Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Campbell, Alexander

Born: 1814-10-04 Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Alexander Campbell was a clerk, businessman, state representative, and U.S. representative. Born on a farm outside of Concord, Pennsylvania, Campbell received his education at local public schools before finding employment as a clerk in an iron works. He subsequently received promotion to superintendent, and he managed iron works in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Missouri until 1850, when he moved to La Salle, Illinois, where he became interested in coal fields. In 1852, Campbell won election as the first mayor of the newly incorporated city of La Salle. In 1859, he represented La Salle County in the Illinois House of Representatives. In 1860, Campbell was employed as a land agent and owned real property valued at $178,000 and a personal estate of $1,500. In November 1861, La Salle County voters selected Campbell to represent the county at the state constitutional convention in 1862. After the Civil War, Campbell won election, as an independent, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from March 1875 to March 1877. Failing to secure reelection in 1876, he retired from political life.

History of La Salle County, Illinois (Chicago: Inter-State, 1886), 1:281, 285; The Past and Present of La Salle County, Illinois (Chicago: H. F. Kett, 1877), 304; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 222; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 771-72; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), La Salle, La Salle County, IL, 510; Gravestone, Oakwood Cemetery, La Salle, IL.