youngest grandson that Maggie Campbell would have.
1882-1903: Illness Claims Campbell Family Lives
Sadly, not all of our Campbells lived long enough to have their own families, or meet the newest generation brought into the world by Annie, Sandy, Sarah, and Jack.
1882: Fifth child James B. Campbell was the earliest loss the family suffered. The 14 year-old boy contracted an unknown illness that claimed his life on January 12.
1882-1900: Not long after that, sometime in the 1880s, most likely, James's little brother, Gordon Campbell, also lost his life to an unknown illness (as best we can guess).
1892: It was April 3 when the family lost their father. Neil Campbell passed away of unknown causes at age 60, though it is reasonable to suspect that hard-working Neil probably suffered from heart disease. He sadly did not live long enough to see Jack or Joseph marry, nor did he ever get to meet seven of his grandchildren.
1897: Then, just five years later, young Willie Campbell, age 25, developed catarrh, and inflammation of the mucous membranes, and passed away from it on January 13, nearly 5 years exactly since the death of his older brother, James.
1903: It was barely six years later when eldest sibling, 43 year-old Annie (Campbell) Howard, contracted consumption. She passed away on February 20, leaving a very young family, including Anna Howard, who was only five years old. The tot was sent to live with and be raised by her Aunt Sarah (Annie's younger sister).
Medically, it was a devastating period for our Campbell family. Mother Maggie Campbell had lost her husband and four children from ailments.
1893-1902: Joseph Campbell, the Widower
Joseph Campbell had seen two of his brothers and his father buried by 1892. Perhaps this inspired the 25 year-old to find a wife almost exactly one year after losing his father. He wed Maggie Crilley on April 6, 1893, but lost her by 1900. The widower moved in with his mother and little 16 year-old brother Russell, in Alpena. He then wed Mary Shears on April 21, 1902. Curiously, even with the communion he had with two different wives, Joseph never had any children. This is particularly peculiar for an era without birth control and during which reproduction was not exactly a lifestyle choice. Perhaps his job dying silk at a local mill had some unfortunate side effects.
1901-1914: Railroad Tragedies
1901: It was Wednesday, August 1, when 25 year-old Neil Campbell, Jr. set out from the home farm where he lived with his mother and youngest brother, Russell, and went to an evening dance. The young man apparently imbibed quite heavily that night, and in his drunken state, he ran afoul of a train, which hit him and then ran over his body, crushing his head and chest, and completely severing both of his legs.
1914: 30 year-old basket factory laborer Russell Campbell must not have learned much of a lesson from Neil's untimely and gruesome death. For we presume it was an accident when he was struck and killed by a train on June 27, though we do not know the details of the accident.
1916: Saying Goodbye to Mother Maggie
Over the course of 32 years, Maggie (Chapman) Campbell buried her husband and six of her eleven children. The stoic woman left this world on March 3, 1916 in Onaway, Michigan after suffering from "acute indigestion" and a "weak heart". She left behind five children, fifteen grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren (my great-grandfather, James McClure, included).
1926-1944: The Close of a Campbell Generation
1926: Of the Campbell children whom had a chance to lead full lives, widower Joseph was the first to part this world. Joseph Campbell was driving along M-10 in Standish, Michigan when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, passing away at age 58 on August 8.
1933: On June 12, Jack Campbell, husband and father, suffered a massive heart attack in Alpena, Michigan and passed away. He was 69 years old.
1935: Eldest surviving daughter, Sarah (Campbell) Wilson succumbed to heart problems and "old age" on September 6 at age 73.
1940: Just as winter was coming to a close, on March 21, Alexander "Sandy" Campbell departed this world at age 80 of undisclosed causes in Durham, Ontario. He is one of very few of our Campbells not buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Alpena, Michigan. Instead, Sandy was laid to rest at Durham Cemetery in Ontario.
1944: The last surviving Campbell sibling was Arthur "Art" Wellsley Campbell. He passed away on December 26, 1944 in McMillan, Michigan (in the Upper Peninsula), where he had lived as an inmate at the Luce County Poor Farm for the previous fourteen years. He never married, and likely had no family with him.