A Family of Respectable Size

Cyrus C. Campbell was born 23 March 1834 on his father's farm in Ashland^* county, Ohio. His parents were Henry and Ann (Callin) Campbell, to whom we were introduced last week.

On 4 July 1859 Cyrus married Ursulla Amanda Springer (1839–1924), the daughter of one of Montgomery township's earliest settlers, John Springer. Ursulla's late mother, who died when Ursulla was only eight years old, was Elizabeth Carter, whose family had been among the earliest to arrive in Ohio in 1806. The Carter lineage can be traced back through at least three generations of men named Daniel Carter, to one who is said to have been part of Lord Baltimore's company, which settled the colony of Maryland.

If you seek out Cyrus and Ursulla in the 1860 and 1870 Census records, be aware that between the enumerators and the transcribers who digitized the records, they are probably indexed incorrectly. (Ancestry has them indexed in 1860, in the household next door to Henry and Mary Ann, as "C.C. and Knula Caryatull," for example.)

His father, Henry, worked as a shoemaker, and when Cyrus was young, he was listed as a cobbler, likely repairing shoes in his father's shop. In 1860, he was listed as a clerk; in 1870, he gave no occupation, and had a respectable estate built up. Sadly, he died at age 39 in 1873, of unknown causes, leaving his widow with two sons, thirteen and nine years of age.

Ursulla remarried quickly to Robert Sutton, and they had two daughters; Maud (b. 1874) and Grace (b. 1876). Mr. Sutton appears to have adopted the Campbell boys, who were listed in the 1880 Census with the name Sutton. But after they grew up and left home, they used the name Campbell again. (Note that the brothers also named their first born sons in honor of each other.)

As the 1880 lists the Sutton family in Auglaize county, and identifies Robert's occupation as "Publisher," I think it is safe to conclude that he is the same Robert Sutton who published the History of Auglaize County, Ohio, found here:




   1. Alden W Campbell (1860–1936) married Julia M. Kirkendall (b. 1859) in 1885. The couple was living in Illinois right after their wedding, but moved back to Ohio for a few years, around 1890, before relocating back to Greenup, Cumberland county, Illinois by 1900, where Alden took up farming. By 1910, their older children were out on their own, and Alden had established a farm in Baker, Martin county, Indiana, where he and Julia remained until after 1930.

They had three children, Howard Ernest (1886-1937), Lucille (b. 1888), and Marjorie (b. 1891), and in 1930 their grandson, Colin (b. 1916) was listed in their Indiana home. When Alden died in October 1936, he and Julia were residing in Chicago. Julia was 77 years old when he died, but I haven't been able to find any records to indicate when or where she died.

     a. Howard Ernest Campbell (1886–1937) was born in Illinois, and grew up on his father's farms. In 1900, he was a student living at home in Illinois, apparently studying electrical engineering. Whether he continued his studies or took a job, by 1914 he was living in Brooklyn, New York, where he married Edith Reynolds Whitney (1889-1936).

There are some records hinting that Howard may have had an interesting career; he may have been working aboard passenger ships as an electrical engineer. He doesn't seem to have served in the military, but if he was working aboard ships during World War I, and the 1920s, those were certainly exciting times to be at sea. The only certainty I have is that he traveled from Antwerp, Belgium, to New York aboard the SS Pennland in 1932. My theory is that he spent twenty years working on ships, retired in 1932, and moved his family to Louisville, Kentucky, where he started a new career as an electrical engineer for a company there.

Sadly, Edith suffered an intestinal blockage in 1936, and died that September from complications after the surgery to correct it. Howard died accidentally from carbon monoxide poisoning while working on his car in a closed garage the following November. His Kentucky death certificate names his parents and his wife, Vera N, whom he presumably married in the year after Edith's death.

        i. Colin Wilbur Campbell (1915–1984) grew up in Brooklyn, and at age 16, he was living with his grandparents in Indiana. After that, I can say very little about his life, other than the U.S. Social Security databases indicate that he may have gotten his Social Security number in Colorado, and that he died on 30 September 1984.

        ii. Barbara Lucille Campbell (1917–1992) also grew up in Brooklyn, but unlike her brothers, we do not have a record showing her on the 1930 Census. From the Social Security and Kentucky Death records, we know that she died in Louisville, Kentucky, at age 75, and that her married name was Barbara Campbell Rehm.

        iii. Gordon Whitney Campbell (1918–1982) seems to have led an adventurous life, to say the least. From his home in Brooklyn in 1920, he was sent to a boarding school in Lake Villa , Illinois by 1930. Allendale School was described by some sources as an institution for homeless boys, and was founded in 1897 by Edward "Cap" Bradley, a young Princeton graduate interested in the plight of urban youth and the poor conditions under which they lived. (See a photo of Boys at Drill, Allendale Farm, Lake Villa, Ill. c. 1917.)

Whatever led Gordon there, he grew up to serve in the U.S. Army in World War II and Korea, attaining the rank of Major. His records indicate that he enlisted in November 1940, while living in Pennsylvania. He married in Emporia, Virginia, on 30 August 1941, and he and his wife (who may still be living) had a daughter and a son.

Gordon died in Fresno, California, in 1982, and was buried there under a military headstone.

     b. Lucile Campbell (1888–?) is almost a complete mystery. She appears on the 1900 Census with her parents, brother, and sister, and then vanishes from the record. I suspect that since her brother was listed as "Ernest" on the 1900, she may have been listed by her middle name, too. But until we find a clue...

     c. Marjorie G Campbell (1891– ?) married Arthur Julius Craig (1884–1942) in Martin county, Indiana, in 1915. Arthur soon moved with his wife to Chicago, Illinois, where he was a high school teacher. Aside from a 1920 Census record that places Arthur in Boulder, Colorado, rooming in another household while working as a superintendent in a school there, Arthur and Marjorie seem to have remained in Chicago until Arthur's death in 1942. The couple appears not to have had any children of their own. After Arthur died, there was one more U.S. City Directory listing for a Marjorie Craig, widow of Arthur, listed in Boulder in 1946; but beyond that, no conclusive information about what happened to Marjorie.

   2. Howard W Campbell (1864–1930), Cyrus's second son, was born in Tennessee, and raised in Ohio. His father died when he was nine years old. He struck out from Ohio when he grew up, and settled in Rains county, Texas. There, he married Dora Helen Miller (1878–1960) on 26 August 1896, and took up farming. They had eight children, altogether (a.-h. below). We don't know precisely when he died, but it was before 1930.

     a. Alden Vernon Campbell (1897–1975) married his first wife, Bessie Jewell Day (1903–1935), probably in 1922. They had six children before 1935 (i-vi, below), when Bessie Jewell died unexpectedly. Alden relocated back to Ohio with his children and his widowed mother, Dora some time between 1935 and 1940. Dora died in Ohio in 1960.

Alden later married a second wife named Bessie M. (1900-1980). After they died, they were buried in Collinsville Cemetery, Butler County, Ohio.

        i. Aubrey Julian Campbell (1923–2005) married Jewell Vandeventer on February 22, 1947 in Covington, Kentucky. She was born in Laurel County, Kentucky, on April 9, 1924 the daughter of Charles Woods and Hannah (Durham) Vandeventer. They had three sons and four daughters, all still living. Aubrey died in 2005, and Jewell followed in 2008.

        ii. Thelma Louise Campbell (1925–2013) was born in Tyler, Texas on January 24, 1925.  On August 30, 1944 in Covington, Kentucky, she married Eugene Rogers, and they were married for 63 years before he preceded her in death in 2007. Over her lifetime, she took in approximately 120 foster children.

        iii. Wilma J Campbell (1927–?) was born in Emory, Rains county, Texas on 11 February 1927. We know that she was 13 in 1940, living with her family in Ohio, and we know from her sisters' obituaries that she died before 2011. Her married name was Wilma Davis.

        iv. Pauline R Campbell (1929–2011) was born March 3, 1929 in Mineola, Wood county, Texas, but lived in Middletown most of her life. She married Olney Combs, who died in 1985; her obituary names three sons and two daughters who are still living.

The two youngest children of Alden and Bessie, a girl (v.) and a boy (vi.), are still living

     b. Roy Stanley Campbell (1901–2002) was born 21 April 1901, and he married and had a son before he was twenty. Roy died in 2002 less than one month before his 101st birthday. His son is still living in Texas.

     c. Marion C Campbell (1903–2001) was born in Emory, Texas, on June 27, 1903, and married Elizabeth "Lena" Matlock (1907–2005) on April 26, 1924 . He was a turret lathe operator for Steel Products Engineering Co. in Springfield, Ohio, for 33 years, retiring in 1969. He and Lena had four daughters and two sons, as well as an infant daughter who died in 1933, around the time the family relocated from Texas back to Ohio.

        i. Helen Jane Campbell (1925–2010) was an operator with the Kissell Company, and was married to Roger E. Bayes (1921-2009), a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier for more than thirty years. They have one son and one daughter still living.

        ii. Vernon E Campbell (1926–1984) enlisted in the final year of the second World War, on 7 April 1944. He worked as a machinist in Springfield, Ohio, through the 1950s. I assume from the City Directories that he was married to Florence, though I could not find marriage records or any further information about her. When Vernon died in 1984, at age 58, his wife was one Pansy Ellis (1922-2005), and they seem to have married around 1974.

        iii. Marion Francis Campbell (1927–2013) was a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served in WWII and the Naval Reserves. He worked for New York Central and Conrail for 42 years. He and his wife (still living) had two sons, the elder of whom was also a railroad worker: Robert Michael Campbell (1947–1989) died at only 41 years of age.

        iv. Shirley Mae Campbell (1930– ?) appears on the 1930 and 1940 Census with the rest of the family, and her father's obituary mentions her as preceding him in death; but I have found no other records to say how old she was when she died.

        v. The fifth child of Marion and Lena was a daughter who is still living in Ohio.

        vi. Infant Daughter Campbell (1933–1933) is buried in Ohio.

        vii. Miriam Colleen Campbell (1939–2012) attended Brown Mackie College in Salina in the early 1990s, and was the owner and operator of DuCharme Tax Services for twenty years. "Mim" DuCharme, as she was known, adopted her granddaughter in 1996, and raised her. Mim died in 2012.

     d. Harold Ellsworth Campbell (1905–1989) was born in Texas, but by the mid-1920s he had relocated to Ohio. He married Doris E. Longbrake (1904–1969) on 23 October 1926, and they had a daughter and two sons before 1940. Their daughter is still living, but their sons are not.

        ii. Fred S. Campbell (1938–2009) married Jeanne E. McCormick (1945–2011) on 22 December 1964 in Melbourne, Florida, and they had three sons and a daughter. Fred was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and worked as a senior engineering emissions technician at General Electric for over 35 years, retiring in 2002. He served as Minister of music for 15 years at Ross Avenue Church of God.

        iii. Homer Lee Campbell (1930–2012), apparently named for his uncle, married in Middletown, Ohio, on 21 August 1975 and has two sons still living. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army.

     e. Homer Leonidas Campbell (1907–1987) was born in Rains county, Texas, moved to Ohio, and married Mary E. Kyser (1910-1988) either in 1934 or 1937. They have one daughter, still living.

     f. Grace Dorothy Campbell (1911–1999) married Roger Wynston Longbrake (1901–1981) on 31 August 1928 in Covington, Kentucky, and they relocated to Shelby, Ohio, some time around 1937. Roger was the older brother of Doris Longbrake, wife of Grace's brother, Harold Ellsworth Campbell.

Roger and Grace had six sons, five of whom are no longer with us:

        i. Hugh Roy Longbrake (1929–2010) - married Darlene D Donhow (1929–2007) in 1953.
        ii. Gerald Elsworth Longbrake (1930–2005)

"Three Grand Jury Witnesses
Under Arrest" - 7 July 1960
Pasadena, CA

        iii. Howard Mitchell Longbrake (1932–2005) - married MaDonna Accordino (1937–2006). They were survived by two sons. Howard was a 20 year U.S. Marine Corps veteran, serving in Korea and Vietnam.
        iv. Horace Leondis Longbrake (1936–2008)
        v. Wynston Delmar Longbrake (1938–2002)

Their youngest son, George, is presumably still alive. Normally, I wouldn't include information about a living individual, but he and his brothers, Gerald and Wynston, ran into trouble with the law in a 1960 robbery (see linked article to the right). This is probably not something their families want to remember, but it is a matter of public record.

(See "Problematic: Between History and Gossip" for thoughts on the difficulty of documenting uncomfortable truths.)

     g. Daughter Campbell - It is highly unusual to find living relatives born before 1920, but since I can't find any records for this lady, I must assume that she is still alive. Until I know for sure, I will continue to respect her privacy.

     h. Marjorie R Campbell (1919–1998) was a Warrant Officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II, if I'm reading her Find-a-Grave entry correctly. She married Alvie Frank Samford (1912–2004), and they lived in Riverside, California.

Obviously, there is a lot left to learn about the Campbell families. Despite his early death, before turning 40, Cyrus Campbell left a large legacy in his surprisingly numerous descendants. Here's hoping that those still with us are happy and healthy!


^* Milton township was originally part of Richland county, until Ashland county formed in 1846.