Tuesday, February 24, 2015

#NameCollecting - No Relation



A different Howard W. Campbell
Today's featured name is Howard W. Campbell.

He is not to be confused with the main character of the 1961 Kurt Vonnegut novel Mother Night, played by Nick Nolte in the 1996 film. THAT Howard W. Campbell was Howard W. Campbell, Jr., for one thing - and also an American spy in WWII.

My 2nd cousin, 3x removed, on the other hand was Howard W. Campbell, who was born in either Ohio or Tennessee in 1864 and died in Rains county, Texas, in 1930. He was the son of Cyrus Colin Campbell (nephew of my 3x Great Grandfather, William H. Callin) and Ursulla Springer.

I didn't immediately connect the two completely different and unrelated Howard Campbells at first. I had read Mother Night at some point in my youth - probably while I was in college -  and I probably saw the movie while I was stationed in England, staying up to prepare for a mid-shift. When I ran across the name in my research, it seemed familiar, but it took me a while to place where I had heard it before.

I have to admit, even though the character in the book/movie isn't necessarily a very trustworthy narrator (is he telling the truth? Does he dare admit whatever the truth is?), it was a little disappointing to find no connection whatsoever.


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