My Genealogy Hound

JAMES A. CAMPBELL, farmer, Sec. 26; P. O. Holder; one of the early settlers of McLean Co.; born in County Londonderry, Ireland, Feb. 27, 1822. He was a son of Archibald Campbell, who was born in Ireland in June, 1792. He married in Ireland to Elizabeth Shield; she was also born in the same place in 1790; they emigrated to America and landed at Quebec in the summer of 1827; they then came to Pittsburgh, and, after living there eighteen months, went to Kentucky, where they lived some seven years, from which place they traveled by team to McLean Co., Ill., being fifteen days upon the road; they located upon the spot where James A. Campbell now lives, in the fall of 1835; he had at that time $1,600 in specie, good teams and plenty of provisions; he was the wealthiest early settler that ever came to this township; he first entered eighty acres of land, to which he afterward added by purchase until he had acquired some 500 acres. He took an active interest in the affairs of the township, and held the office of Justice of the Peace for many years; he was a brick mason and plasterer by trade, and worked at his trade for twenty-five years in connection with farming. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church at the time of their decease, having been members previous to their marriage, lived and died consistent Christians. Mrs. Campbell died June 12, 1869, upon the old homestead. Mr. Campbell died Aug. 23, 1873, upon the same bed his wife died on. The subject of this memoir was raised to farm labor until quite a young man, when he commenced to work at the mason’s trade with his father, often doing work for a distance of fifteen miles and upward from home, viz., Cheney’s Grove, Blooming Grove, Le Roy and Bloomington. At upward of 20 years of age, he commenced for himself, and farmed in connection with his trade, continuing the same until about the year 1869, when he abandoned his trade, since which time he has given his attention to farming; he has, in his home place, 132 acres of land, which is the old homestead upon which he with his father located in 1835; he also owns 160 acres upon Sec. 24, making in all a farm of 292 acres. His marriage with Martha A. Shields was celebrated in Jessamine Co., Ky., Sept. 20, 1849; she was born in the same county April 24, 1820; they were the parents of seven children, of whom two are living — John T., born Dec. 5, 1854, and Mary Frances, Oct. 31, 1861; of the deceased, four died in infancy, and one, William R., was born Aug. 6, 1858, and died Feb. 25, 1875, in the 18th year of his age, from the effects of sunstroke. Mrs. Campbell was a daughter of James Shields, who was born in Londonderry, in Ireland, May 6, 1781. He married Sarah Black in Kentucky; she was born in Kentucky Sept. 17, 1789. Mr. Shields died in Jessamine Co., Ky., June 20, 1865, aged 89 years. Mrs. Shields died June 14, 1867, at the age of 78 years.