My Genealogy Hound

CAPT. A. B. CAMPBELL, general insurance agent, McKeesport, was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, October 23, 1837, a son of Jacob and Eliza (Allen) Campbell. Jacob was a native of Chester county, Pa., of Scotch descent, a captain in the war of 1812, and one of the early settlers of Pittsburgh. He was a carpenter, and helped construct the first bridge across the Allegheny river between Pittsburgh and Allegheny; also assisted in building the first inclined coal-road on the Monongahela river, and assisted in erecting Schoenberger Iron-works, one of the first iron-mills in Pittsburgh. He afterward engaged in business in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a contractor for a number of years; thence went to Wheeling (now in West Virginia), where he formed the acquaintance of Eliza Allen, his second wife, a daughter of David Allen, one of the first settlers of Elizabeth township, Allegheny county. He then removed to New Lisbon, Ohio, where he followed contracting and building for several years. In 1845 he settled permanently in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, and carried on farming until his death.

The subject of this memoir was reared in Elizabeth township from the age of eight years, and received a common-school education. On the breaking out of the rebellion, in 1861, he joined Company M, 100th (Roundhead) regiment P. V. I., as second lieutenant, and was elected captain of the company after three months’ service. He accompanied the first expedition that went south under Gen. Sherman to Hilton Head, participating in the taking of Forts Walker and Beauregard, and was among the first troops to occupy Beaufort, S. C. He was in the battle of Port Royal Ferry, S. C., and from Beaufort went to James island, and participated in the fight of Secessionville fort. He was then sent with his regiment to Newport News, Va., and from there to Slaughter’s Mountain as reinforcement to Gen. Pope. Soon after he took part in the battles of second Bull run and Chantilly, and was there driven back to Washington city by the enemy; afterward was engaged in the battles of South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg, and was honorably discharged from the service in January, 1863. In 1864, with a party of five, he visited Virginia City, and in the fall of the same year (1864), with a party of sixty-five, proceeded from there to the headwaters of the Yellowstone river (they being the first party known to make the trip), thence to the mouth of the Yellowstone at Fort Union, where it empties into the Missouri river. In 1865 he returned to his father’s farm, in Elizabeth township, Allegheny county, and in 1866 married Eliza, daughter of Asher and Eliza (Manown) Vankirk, of Elizabeth township, by whom he has five children living: Hattie M., Lillian, William, Maggie and Anson. In 1866 Mr. Campbell engaged in the general insurance business. He has served as a member of the school board thirteen consecutive terms and two terms in the legislature, 1879-80, 1881-82. He is a member of the G. A. R.; in politics is a republican.