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Below is a family biography included in the book, The History of Clark County, Missouri published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1887.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Isaac E. Campbell, deceased, was born in Oneida County N. Y., May 2, 1798, cotemporaneously with the erection of the first house in Utica. At the age of eighteen he left home, intending to go to sea. He stopped with an uncle at Pittsfield, Mass., however, and was induced to abandon his intentions. After working on the Erie Canal for a time he went to Pennsylvania, and soon after to the vicinity of Wellsville, Ohio, where he was employed in a still-house for some time. The following explains his departure from that place: One evening in the excitement of prospective courting he accidentally fed his employer’s hogs some hot food, which, on his return early the next morning, proved too much for the “porkers” and he found them dead. He objected to having his happiness spoilt by his employer’s displeasure, and without waiting for a settlement, packed his trunk, which in this case proved to be his pocket-handkerchief, and became a “wanderer on the face of the earth.” He first became cook on a keelboat, and in 1812 landed in Missouri Territory. Here he became Jack of all trades, and in 1823 married Sarah White. He at once settled on forty acres of land, and two years later moved to the present site of Nauvoo. He remained here until 1830 engaged in keeping boarding house, shoemaking and keel-boating to the lead mines at Galena. He then sold out, and returned to what is now Nashville, Lee County. The following spring he moved to what is now Keokuk, and engaged with Dr. Muir as an Indian trader. He held slaves while in Illinois and Iowa, and in 1834 persuaded a Pennsylvania congressman to secure the passage of an act enabling the half-breeds to dispose of their land in Lee County. After this act was passed our subject organized the St. Louis Land Company, consisting of J. and E. Walsh, of St. Louis; J. H. Overhall, of St. Charles; Col. Crossman, United States Army, and himself. They purchased the first claim ever sold, from Isaac Antyer. In 1836 he sold his half interest in the original town of Keokuk, which then consisted of a “potato patch” of a few acres. In 1838 he disposed of his interest in the half-breed tract, consisting of one-thirteenth of 119,000 acres and Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was one of the buyers. Two thousand dollars of the $14,000 were paid down in old chairs, horses, carriages, etc. He held the notes of the three buyers at the time of his death. He removed to St. Francisville in 1837, on account of anti-slavery sentiments in Iowa, and remained there until his death, August 26, 1882. He was a very liberal man, and probably out-lived 50,000 men who were his cotemporaries. By his first wife his children were James W. and Isaac R. (deceased); and by his second wife, Emily Davis, his children were Sarah A. (deceased), Robert T. (deceased), John R. (deceased), Helen E. (the wife of Judge McClintock), Henry C., Eleanora L., Laura L., Cora R. and Eugene M. His first wife died January 8, 1831, and his second wife September 10, 1883.

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This family biography is one of 232 biographies included in the Clark County, Missouri portion of the book,  The History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties, Missouri published in 1887.  For the complete description, click here: Clark County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Clark County, Missouri family biographies here: Clark County, Missouri Biographies

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