ALEXANDER CAMPBELL

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, a native of Guernsey County, Ohio, was born April 28, 1849, and is the son of John and Sarah (Luper) Campbell, natives of Ohio. When there was a call for men to defend this nation's flag, John Campbell enlisted in Company I, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1861. He died in 1863, just after the siege of Vicksburg. He had risen from a private to the rank of Captain, and three days after his death there came a commission from the President promoting him to the rank of Colonel. Alexander passed his youth in farm work and in attending school. When he was sixteen years old his mother came to Iowa, and settled in Iowa County, where the family resided two years. They then removed to Jasper County and lived there until 1880. In February of that year Mr. Campbell purchased eighty acres of land in Jefferson Township, Shelby County, and has since here made his home. He has placed the land, which was then unimproved, under fine cultivation, and has made many valuable improvements in the way of erecting buildings and planting groves. He has added to his first pnrchase until he now owns 200 acres of land. He devotes himself to farming and stock-raising, and is making an effort to produce a superior grade of hogs and cattle. He is gradually reaching the summit of his ambition in this direction. Mr.Campbell had no capital to begin with excepting his pluck and energy, and these have proved superior in worth to dollars and cents. He was the second child in a family of seven, and when his father died the burden of the family fell upon him and an older brother, and well did they fill the place of protector and care-taker. They educated their brothers and sisters and kept the family together, and much credit is due them for their efforts.

Mr. Campbell affiliates with the Republican party, and represents his township officially as justice of the peace, and is now serving his second term. He is a member of the Farmers' Alliance. He was married July 2, 1877, to Miss Emma Rorabaugh, daughter of Israel and Phoebe (McQuillon) Rorabaugh, natives of Pennsylvania. She was born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, August 30, 1859. They are the parents of five children Myrtle, John, Jesse E., Frankie and Elizabeth G. They were brought up in the faith of the U. P. and U. B. Churches.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa, pg. 328-329. Transcribed and submitted by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs.

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