CAMPBELL, MAXWELL
, was born Oct. 29, 1795, in Cabarras county, N. C. His grandfather, Robert Campbell, came from Scotland. bringing six sons: Robert, James, John, William, Samuel and George. Their arrival in North Carolina was not long before the American Revolution, and all the six brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary army. The second Robert was the father of the subject of this sketch. Maxwell Campbell was married July 25, 1822, in North Carolina, to Nancy Plunkett. She was born June 15, 1806, in the same county. They came to Sangamon county, arriving in May 1823, and settled at the north side of Richland creek in what is u??ow Cartwright township. They had six living children in Sangamon county--ROBERT R., born August 13, 1823, married Dec. 13, 1847. to Cynthia S. Penny. They have eight children. SAMUEL lives with his parents. NANCY C. married J. Harnsberger. See his name. MATILDA C., GEORGE B., PETER A., IDA JANE, JOHN D. and CHAS. A., live with their parents, two and a half miles northeast of Pleasant Plains.
JOHN H., born May 19, 1828, married Feb. 28, 1851, to Minerva E. Bumgardner. They have three children. ISABEL M. married Aaron Thompson. NANCY E. and WILLIAM J. live with their parents. John H. Campbell enlisted Sept. 18, 1862, for three years, in Co. F, 114th Ill. Inf. Served his full term and was honorably discharged in July, 1865, at Trenton, N.J. He lives east of Pleasant Plains.
JAMES E., born Oct. 8, 1830, married Oct. 4, 1865, to Cordelia Valentine, who was born Dec. 20, 1847, in Pickaway county, Ohio. They live near Pleasant Plains.
MATILDA D., born April 3, 1833, married Jan. 25, 1851, to Wm. F. Irwin. See his name.
WILLIAM V., born May 2, 1836, married Feb. 13, 1862, to Mary E. Valentine, who was born Dec. 14, 1843, in Pickaway county, O. They had four children. OLIVER H. died young. MAXWELL M., JASPER S. and CORA V. live with their parents, at the family homestead settled in 1823.
JASPER J., born May 22, 1839, enlisted Sept. 18, 1862, for three years, in Co. F, 114th Ill. Inf. He was captured at the battle of Guntown, Miss., June 10, 1864, remained in Andersonville prisonpen until near the close of the rebellion, and was marching under rebel authority to the Mississippi river for the purpose of being exchanged. On the second day's march, he being emaciated by starvation, fell out of the ranks, and was never heard of after.
Maxwell Campbell and his wife live on the farm where they settled in 1823. It is four miles northeast of Pleasant Plains.
Maxwell Campbell says he raised the three first crops after he came to Sangamon county, with an ox. He used the ox for riding and all other purposes, the same as a horse. In working he used harness instead of a yoke. He could carry a grist of corn on the ox to mill, hitch him in, do his own grinding, and then carry it home. He made a cart, each wheel of which was a solid piece of wood, and with the ox, did his first hauling. Mr. Campbell says that for the first five years after coming to the county he never had a cent of money. He first built a very small cabin, then prepared hewn logs for a much larger house. They were hauled together and lay two years because he had no money to buy whisky for the raising. He then bought a blind horse for five dollars in trade. It had a bell on it, which Mr. Campbell sold for two gallons of whisky, and was thus enabled to raise the house in which he has lived more than forty years. Soon after trading for the blind horse, he put a sack of corn and a boy on the ox, and rode
the horse to mill, hitched the horse and ox together, ground out the grist, and then started home. The ox threw the boy and sack off. The boy caught one foot in the traces, and the ox dragged him among the trees and stumps, and was likely to kill him. Mr. Campbell, seeing the perilous condition of the boy, ran ahead of the ox, caught it by the horns--and knowing him to be its master, rather than the physical strength he exerted--enabled him to hold it until help came and extricated the boy. At this point in the story, the old gentleman paused, looked wise, and with a comical expression of countenance, added in a trembling voice: "The neighbors always said they knowed that ox afterwards by the prints of my fingers in his horns."