Biography - Hon. Alfred C. Campbell
HON. ALFRED C. CAMPBELL, a distinguished veteran officer of two wars,
was formerly one of the leading farmers of this county, and, as the
proprietor of a large and finely improved farm, is still identified with its
agricultural affairs although practically living in retirement in his
pleasant home at Moweaqua. He is a son of one of the early pioneer families
of Central Illinois, is noted in its history as the third child born of
white parents in Sangamon County and is thought to be the oldest white man
living who is a native of that county.
Our subject was born July 22, 1819, and comes of good Revolutionary stock
and Scotch ancestry. The first of the Campbell family to come to this
country from his native heaths in Scotland was the great-grandfather of
subject, who came here in Colonial times and settled in South Carolina. His
son Jeremiah was the next in line. He was born in Scotland and emigrated to
South Carolina, and went from there to Tennessee in the early years of its
settlement, before it became a State and when the Cherokee Indians held full
sway there. He I located at Hampton, Carter County and spent the remainder
of his life there. He did valiant service in the Revolutionary War as a
soldier under the gallant Gen. Francis Marion. His wife was a Miss Marr.
The father of subject, John Campbell, was born Nov. 24, 1790, in Carter
County, Tenn. He was of a thoughtful and studious turn of mind, and made the
best of his opportunities to obtain an education. In 1817 he came to
Illinois, which was then a territory, and first located in Madison County.
He was there married to Levina Parkinson, and in 1819 he started with a team
for the unsettled wilderness of Sangamon County. He was one of the first to
locate there, and though the land was not then in market he made a claim on
Lick Creek, and after building a log cabin for the shelter of his family, he
entered actively upon pioneer work that lay before him, of evolving a farm
from the wild country in which he had settled. He was of an energetic
disposition, very capable, and by hard and unremitting labor acquired and
improved a large tract of land, and became one of the most substantial men
of his township. A man of his calibre was naturally called to positions of
trust in the administration of public affairs, and among other offices he
held that of Justice of the Peace many years. Possessed of considerable
learning himself, he had a just value of a good education, and did all he
could to advance the educational interests of his township by building a
hewed log house on his own land for school purposes, the school being taught
on the subscription plan. Politically he was a stanch Democrat. He died in
1874, thus closing a long and well-spent life, and leaving behind him the
legacy of an untarnished name that is held in reverence by all who knew him.
When Mr. Campbell became a pioneer of Sangamon County, there were but few
white settlers in Illinois, the Indians still retaining their old hunting
grounds to a great extent. Kaskaskia was the capital of the State.
Springfield had not been founded, and St. Louis, which was but a village at
that time was the nearest market for the settlers to sell their products and
obtain supplies. The people were home-livers, having to subsist on what they
could raise and on the game such as deer, wild turkeys, etc., which were
abundant. The wives and daughters of the pioneers had to card, spin and
weave the wool and flax raised by the men, to make cloth for wearing
material and other purposes. The father of subject lived to see a great
change wrought, not only in the face of the country, but in the mode of
living and the customs of the people.
The maternal grandfather of subject was William Parkinson a native of
Tennessee. His father, Peter Parkinson, was born in England, came to America
in Colonial times, and spent his last years in Carter County, Tenn. William
Parkinson was reared in Tennessee, and came from there to this State in
territorial days. He was a pioneer of Madison County, whence he went after a
few years to Lafayette County, Wis., of which he was one of the first
settlers, and there he died in the course of time. His wife was a Miss
Russell. The mother of subject was a worthy type of the pioneer women of
Illinois who did so much to help their fathers, husbands and sons in
reclaiming this State from the wilderness. She carefully reared a family of
six children to the habits of industry and right living, of whom our subject
is the eldest. The names of the others are William, Jeremiah, Joseph W.,
Peter C., and Caroline.
Born in the early years of the settlement of this State, our subject grew up
amid pioneer surroundings, and was educated in the primitive schools of the
olden times, which were taught in log houses that were furnished with rude
slab benches, and greased paper pasted over the opening made by the removal
of a log from the side of the building served instead of glass to light the
interior. He was studious, and under such able masters as Daniel McCaskill,
John Calhoun, who afterwards became famous in the Kansas border troubles,
and Rowan Morris, he obtained a good practical education, including a good
knowledge of mathematics and surveying. Thus well-equipped mentally, he
utilized his education by teaching several terms after he attained manhood.
He selected farming as his principal life-work, however, and was engaged at
that in Sangamon County until he came to this county in 1851, when he chose
a desirable location on section 4, township 13 (now Flat Branch Township),
range 2. He developed a fine farm of four hundred and ten acres and also
gave his attention to the mercantile business, opening a store on his
homestead, which he conducted there until the village of Moweaqua was
founded in 1856. He then removed his business thither, and carried it on
here until 1859. Returning then to his farm, he made it his place of
residence the ensuing five years, though much of that time was spent in
fighting for his country on Southern battlefields. Since the war he has
lived practically retired at Moweaqua, though superintending his farming
interests, as he still retains four hundred acres of fine farm land in
Moweaqua and Flat Branch Townships.
As before mentioned, Capt. Campbell has displayed his loyalty to the
Government and his patriotism by service in two wars. After war was declared
with Mexico he enlisted June 10, 1846, in Company D, Fourth Illinois
Infantry, commanded by Col. E. D. Baker. He was elected Lieutenant of his
regiment, and went with it from Alton to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis,
whence, after a few weeks' drilling in army tactics, it was dispatched to
Mexico by way of New Orleans. Ascending the Rio Grande River to Camargo,
from that point the regiment marched back to Metamoras, and from there to
Victoria, where on, subject and his command were placed under Gen. Scott,
and bore active part in the bombardment of Vera Cruz and the battle of Cerro
Gordo. At Tampico, the captain dying, our subject was left in command of the
company, and acted in that capacity until the expiration of the term of
enlistment, and returning then to Illinois, arrived about a year from the
time of leaving the State.
Capt. Campbell's experience in the war with Mexico made his services
valuable in the great Civil War that followed in the United States several
years later, when he volunteered in October, 1861, and went to the front as
Captain of Company E, Thirty-second Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col.
John A. Logan. For three years he was with the Army of the Tennessee, and
during the latter part of the war his regiment was a part of the Seventeenth
corps. The Captain saw much hard campaigning aud fighting in Missouri,
Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and South
Carolina. He faced the enemy in the battles of Ft. Donelson and Shiloh, was
active in the sieges of Corinth and Coldwater, and fought in the engagement
around Vicksburg, Jackson and Kenesaw Mountain, and was with Sherman on his
famous "March from Atlanta to the Sea," taking part in the various battles
and skirmishes on the way. He was mustered out of the service in February,
1865, a war worn veteran, whose record as a soldier was bright and reflected
credit on the military of his native State.
Capt. Campbell cast his first Presidential vote for Martin Van Buren in
1840, and for more than half a century has been a Democrat of the deepest
dye. His party honored him by electing him to the legislature in 1880 to
represent the Thirty-third Senatorial District, including the counties of
Shelby, Effingham and Cumberland. A flattering majority of his
fellow-citizens' votes sent him to the General Assembly, and he fulfilled
his duties while there with characteristic fidelity and public spirit. He
was at one time Justice of the Peace, being an incumbent of that office two
terms. In his social relations he is connected with the Masonic fraternity,
and is now the oldest charter member of Moweaqua Lodge, No. 180.
May 3, 1838, Capt. Campbell was married to Polly, daughter of Peyton Foster,
and a native of Kentucky. Their happy wedded life of nearly twenty years'
duration was brought to an end by the death of the faithful wife January 9,
1858. She was the mother of these six children: John P., a resident of
Spokane Falls, Wash.; Elizira E., wife of James W. Clark, of Moweaqua; Sarah
C., wife of Edward Segar, of Decatur; Leonard W., a resident of Dallas,
Tex.; Alfred C., now deceased, who married aud left five children; and
George W., deceased. Our subject was again married June 17, 1859 to his
present estimable wife, formerly Miss Jennie Hurt, a native of Montgomery
County, Ohio, and in her he has a true companion and devoted helpmate.
Extracted 17 Aug 2020 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 692-694.
