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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Ira
A. Campbell One
of the most enterprising and public spirited men of Collins and vicinity is Ira
A. Campbell, who has long had the interests of Clear Creek Township, Jasper
County, at heart and who has labored in every way possible to promote the
general good of the same. He is now
getting well along in years, and his long record has given evidence of
enterprise, honorable dealing and usefulness and he is one of the highly
esteemed men of this locality, being one of our worthiest pioneers. Mr.
Campbell was born in Meigs County, Ohio, September 21, 1836, and there grew to
maturity and attended school in the old time log cabins. In the fall of 1855 he
left the Buckeye State and removed to Clear Creek Township, Jasper County, Iowa,
and has been a successful and active resident of the community ever since,
having witnessed its remarkable growth and taking a leading interest in the
same. He tells many interesting things relating to early life here,
vividly recalling the incidents and hardships of the early days here, but being
a man of courage he was not discouraged by any obstacle.
He has devoted his life principally to farming and still owns a good
place of one hundred and seventy acres in Clear Creek Township, this County.
Twenty years ago he left the farm, moved to Collins, where he built an
excellent home and here he still resides; however, he did not retire from active
life at that time and since coming here he has built many houses in this town. He recalls the fact that there were only a few homes in Clear
Creek Township, and they of rude logs, when he moved here.
In his early life he followed blacksmithing, which he finally gave up on
account of failing health and removed to a farm in Jasper County, having
formerly lived in Keokuk whither he returned in 1859 from Ohio where he had gone
for his bride. Robert
Campbell, father of the subject, was born in Vermont, later moving to Meigs
County, Ohio, where he remained until his death, lacking only a month and a half
of being ninety years of age. The
subject's mother, known in her maidenhood as Anna Packard, was born in New York
and her death occurred in Meigs County, Ohio.
Their family consisted of ten children, four sons and six daughters,
three of the sons still living, namely: William; Mrs. Esther Tiffany, deceased;
Sallie, deceased; Ira A., of this review; Elmira, deceased; Alba, who lives in
Ohio; Sybil, deceased; Mary Ann, deceased; Harriet, deceased. Ira
A. Campbell was married on April 9, 1859, to Emily Green, who was born in Meigs
County, Ohio, October 5, 1836, and her death occurred in Collins, Iowa,
September 28, 1899. She was the
daughter of William and Susan Green, both of whom died in Ohio, and in that
state she grew to womanhood and spent her girlhood days. To
Ira A. Campbell and wife nine children were born, six sons and three daughters,
four of whom are living; they were named as follows: Charlie, born at Keokuk,
Iowa, November 13, 1860, died in Story County, this State, in 1909; Alice, born
in Keokuk March 29, 1861, is living with his father in Collins; Ellsworth, born
in Clear Creek Township, this County, December 20, 1864, is also a resident of
Collins; Curt, born in Jasper County, December 27, 1868, also lives in Collins;
Horace, born March 28, 1867, is deceased; Frank, born March 15, 1871, lives in
Collins; Laura, born December 20, 1874, is deceased; Clarence, born July 25,
1878; Josephine, born February 10, 1881, died October 9, 1881. These children were reared in this County and educated
in the local schools. Politically, Mr. Campbell is a Democrat and has been more or less active in public affairs. He has been a member of the board of trustees and school director. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 1335. |
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