William  H.  Campbell
(son of Alfred, son of James of Shelby County)


          William H. Campbell, Circuit Clerk of Worth County, is a native of Shelby County, Indiana, and was born October 25, 1842.  He is the second son of  Alfred and Mariah Campbell  who were old settlers of Gentry County, having moved with the subject of this sketch to that county in 1844.  William was there reared to manhood and received his education, spending his early years in the occupation of farming.  In 1868, he accepted a position as clerk in the store of Campbell & Colvin at Ellenorah, Missouri, and after remaining there two years, he removed to Denver, this county, where he was occupied in a like capacity til 1874.  At this time he was called upon by the citizens of Worth County to occupy his present responsible position, and which he fills to the satisfaction of all.  Mr. C. is largely interested in the welfare of the county, and is a landholder to the extent of 320 acres, besides owning property in Grant City. He was married January 8, 1879, to  Miss J. DeWitt, who was also born in Indiana.  They have one child, William.
History of Gentry and Worth Counties, Missouri, 1882, p. 725 Fletchall Township
Submitted by Anne Ruby


          Well may Mr. Campbell be designated as one of the pioneer citizens of Grant City, Worth County, where he has maintained his residence for thirty-five years and where he has been an influential figure in connection with civic and industrial affairs, the while his sterling character and genial personality have retained to him inviolable place in the confidence and good will of the community.  His interests have been many and varied and he has done much to foster the development and upbuilding of Worth County and its judicial center, Grant City, the name which he bears having been worthily linked with the annals of Missouri history for nearly seventy years, and the lineage being traced back to the staunchest of Scottish origin.
          William Henry Campbell  was born on a farm in Bartholomew County, Indiana, on the 25th of October, 1842, and was a child of four years at the time of the family emigration from the old Hoosier State to Missouri.  He is a son of  Alfred  and  Maria (Blades) Campbell,  both natives of North Carolina and both of Scotch ancestry.  Alfred Campbell was born in North Carolina about the year 1819, his father having been a prosperous planter in that state.  Alfred Campbell became a farmer in Bartholomew County, Indiana where he continued to reside until 1846, when he came with his family to Missouri, the trip having been made by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and the family having landed at Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri.  Alfred Campbell obtained a tract of government land in the northeastern part of Gentry County, in the vicinity of Albany, the county seat, and there he reclaimed and developed a valuable landed estate that is still in the possession of his descendants.  In 1849 he joined the intrepid band of Argonauts who were making their way across the plains to the newly discovered gold fields of California, and he died while en route, at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, where his remains were laid to rest, far from his home and kindred.  His widow long survived him and passed the closing period of her life in Gentry County, Missouri, where she was summoned to eternal rest in March 1914, at the extremely venerable age of ninety-three years.  She was a woman of strong and noble character and retained her mental faculties practically unimpaired until her death, so that great interest attached to her gracious reminiscences of days long past.  She was a devout member of the Baptist Church, of which her husband likewise was a zealous adherent, and the latter was a Whig in his political proclivities.  Of the children the eldest was  Charlotte,  who became the wife of  Hiram Colvin  and who was a resident of Worth County at the time of her death;  William Henry,  of this review, was the next in order of birth;  Albert B.  still resides in Gentry County; and Virginia is the wife of Washington Wiley, of Harrison County, this state.
          William H. Campbell was reared to adult age on the old homestead farm in Gentry County and in connection with its work he learned the valuable lessons of practical and productive industry.  That he made good use of the advantages afforded him in the common schools of the locality and period is vouchsafed by the fact that as a young man he was for several years a teacher in the schools of his home county, devoting his attention to the pedagogic profession during the winter terms and being successful in his work, his summer seasons being given to active application along agricultural lines.  His marriage was solemnized in the year 1878, and thereafter he continued to be numbered amonth the prosperous farmers of Gentry County until his removal to Worth County, nearly two score of years ago.  In January 1875, as candidate on the democratic ticket, Mr. Campbell was elected circuit clerk and recorder of Worth County, and of this dual office he continued the efficient and valued incumbent for eight consecutive years.  Upon his retirement from office Mr. Campbell established his residence in Worth County.  He purchased a tract of land on the which was situated the townsite of Grant City.  He improved his property and it may well be understood that with the lapse of years the tract has become very valuable.  In the earlier period of his residence of this fine farm Mr. Campbell gave much attention to the raising of excellent grades of live stock, but at the present time the land is largely given over to the raising of hay, to grazing purposes and to diversified agriculture.  To the farm Mr. Campbell continues to give a general supervision, and through its medium he has become one of the substantial capitalists of Worth County.
          Since his retirement from the official position that he held in Worth County, as previously noted, Mr. Campbell has shown no predilection for official preferment, but he has continued unswerving in his allegiance to the democratic party.  At the time of the outbreak of the Civil war, environment and conditions caused Mr. Campbell to enlist his sympathies with the cause of the Confederate States, but as the great internecine conflict drew near to its close he became a member of the local militia maintained under the control of the Federal Government, his company of home guards having been in camp only a short period when the long and weary struggle came to a close.  The civil loyalty of Mr. Campbell has been shown in diverse ways, and he has shown special interest in all that touches the social and material welfare and progress of Grant City, where he served for some time as a member of the city council.  He has been a stockholder and vice-president of the First National Bank of Grant City for fully a quarter of a century, and he has other capitalistic interests.  One of the handsome residences of Grant City is that built and occupied by Mr. Campbell and his family, and the home is a center of generous hospitality.  On his residence premises Mr. Campbell has developed one of the largest apiaries in Worth County, and though he has not made a scientific study of bee culture he received excellent returns from his apiary.  For the past fifteen years Mr. Campbell has been local representative of the government weather bureau, and he has taken much interest in making careful observations and entering specific reports concerning temperature and other climatic conditions, variations in winds and rainfall, etc. his reports being sent each month to the station of the weather bureau located at Columbia, the seat of the University of Missouri.  To the Department of Agriculture, in the City of Washington, he reports at the end of each month the condition of growing crops in Worth County, these reports being made in triplicate and one of the copies being retained on file by him.  Mr. Campbell is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the degree of Master Mason, and both he and his wife are most earnest and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the faith of which they carefully reared they children.
          In the year 1878 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Campbell to Miss Nancy J. DeWitt, daughter of Nathaniel and Eliza (Root) DeWitt, who came from Montgomery County, Indiana, to Missouri in an early day, here passing the residue of their lives.  Concerning others of the children of Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt the following brief record may be given with consistency:  Alvin  is a resident of the State of Montana;  Rev. Marston P.  is a clergyman of the Methodist Church and resides in Nodaway County, Missouri;  Jennie  is the wife of  Albert H. House, of Allendale, Worth County; and  Harley  is the wife of  Eugene Donelson, of Hatfield, Harrison County.  Mr. and Mrs. Campbell have two children -- William C.,  who resides at Grant City and is one of the representative farmers of Worth County, and Grace, who was graduated in the Missouri Wesleyan College, at Cameron, and is now a successful and popular teacher in the high school at Blockton, Taylor County, Iowa.
History of Northwest Missouri,  three vol. Set, Williams Walter, editor, published by Lewis Publishing CO, Chicago-New York, in 1915; pp 983-985.
Submitted by Anne Ruby

Notes from Anne:  Alfred Campbell was born Nov. 11, 1818 probably in Indiana. In the 1920 Census, Wm H. says father b. in IN.
A James Campbell is listed in the 1817 tax list of Franklin Co. IN.
James Campbell, Alfred's father, is in the 1820 census of Blooming Grove Twp. Franklin Co. Indiana p. 217, showing 1 male 0-10, 2 males 26-45, 1 female 0-10, 1 female 10-16, 1 female 26-45, 1 female 45 & up.

Biography Index       Main Page