Campbell Family of Noble Co, Indiana
The Campbell Family of Noble County, Indiana
My brother found the following newspaper article among the things of our grandmother Mary Dell Hayes. It mentions her mother and father, Henrietta Dell(a) Campbell [Hayes] and Claude L Hayes. It appears to be from one of the Kosciusko County newspapers. The Kosciusko GenWeb site says that there were two obits for Alvah Campbell on published on Jan. 25, 1928 and the other Feb. 1, 1928. The following must be the Feb. 1 obituary:
“A. S. CAMPBELL
WAS BURIED ON
JAN. 25, 1928
“He Passed Away at the Country
Home East of Pierceton
on January 22nd.
“All that tread the globe are but a handful to the tribes that slumber in its bosom.
“ALVAH S. CAMPBELL
son of Henry and Lorinda Campbell, entered this life in Noble County, Ind., Nov. 20 1847. In the same county he was married to Mary H. Yohn, April 17, 1873. To them were given three children, Mrs. Henrietta Della Hayes of Southern Pines, North Carolina; Otha J. Campbell, of Spencer, Iowa, and Benjamin F. Campbell, of Boyne City Michigan. The precious wife and mother died April 6, 1888, and was buried in Pierceton-Hillcrest Cemetery.
“On April 4, 1900, he was married to Mrs. Mary C. Parrett at Pierceton, Ind., in the home where they lived until Mr. Campbell's decease, at 5 p.m., January 22d, 1928. His earthly pilgrimage was 80 years, 2 months and 2 days.
“Many years ago he joined the Etna Free Will Baptist Church. He was deep in thought and in religious meditation but not given to much speaking about his religious life. For the past ten years his health had been impaired with gradually increasing feebleness until the end came at last. In the last sickness he was lucid only at intervals.
“Besides the faithful wife and children he is survived by seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren and a host of loving neighbors and friends.”
[Note: The A. Campbell/M. Yohn marriage record actually shows up in Kosciusko County]
On a large pencil-written family tree that I got from my grandmother, Alvah's father is listed as John Campbell and below his name appears something like “------- Kinnson.” This second line is very difficult to make out, but presumably it is meant to be Alvah’s mother’s last name from her later marriage to Samuel Kenaston. The Hayes/Campbell tree is at odds with Alvah Campbell's obituary which gives Alvah’s father as Henry rather than John. Perhaps there was confusion about Henry Campbell’s first name because Lorenda’s first husband was named John English. Alvah’s obituary gives his mother’s name as ‘Lorinda,’ but the written record better supports the spelling ‘Lorenda.’
Alvah Campbell's family is listed in the 1850 Noble County Census, but there is no adult male in the household; Lorinda Campbell is listed as the head of household. Perhaps Henry was already dead by 1850, although he had a 7 month-old baby at that time. Henry is not mentioned in the 1840 Noble or Kosciusko County censuses. There is an entry in the Noble County census for 1840: “Campbell, James 858,” but I do not have a full transcript. As we shall see, however, it seems likely that this James Campbell is Henry’s father. Presumably Henry was still living at his father’s home in 1840, although Lorenda would have been 26 in 1840 and Henry was probably at least that old.
The Mystery of Lorenda ______ English Campbell Kenaston
Lorenda ______ was born in Vermont according to the 1850 Noble County census. At that time she lived with three Campbell children (Jamima B. 5, Alva 3, and Josephine 7 months). No further reference to Josephine Campbell has been found and the large pencil-written Hayes/Campbell tree seems to note that Alvah had one sister. So Josephine probably died young. Henry Campbell probably died or left Lorenda about 1849 because she was living with a 7 month-old baby in 1850, but no male head of household. She was also living with six children with the last name English as well at that time (Don Carlos 16, William 15, John J. 14, Louisa 12, Samuel 9, and Phebe 7), so I take it that she was married to a Mr. English from 1834 to 1843 or so. The first 5 English children were born in New York and she was probably married to Mr. English there. Samuel was born in 1841 in New York and Phebe was born in 1843 in Indiana, so it would appear that they moved to Indiana in about 1842. However, there is a deed to John J English from George Gooding date August 27, 1838 for East ½ NE ¼ section 4, Township 32, Range 8, so perhaps John J English visited Indiana in 1838 but the whole family moved there in 1842. I also find in History of Whitley and Noble Counties, Indiana by Weston Goodspeed (Chicago: F. A. Battey & Co. 1882): ". . . John J. English, Almond Palmer, Hiram Lampkins and Harlow Barber came in [to Troy Township, Whitley County] during the year 1838-9.” Since Phebe was born to Mr. English in 1842 or 1843 and Jamima was born to Henry Campbell in 1845, Mr. English apparently died around 1843 and Lorenda, I suppose, married Henry Campbell that same year or the next.
In researching the cemeteries of Whitley County, I came across the following five graves (all in a row) in the Scott-Keister tombstone references:
Campbell James S - died March 13 1850 aged 72 years 9 months 10 days
Campbell William A - died October 19 1856 - son of MD & H
Campbell Harriett - died April 26 1858 aged 20 years 2 months 4 days - wife of MD
English John J - died January 2 1842 aged 35 years 10 months 22 days
English John J - died July 28 1864 aged 27 years 3 months 16 days - wounds received at the Battle of Stone River 5th Ind.
The younger John J English is Lorenda's son listed in the 1850 Noble County census. The elder John J English is most likely his father and therefore Lorenda’s first husband. Harriet Campbell was the mother of William A, who must have died in infancy based on the dates listed above. James S Campbell was likely Harriet’s father-in-law and baby William’s grandfather. “MD” must be Mercasling D Campbell who is listed in the 1850 Whitley County Census as being 30 years old and living as a farm hand with the Orcutt family. His place of birth is given as Ohio. There is also a Mercasling Campbell mentioned as a member of Etna Baptist Church in Etna Baptist Church Records. The following marriage record is found in Whitley County: CAMPBELL, Mecastling D to Harriet MYERS on August 14, 1853 - Book 1:142. I suppose that Mercasling Campbell was a brother of our Henry Campbell and that the James S Campbell buried there is Henry’s grandfather. In Weston Goodspeed’s book I found the following as part of a biography of William H Palmer: “He is a Republican and a Master Mason. January 14, 1850, he was married to Elizabeth R. Campbell, and they are parents of one son and four daughters. Mr. Palmer is one of the most enterprising men of his township. His parents, when they came here, moved into a log house, 16x18, furnished with homemade furniture. Mrs. Palmer's parents, James S. and Jane Campbell, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Tennessee, entered land and settled in this township in 1836, and there passed the remainder of their lives." There is a death record in Whitley County: Palmer, Elizabeth ~ 14 Apr 1916 (P-2:239 ~ 2-B:19), but it seems a bit too late to be the same Elizabeth Palmer. Still, perhaps there is an obituary for her.
Thinking that area land records could be used to corroborate the theory that James S Campbell is the grandfather of Alva Campbell, I searched the Whitley County Deed Book indexes. It seems that James S Campbell received two land patents in 1838 and 1839 in Etna Township in Whitley County – the SE ¼ of SW ¼ as well as the SW ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 25, Township 33, Range 8. In Deed Book 20 (page 439) we find that James S Campbell conveyed the SE ¼ to Benjamin Blair on April 20, 1844. In Deed Book T (page 94) we find that part of the SW ¼ was conveyed from Jemima B Campbell (sister of Alvah, daughter of Henry and presumable granddaughter of James S) to Spayde and Miller in 1867 (after the death of Henry Campbell in 1850 or so). A companion deed in Book S (page 176) conveys another interest in the same property to the same partners from S J Campbell and husband. And this S J Campbell is almost certainly Sarah Jane Campbell to whom is conveyed another part of that same section 24, Township 33, Range 8 from Samuel D Kenaston and wife (the wife being Lorenda ____ English Campbell Kenaston). I take it that Sarah Jane Campbell is a cousin of Alvah Campbell (ie a granddaughter of James S Campbell, but not by Henry) or possibly that she was Henry’s sister.
I also took note that Mercasling D Campbell carried on numerous real estate transactions in the 1850’s in Township 32, Range 8 including particularly Section 5 among others. Later there were two deeds from Martha E Coyle and Rebecca E Campbell for property in Section 5, Township 32, Range 8 in 1890 and 1891. I surmise that Rebecca Campbell may have been Mercasling’s daughter in law, based on the following marriage record from Whitley County: CAMPBELL, John C to Rebecca E SMITH on October 16, 1872 - Book 2:230. Martha Coyle must have been Rebecca Smith [Campbell]’s sister, based on this marriage record: COYLE, James K P to Martha E SMITH on August 17, 1882 - Book 3:482. John C Campbell lived right next door to an Elmer Coyle as listed in the 1920 Whitley Census. It is hard to think why two women would be the grantors on deeds at that time, unless they were selling property that they had inherited.
Rebecca Smith was three years old in the 1850 census of Whitley County:
37 243 251 Smith John 27 M 400 Ohio
38 243 251 Smith Cyntha 22 F Kentucky
39 243 251 Smith Rebecca E. 3 F Indiana
40 243 251 Smith George L. 1 M Indiana
She lived just two doors down from Archibald and Rosann Martin who housed a child:
30 241 249 Campbell Joseph 13 M Ohio in school
and four doors further away we find:
3 237 245 Campbell Benjamin 9 M Indiana in school
living with William and Elizabeth Palmer. This was Elizabeth Campbell [Palmer] who was a daughter of James S Campbell. Surely the above Joseph and Benjamin Campbell are grandsons of James S Campbell, though not by his son Henry. They were not the sons of Mercasling Campbell and Harriett Myers, however since Harriett was just 12 years old in 1850. In any case, it seems that Rebecca Smith [Campbell] lived quite close to a couple of James S Campbell’s descendants and that John C Campbell must also be one of his descendants. John C Campbell appears to have been born in 1848 based on the 1920 census entry for him. He was the only Campbell in the 1920 Whitley Census. An obituary for the abovenamed Cynthia Smith states: ”The eldest daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Campbell died at her home in Cass county, Ind., Feb. 17, 1898.”
Note that Henry Campbell died before the 1850 census in September, but not before fathering Josephine Campbell in June or so of 1849; therefore, Henry may have died right about the same time that James S Campbell died in March of 1850. Consequently, none of James S Campbell’s property was ever inherited by his son Henry and therefore there are no deeds (grantor or grantee) with Henry’s name on them in Whitley County, or so it appears.
There is also one more deed from the Campbells related to section 25, Township 33, Range 8. This deed is from S J Campbell ‘and husband’ Macaslin D. Campbell to Nancy J Archer. Two interesting questions arise from this deed:
1) Why is S[arah] J[ane] Campbell listed first? It seems like the husband would have been listed first at that time. The usual explanation for this would be that the wife is listed as the primary grantor/grantee when the property was inherited from her father, but this cannot be the case since the property in question went from David Macy to Samuel D and Lorenda Kenaston to S J Campbell and Mercasling D Campbell. M. D. Campbell married Sarah J Campbell in Kosciusko County on Oct. 20, 1860. It is intriguing that her maiden name was also Campbell.
2) Who is Nancy J. Archer? Ordinarily I would give little thought to the question of who the other party to such a deed is, but it is intriguing that this buyer was not only female but also was not listed as Nancy J Archer and husband. Nancy J. Archer must have been a widow. There is a Nancy J Archer Hand who married Oliver C. Archer in Kosciusko County in 1866.
Because the area around Etna/Troy Township was once in Noble County, it would also be interesting to search Noble County Deed Book indexes.
It is also notable that the graveyard with the English and Campbell graves is near Etna in extreme northwestern most Whitley County. Alvah Campbell’s obituary mentions that he is a member of the Etna Free Will Baptist Church. And Samuel Kenaston (who later married Alvah’s mother Lorenda) was a Free Will Baptist minister who lived in Etna Township, Whitley County in the 1850 Census. I suppose that Lorenda, the English family, the Campbell family and the Kenaston family were all members of the Etna Free Will Baptist Church. The book Etna Baptist Church Records includes the names Alvah Campbell, Mercasling Campbell, and a few other Campbells, but there is no mention of Lorenda, the English family, or the Kenaston family. There are apparently two Bulletin of the Whitley County Historical Society articles about Etna Baptist Church published in December 1981 and March 2000.
By the 1860 Noble County census, Lorenda was listed as Lorenda Kenaston (transcribed as Kenastore in some databases). She was living with her third husband Samuel Kenaston and four of her English and Campbell children (all of whom are designated with the last name English in the 1860 census – Louisa, Phebe, Jemima and Alva). Samuel Kenaston’s children are presumably all from a prior marriage because their ages range from 8-18 and would all have been born by 1850 when Lorenda was still Lorenda Campbell, except for the youngest child Lucia Kenaston who was born in 1852, but she is not named as an intestate heir (either living or deceased) in Lorenda Kenaston’s probate file in Osage County, Kansas. Samuel Kenaston must have married Lorenda about 1853-9 (between Lucia’s birth in 1852 and the 1860 census). By 1860 Lorenda’s older sons were 24-26 years old and must have established their own households.
The Whitley County Marriage Book (2A:55) records that Louisa English married John Daniels on May 30, 1861. John and Louisa Daniels turn up in 1880 in the St Joseph County, Michigan census with a daughter Jennie (b 1865). Both John and Louisa are buried in the Ridgeway cemetery in Osage County, Kansas. A single stone marks the following three graves:
Daniels, John, b. Mar 9, 1824, d. Jun 29, 1891
Daniels, Louisa, b. 1837, d. 1918
Kenaston, Lorenda, b. Aug 20, 1813, d. Dec 13, 1890
Jemima Campbell married Joseph V Reed in Noble County on March 5, 1868. Jemima and her husband (like her half-sister, Louisa English) are buried in Osage County. The Overbrook Cemetery records include this entry: Jemima B Read, b. 1845, d. 1894.
Lorenda’s Third Husband, Samuel Kenaston
Samuel Kenaston was a Free Will Baptist Minister and must have moved several times, perhaps being assigned to different churches. His children were born in Vermont (Marion A. 1842), New York (Orpheus C. 1844), Ohio (Albion M. 1847) and Indiana (Emma or Eunice 1849). Orpheus joined Company B of the Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, Grand Army of the Republic according to Counties of LaGrange and Noble, Indiana - Historical and Biographical (Chicago: Battey, 1882). I have found nothing else on the children of Samuel Kenaston. It is notable that the spelling of the name Kenaston is highly variable – including Kenniston, Keniston, Kinniston, Kiniston and supposedly even Kennerson and Kynaston etc. etc.
The Descendants of Alvah Campbell
Besides my great grandmother Henrietta Dell Campbell, Alvah Campbell had two other children Otha J Campbell and Benjamin F Campbell. I have found no records on either of them except as they are mentioned in the obituary quoted above. I do take note, though of the intriguing comment in his obituary that Alvah has seven grandchildren. Three of these grandchildren would be Henrietta Dell Campbell and Claude L Hayes’s children. But the other four must be the children of Otha and/or Benjamin.
Finally, I take note of the fact that Alvah’s obituary is followed by a brief note of thanks for flowers and condolences “at the death of our husband and father. Mrs. A. S. Campbell, Mrs. C. L. Hayes, J. C. Campbell, B. F. Campbell.” Now this list would include Mary Parrett [Campbell], Henrietta Dell Campbell [Hayes], and Benjamin F. Campbell, but who is J. C. Campbell? J. C. Campbell cannot be a son or daughter because s/he is not listed in the obituary as one of Alvah’s children. And yet the note of thanks says “our husband and father.” I found a record of Benjamin Campbell marrying Jessie Smith in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana on June 28, 1900. Presumably J C Campbell is Benjamin’s wife Jessie. Benjamin is mentioned in the obit as being from Boyne City Michigan. Otha is mentioned as being from Spencer, Iowa. He married Pearl M. Dudley in Kosciusko County on May 1, 1913.
Because Lorenda’s life is so complex and perhaps even mysterious, I present the following chronology:
1814 born Vermont
1833? Married John J English New York?
1834 child: Don Carlos English New York
1835 child: William English New York
1837 child: John J English New York
1838 child: Louisa English New York
1841 child: Samuel English New York
1842 child: Phebe English Indiana
1843? husband died
1843 married Henry Campbell
1845 child: Jamima Campbell Indiana
1846 child: Alvah Campbell Indiana
1850 child: Josephine Campbell Indiana
1850? husband died
1850 census Noble County, Indiana
1855? married Samuel D Kenaston
1860 census Noble County, Indiana
1870 Where was she in the 1870 census?
1880 census LaGrange County, Indiana
1887 moved in with Jamima Overbrook, Osage County, Kansas
1890 died Overbrook, Osage County, Kansas