**************************************************************************** File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project Copyright 2008, all rights reserved. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format without the written consent of the author at http://fulton.ilgenweb.net. **************************************************************************** Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890 **************************************************************************** The Biography of Samuel CAMPBELL Pages 815-816, transcribed in full by Karen CRANE Goggin [Surnames: CAMPBELL, HANNA, KIRKHAM, McCLURE, WINCHESTER] SAMUEL CAMPBELL, an honored veteran of the late war, is classed among the intelligent, capable, enterprising farmers of Lewistown Township, who have contributed so largely to raise it to its present high position as a great agricultural center. His farm is one of the finest in the place, and here he has a handsome residence and one of the coziest of homes. Mr. Campbell is of Kentucky birth. He was born July 21, 1830, two and one-half miles from Versailles, in Woodford County. Samuel Campbell was the name of his father, and he was a Virginian, born in 1717 near the Natural Bridge. His father, whose name was George Campbell, is supposed to have been born in the same State, coming of an old Scotch family. He removed from there to Kentucky in 1796 and was a pioneer of Woodford County. He was well educated for those days and taught school. For many years he was afflicted with rheumatism and was unable to perform any manual labor. He bought a tract of land near Versailles, and there his declining years were spent. The maiden name of his wife was Nancy McClure, and she as also a native of Virginia. Besides his homestead he bought a large tract of land in Boone County, on which some of his children settled. Samuel Campbell, Sr., was nineteen years old when his father moved to Kentucky. Two years later he returned to Virginia to settle some of his father's business, making the entire journey to and fro on horseback. He adopted the calling of a farmer, to which he had been bred, continued to live with his parents until their death, and occupied the old homestead until 1836. In that year he too became a pioneer, starting for Illinois with teams and taking with him his wife and ten children, leaving the old home September 29, and arriving in Fulton County, this State, October 29. He at once bought a tract of land including the southwest quarter of section 13, Lewistown Township. There was a house on it, partly of logs and the rest of it frame, a log barn also stood on the place, and eight-five acres of the land was under cultivation. He paid $2,600 for the farm, and immediately entered upon its further improvement. Fulton County was then very thinly inhabited, and this portion of it was mostly well-wooded and deer, wild turkeys and other kinds of game roamed throughout the forest. There were no railways and Liverpool, then quite a flourishing town on the Illinois River, was the principal market. Here Mr. Campbell performed much useful pioneer labor and zealously aided in developing the country until his untimely death April 12, 1852. Prior to her marriage the mother of our subject was Phoebe Kirkham, and she was born in Kentucky in 1792. She was a daughter of Michael Kirkham, a native of Virginia, and a descendant of Scotch ancestry. He was one of the early pioneers of Kentucky, removing thither during Revolutionary War. For some years after he settled in that State the Indians were hostile and committed many murders. He and his few neighbors gathered together and built a fort, in which they staid at the approach of the red men, and at times they were nearly starved, as they were afraid to venture forth for game that was plentiful. At one time when Mr. Kirkham was out with the other men in a campaign against the savages, his wife walked to the farm, three miles distant from the fort, every day to attend to the crops. The harvests were often bountiful, and one year corn was large enough to grate, six weeks from the time of planting. He and his wife both passed the remainder of their lives in Woodford County, Ky. Her maiden name was Nancy Campbell, and she was of mingled Scotch and English blood and was born near the State line of Pennsylvania and Virginia. She and her husband both died at the home of the parents of our subject in Fulton County, on their old homestead, and were buried in the family cemetery. The mother of our subject survived her husband many years, and her death finally occurred February 3, 1875. The names of the ten children whom she reared to maturity are: Mary H., Nancy, Sarah, George M., Caroline R., Michael K., Robert, Prudence, Samuel and John B. Our subject was educated in the pioneer schools of this county, which were conducted in log houses, provided with home-made furniture, and a log was taken out to admit the light, and in the aperture greased paper was inserted instead of glass. He resided on the home farm until August, 1862. In that month he entered upon the life of a soldier, enlisting in Company H, One Hundred and Third Illinois Infantry, and was mustered in at Peoria October 2. In the following November he was sent with his regiment to Tennessee. At the battle of Holly Springs he was captured by the enemy, but immediately paroled. He then obtained a leave of absence and remained at home until spring, when he went into the parole camp at St. Louis, and in June of that year he joined his regiment at Yazoo River. He and his comrades were employed there in keeping Johnston's forces at bay. After the fall of Vicksburg they went to Mississippi and were active in the battle of Jackson. Mr. Campbell was taken sick soon after that event and received a furlough of three months, which he spent at home. He rejoined his regiment at Scottsboro, Ala., and in the month of May, 1864, he and his fellow soldiers were dispatched to Chattanooga to accompany Sherman on his remarkable campaign to Atlanta and the sea. The brave boys did excellent service in the siege and capture of that city, and in the various engagements that took place between the Union forces and the enemy, and marched with their leader's victorious troops to the sea, and thence through the Carolinas and on by the way of Richmond to Washington. Mr. Campbell was in the Capitol City at the time of the Grand Review, but on account of sickness was unable to take part in it. He was afterward sent with his regiment to Louisville, Ky., and was there mustered out of the service, and received his final discharge papers at Chicago, in the month of July, 1865. After the exciting experiences of life on the battlefield Mr. Campbell returned home and quietly resumed his calling on the old homestead which he now owns and occupies. He has greatly increased the value thereof and improved it by erecting a substantial and well-appointed set of buildings, including a fine brick house built in the modern style of architecture. To the lady who presides over his pleasant home, and renders it an abode of comfort, our subject was married March 12, 1867. As a girl her name was Emma Hanna, and she was born in Illinois, a daughter of the Rev. John C. and Martha (Winchester) Hanna. Mr. And Mrs. Campbell have had nine children‹Eva L., Prudence O., Phoebe Martha, Warren L., Sarah C., Adela, Bertha, Ralph W. and Roy. Bertha, the second child, died at the age of eleven years; Ralph, the fourth child, died at the age of five years; Roy died in infancy. The parents of the subject of this sketch were both members of the Presbyterian Church, and he and his wife, who are devout Christians, adhere strictly to that faith and are connected with the church of that denomination in Lewistown Township. Our subject also inherited his political beliefs from his father, seemingly, as the latter was a Whig, to which party the son belonged until the formation of the Republican party, when he fell into its ranks and has since been one of its sturdiest supporters both in times of peace and in times of war.