My Genealogy Hound

JOHN B. CAMPBELL, retired, Aberdeen, was born in Aberdeen in 1805, and is a son of Evan and Margaret (Byers) Campbell. His father was born in Pennsylvania, and was a son of Matthew Campbell, a native of Scotland, who came to this country before the Revolution. In 1804, Evan Campbell settled in Aberdeen and bought a large tract of land; he was a ship-carpenter by trade, and a hard-working man; he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church. To them were born nine children, viz., John B., Shelby, Evaline, Jane, and Exhira (living); the following are deceased, viz., Amanda, Margaret, Power and William. Mr. Campbell was born April 2, 1780, and died December 20, 1859. His wife died May 13,1849, aged sixty-one years eleven months and twenty days. Mr. Campbell was an old river man and followed boating extensively. When old enough, our subject went on the river, and has followed flatboating and steamboating for more than thirty years; he saw the first steamboat that plowed the waters of the Ohio. He was married to Lydia, the daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth (Wentworth) Church. After marriage, he located in Aberdeen, where his family has since resided. Both parents are members of the Methodist Church, to which they have belonged for more than forty years. Eleven children have been born to them, eight living, viz., Theresa, Caroline, Jane, Mary, Fanny, Jessie, Benjamin, and Charles. The deceased are Louisiana, Isabella and John. Mr. Church came from New York about 1812; he was a stonemason, and he died March 12, 1852. She died June 11, 1859. They were parents of eleven children, of whom Mrs. Church alone survives. Matthew Campbell died June 18, 1819. Evan Campbell was married the second time to Nancy Johnson. Benjamin Campbell, son of John B. Campbell, was born in 1848, and enlisted September 15, 1864, in Company K, “Merrill’s Horse,” which belonged to the Second Missouri Regiment, Gen. Fremont’s Body Guard. He saw active service; was in a number of engagements; was commissioned Corporal February 1, 1865, and discharged September 19, 1865. August 11, 1872, he was married to Anna, the daughter of John Parks, by whom he has had five children, viz., Nellie, Lewis, Irene, Eugene, and Edward.