Robert Campbell (1796 - 1880)

Born 10 Jun 1796 in Franklin (formerly Cumberland) County, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Died 22 Dec 1880 at age 84 in Fannettsburg, Franklin, Pennsylvania, USA

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Biography

The following biography was taken verbatim from the 1905 history and genealogy of the Linn family, which is now in the public domain. It was contributed to the book's author, Dr. George Wilds Linn, by Mrs. Daniel Ralph Ennis, born in 1870 as Laura Buckley McLaughlin, who was a granddaughter of Robert Campbell and his first wife, Jane Linn. After the biography is additional history gleaned from the U.S. census ...

"Robert Campbell was born in the year 1798, in Franklin County, Pa. Though bearing an unmistakable Scotch name, his immediate ancestors were of Irish birth and doubtless belonged to the famous group of Protestants who fled from Scotland to Ireland to escape religious persecution.* He was a man of sterling character and of an unusually kind disposition. As a young man he married Jane Linn, and they made their home near the little village of Concord, sheltered on all sides by the mountains, which to them were the inevitable boundaries. In this home in Franklin County were born to them a large family, and from it the mother was carried to her resting place on the hill, not far away; and the father was left to perform that most difficult task in life—take the part of mother as well as father to a family. This he did most nobly, bringing up the children in 'the faith of our fathers.'

"When the children were grown and all but two married, he married Miss Herron, with whom he lived till his death, in December, 1880.

"After a few years the old home, with its fine brick buildings, passed into the hands of strangers, though still known as the 'Old Campbell Place.'"^[1]

* Not all 17th and 18th-century Scots who went to Ireland did so because of persecution, and it should not be assumed that Robert's ancestors were among those who did. Some went for the promise of land during the plantation of Ulster, by which the Crown sought to establish a Protestant and Loyalist population among the Irish. Others went for business reasons; primarily, they were Scottish merchants hoping to extend their trade, with many of them making new homes in Ireland.

Dr. Linn also recorded the children of Robert and Jane (Linn) Campbell ...

James Campbell married Eliza Gilliland

Ann Eliza Campbell, married John Hay

Martha Campbell, married Charles McLaughlin

Nancy W. Campbell, married William Buckley

John Campbell, married Catherine H. Cook^[2]

The widowed Robert Campbell is found in the 1850 census with his two youngest children living in Fannett Township of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Those children were 28-year-old Hugh Campbell and 25-year-old Elisabeth Campbell.^[3] Sometime between the 1850 and 1860 census, Robert remarried. His second wife was Margaret Herron.

He has sometimes been confused with a Robert Campbell born just two years earlier and living in neighboring Fulton County. However, as evidenced by the U.S. Census, he lived all his life in Franklin County while the other Robert Campbell was in Fulton County at least as early as 1850 and continuing through 1860 and 1870, dying in Fulton County one year after the latter census.

Robert appears in the 1860 census with Margaret and an apparent grandson, 24-year-old John Campbell.^[4] Robert retired sometime before 1870, and he and Margaret moved to Orrstown.^[5] Robert lived to the age of 84^[6] and passed away. His place of burial is unknown but may be Spring Run Cemetery, where Margaret's gravestone still is found.^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ https://archive.org/details/ahistoryafragme00linngoog/page/n211/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=Campbell : Linn, Dr. George Wilds : "A History of a Fragment of the Clan Linn" (1905), pp. 198-9
2. ↑ https://archive.org/details/ahistoryafragme00linngoog/page/n99/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=widney
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4HF-M8J : 22 December 2020), Robert Cambell, Fannett Township, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States; citing family , NARA microfilm publication (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)
4. ↑ "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXPR-7P9 : 18 February 2021), Robt Campbell, 1860
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZP7-ZB8 : 29 May 2021), Robert Campbell, 1870
6. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWFD-JGK : 14 January 2022), Robert Campbell, Fannett Township, Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm
7. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76168458/robert-campbell : accessed 9 March 2022), memorial page for Robert Campbell (1798–22 Dec 1880), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76168458, citing Concord Union Cemetery, Concord, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, USA ; Maintained by NL Nuttall (contributor 47439947)