Campbell, John

Born: 1790-11-04 Carter County, Tennessee

Died: 1875-01-29 Sangamon County, Illinois

Flourished: Sangamon County, Illinois

Son of a Revolutionary War veteran, John Campbell grew up in Carter County, Tennessee. He served in a company from Carter County during the War of 1812. Campbell remained in Tennessee until 1818, when he moved to Madison County, Illinois. On November 6, 1818, he married Lavina Parkinson, with whom he had seven children. On March 22, 1819, Campbell and his family moved to a farm on Lick Creek, becoming the first settler of what would become Chatham, Sangamon County. Campbell made his living as a farmer, and he also operated a grist mill on his property. In 1850, Campbell owned real estate valued at $6000. In 1853, Lavina died, and Campbell remarried to her sister, Margery Carson.

Gravestone, Campbell Cemetery, Sangamon County, IL; John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 171-72; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Sangamon County, IL, 158.