My Genealogy Hound

JOHN J. CAMPBELL, a prominent citizen of the borough of Rockledge, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he is a real estate broker, conveyancer and justice of the peace, is a native of the city of Philadelphia. He was born October 21, 1850, a son of Thomas and Catherine (Dowling) Campbell.

The Campbells are of Scotch origin, as the name indicates, but Mr. Campbell’s father and grandfather were both natives of Ireland. Thomas Campbell (father) was born in County Louth, about 1820, and came to America in early manhood. He resided in Wilmington, Delaware, and at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, but was a resident of Philadelphia for nearly forty years. He carried on the business of a contractor and builder for many years in Kensington, a manufacturing district of Philadelphia, erecting many houses there. He also operated stone quarries very extensively at the corner of Front and Clearfield streets. He died November 2, 1892. Mr. Campbell was twice married. His first wife was Catherine Dowling, also a native of Ireland. Their children were: John J., subject of this sketch; William J., residing in Philadelphia; Mary A., wife of John Gormley, also residing in Philadelphia. Mrs. Campbell died in 1855. Her parents were Luke and Annie Dowling, and her mother lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years. The second wife of Thomas Campbell was Mary McBride, also a native of Ireland. Their children: Joseph E., Thomas F., Alice, Frank and Mrs. Campbell, who died in 1899.

John J. Campbell, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia, in St. Michael’s parochial school in that city, and in a night school which he subsequently attended, at which he studied German, bookkeeping and other useful accessories of a business education. On leaving school he engaged in the business of a contractor and builder, in connection with his father, who had already established it. In 1890 he entered into the real estate business at 103 East Lehigh avenue, in the city of Philadelphia, conducting it very successfully at that place for a half-dozen years. The next two years he was engaged in the same pursuit in Germantown. For the past five years he has conducted a prosperous real estate and general conveyancing business in Rockledge, and has aided greatly in the development of the borough, one of the youngest in Montgomery county. He also holds the office of justice of the peace, having been appointed April 15, 1904. He has been an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party, but is in no sense an office seeker. During the years 1895 and 1896 he was employed in the office of the recorder of deeds in Philadelphia. The family are Catholics in religious faith, and attend services at the Church of the Presentation, in Cheltenham. Mr. Campbell is one of the most prominent and progressive citizens of Rockledge. During his residence in the borough he has done much to advance its interests, leaving nothing undone that is calculated to promote the public welfare.

Mr. Campbell married, in Philadelphia, May 3, 1876, Clara A. Donahoe. The couple have had seven children, as follows: Thomas, deceased; John L.; Louis, deceased; Edward F.; Agnes G.; Eugene; Mary, deceased. Mrs. Campbell died September 22, 1900.