JOHN CAMPBELL.
DEATH OF IRONTON’S FOREMOST CITIZEN
SOME FACTS ABOUT HIS LIFE AND FUNERAL
IR September 3, 1891
John Campbell died last Sunday morning, August 30, at twenty minutes past seven. The immediate cause of his death was uremic poisoning.
He was taken sick the Sunday previous, and at one o’clock, Monday morning, being in some pain, he arose and went to Dr. Livesay’s, four square distant, for relief.
His son Albert insisted upon going for the physician, but Mr. John Campbell would not permit it and was gone while Albert was getting ready.
In an hour, he returned but found his case was of such a stubborn character that relief was not easily secured. Dr. Livesay, knowing the seriousness, was at his bedside early the next morning to push his methods of relief again, but without success.
The obstinate character of the case soon brought on uremic poison, so by Wednesday, a comatose condition followed, and all omens of recovery departed. John Campbell was unconscious from Friday but sank gradually until Sunday morning when he breathed his last with his wife and two sons by his side.
John Campbell was born near Georgetown, Brown Co. Oh., on January 14, 1808. He was a farmer boy and received the ordinary school education of those days. When a young man, he went to clerk in a store of Mr. Humphreys, father of W. S. Humphreys, now of Ironton. This was at Ripley in about 1828. Afterward, he started a store in connection with Mr. Humphreys at Russellville.
He is described then as a fine-looking young man, devoted to business and universally respected. Getting tired of the slow life of a storekeeper in a quiet village, he left Russellville, invested his savings, about $600, for a part interest in the steamer Banner, and took a position as a clerk on the boat.
During his second trip on the boat to Pittsburg, he sold out his interest. While returning on the steamer, he fell in with Robert Hamilton, the pioneer iron man of the Hanging Rock iron region, and asked him if there was an opening for a young man at the Rock and was told to stop off and see. He did this in 1832 and was given a position as a clerk at Pine Grove furnace.
The next year he became associated with Mr. Hamilton in the building of the Hanging Rock forge, long since dismantled. The same year, with Andrew Ellison, he built the Lawrence furnace for J. Riggs & Co. In 1834, in connection with Robert Hamilton, John Campbell built the Mt. Vernon furnace and moved there to manage it.
Here he remained for some years though his interests in the iron business kept spreading. It was through his suggestion that the first hot blast was erected in America – this was at the Vesuvius furnace. He was also the first to put the boilers and hot blasts over the furnace stack. This was in 1841.
In 1844, with John Peters, he built the Greenup furnace in Kentucky; in 1846, he built the Olive furnace. And in 1847, Gallia. In 1849, he, with others, built Keystone. In 1853, he built Howard and Washington. In 1854, he built Madison. The last furnace he built was Monroe in 1856. He purchased and owned an interest in other furnace properties, notably the Hecla furnace.
In about 1845, John Campbell moved from Mt. Vernon furnace to Hanging Rock, where he lived until 1851 when he moved to Ironton. But in the meantime, he had a great scheme on hand-the, founding a new town. For this purpose, he organized the famous Ohio Iron and Coal Co., composed of about twenty furnacemen and prominent men of the region. He purchased the land where the central part of Ironton now is. A town was laid out in 1849, and many lots were sold.
People flocked to the new town, attracted by its morals, as well as its industrial promises. Mr. Campbell was the moving spirit. His genius is shown in every direction. He provided for churches, schoolhouses, and manufactures-for every healthful influence and industrial advantage.
He was then in the prime of life, and he infused his energy with everybody. Every good work he encouraged with money and personal influence. His good nature and his clear insight into things made him the _____founder of a new town. He despised shame and delusions and built only on honest worth and merit.
In those early days, to give the town a start, he took stock in every good enterprise-in the old Iron bank, in the mills and foundries, the nail and plow factories. There was scarcely anything worthy but what received his substantial encouragement. He was interested in fourteen furnaces and a score of other enterprises during his life.
He was an original stockholder in the Ironton rolling mill and Olive foundry and machine shops, both of which were started in 1852. It was through his influence that the first telegraphic wire was extended here. He was the President of the great Union Iron Co., proprietor of Hecla, and for years President of the Iron Railroad Company.
In those early days, he was a most indefatigable worker for railroad communication with Ironton, taking an interest in every project. He was a leading promoter of the Scioto Valley, which first connected this town to the world by rail. Railroad men and financiers accounted him as a man of the truthful forecast.
He foresaw and predicted the great railroad enterprises that now reach this city at a time when all others were incredulous. No man saw manifest destiny clearer than John Campbell did.
Notwithstanding Mr. Campbell’s life abounded with great enterprises, he was approachable to all. He took an interest in every man who tried to do something for himself. He was the friend of the unfortunate—no wonder the colored people flocked to his funeral and tearfully viewed him for the last time.
He was their friend, and in the dark days of slavery, no fugitive ever came to this town searching for freedom, but Mr. Campbell took his hand, gave him money, and sent him on. His home was the asylum for the oppressed in those days.
He had a keen mind for the right and was simply immovable when he took his stand. At the same time, he was a man of the most equable temper, never getting impatient or mad. He was calm and gentle as a child in the most trying circumstances.
When Mr. Campbell was clerking in the store at Ripley, he became acquainted with Miss Elizabeth Caldwell Clarke, who was attending a seminary conducted by the late Rev. John Rankin. She had lived in Manchester but was at the time making her home with her uncle, Robert Hamilton, at Hanging Rock.
There she lived except when at school, and John Campbell’s employment at Pinegrove allowed the ripening of the friendship begun at Ripley; so that on the 16th day of March 1837, they were married at Pine grove furnace by the Rev. Dan Young. They forthwith took up their residence at Mt. Vernon furnace, where they lived for several years.
During this time, Mr. Campbell made money in the iron business and constantly extended his industrial operations. From Mt. Vernon, he moved to Hanging Rock, where he occupied the former residence of Robert Hamilton, now the home of Mrs. Hempstead, until his removal to Ironton.
There were seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, viz: Mary J., Martha, Emma, Clara, Albert, and Charles, all of whom were present at the funeral except Mary and Emma, who have gone before, and a child that died in infancy, many years ago.
Mr. John Campbell had been a very rich man in his lifetime. In 1872, an inventory of his property figured up over a million dollars. But he kept on, and reverses overtook him. Several unfortunate investments made inroads into his wealth until 1883, when the Union Iron Co. failed, and this compelled him to make an assignment.
Old age and fierce competition in the iron business prevented his recovery from financial disaster, but he went down as a brave and honest man. His financial distress never affected the sincere esteem in which he was held or abated a lot of the great influence he had in the community….
0 Comments