Campbell & McCabe

John McCabe was born 13 May 1727, in Worchester Co., Maryland. His father, John McCabe came over from Ireland in the early 1700's with three of his brothers. Each of the four settled in a different place in the colonies. John took up his abode on the border of Delaware. Little is known of this John McCabe as yet.

John McCabe, his son took up his abode in the same vicinity. He married his wife, Mary, on the 15th of March 1752, and between that year and 1767, they were blessed with four sons: Arthur, John, Obediah and Matthew, and one daughter, Hearche.

John was one of the early revolutionaries. He Joined the Delaware regiment of the Continental Army early in 1776, where he as a Private received excellent training under Captain Enoch Anderson. The very first act the Delaware regiment did was to march on the Courthouse in New Castle and burn all papers, etc., which had an Insignia of British Royalty. This was done to celebrate Independence on July 4, 1776. From that moment on the fun stopped.

The Delaware regiment was ordered to move to New York to aid Washington and the Continental Army in defending New York. They engaged the enemy the first time, August 27, 1776, at the Battle of Long Island, where because of their fine training and discipline they made a good accounting in the loosing struggle. At one time after being ordered to retreat the Delaware regiment found themselves cut off and completely surrounded by the enemy but bravely they stood together and cut their way through the enemy to Join their allies. General Washington specifically sighted the Delaware regiment for bravery and when the Continentals withdrew from New York he gave this regiment the special honor of being the last regiment to withdraw. December was a particularly bad month for the Americans. Forced to retreat across New Jersey to Busseck, many found themselves without shoes in the cold snow and some without shirts. On December 5, the British pressed so hard on the Americans that they were forced to leave their tents which were burned by the British. There were few blankets among the Americans and while camping in the woods there was a great deal of suffering.

December 7, Washington and his men spent the night in Trenton. The British Army forced them to flee December 8, across the Delaware. However, the British were forced to stop at the river and not pursue more, because Washington had taken all of the boats. The British camped a large force in Trenton. Washington and his men on the other aide of the river found themselves with no tents, few blankets and poorly dressed, in the dead of the winter. They had no food but managed to shoot several local deer, etc., and cooked the meat using their ramrods for roasting sticks. Without bread or other food and in an extreme state of hunger the men found the meat sweet to their taste. For the next Two weeks the troops spent each night without tents and blankets each night sleeping with their bare feet next to the fire. Many went home, some died from exposure. However, under the inspiration of Washington the men rallied to cross the Delaware on December 26, and capture Trenton easily. The Delaware regiment had dwindled significantly. There were three Officers, one Doctor, and two Privates. John McCabe was one of the two privates, who made that famous river crossing.

John was assigned and stayed with General Washington through thick and thin until October 1777, when he was reassigned to the newly formed Delaware First Regiment under Captain John Patton. Some of the famous battles they engaged in shortly thereafter, included the battle at German Town where a large percentage of the Delaware First were wounded. John was spared this hardship only to find himself at Valley Forge again with General Washington and the Continental Army. Intense suffering in an extremely bad winter and scanty provisions encouraged many sunshine patriots to return home. However, not John. The records show each month he picked up his pay of $6.60 with no subsistence through the whole winter. The above figure was the monthly wage for a private during the first of the war which shows the men were not in the ordeal for monetary reasons.

John continued fighting in the rest of the following months winning some battles, losing some. A great day came when January 1780, rolled around. The men were given a raise. Now, John received $13.30 a month, with $20.00 a month subsistence. However, at Chriatiana Bridge he was wounded severely in the ankle and only enjoyed the wage through April when he was sent home to recover. John never completely recovered from the injury until the war was over.

I, Josiah Campbell, was born February 18th, 1810, in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex County, State of Delaware.

I was the youngest of nine children born to my parents, William and Mary Campbell. There were five sons and four daughters. Naming them in the order of their birth we have: Elizabeth, Ebe, William, Kesiah, Mary, Samuel, John, Lovey and myself. I was not born in luxury. My father owned a small farm about one hundred acres of very poor sandy land. We barely made a living off of it and would not have done this but for the help of quite a number of hives of bees. The honey and wax of the bees brought him in more money than the sales of the products of the farm.

The manner of our living at my father's house in the first quarter of this century would not suit, I am sure, the people of Ohio in this the last quarter. We then knew no better and therefore were content with our lot and were not striving to gain a fortune so much as to merely make a comfortable living.

The advantages for gaining an education were very meager during my youth. We only had schooling during two months of the year and then it was not accompanied with any method. Each scholar studied and recited in any book that he or she might possess, whether that be a history or the writings of one of the authors of the day. About the only book I had to study when I went to school was a Bible.

When not in school my time was employed in various ways. One of the chief means of a livelihood with the people in our neighborhood was the getting out of timber in the cedar swamps. Perhaps some of my posterity, who read these lines, may wonder what this getting out of timber in the cedar, or cypress, swamps as it is sometimes called, means. I will tell you. There are great sections of the state of Delaware which are swamps. Here for centuries great cedar trees have grown Up and fallen down and others in time have grown over the fallen timber. And the fallen timber is completely covered by decaying vegetation. By removing this soil large timber can be found buried. This timber is in a state of perfect preservation and since it is of such good quality it pays a good profit to raise it above ground and work it up. Many people find employment in unearthing this and getting it ready for market. Our family worked in the swamp a great deal. The older ones would do the hard work and we boys would carry the clap boards to the dry land or corduroy roads. You ask why we did not drive to where they were gotten out? This would have been impossible for the ground would not bear up any kind of a beast of burdens, it was so mirey .

In the spring, of 1826 my brother William moved west, intending to locate in Illinois. When he passed through Eaton, he stopped to visit an old acquaintance and finally concluded to remain in Preble County. Letters received at home from him relative to the vast country he had traveled over, the richness of the soil, etc., stimulated me to such a pitch I could no longer remain contented until I had seen the west. My brother-in-law, Warren McCabe and family, were finally persuaded to emigrate to Ohio. This was, I thought, my golden opportunity to see the west. So I packed my carpet bag and left my father's house with them on April 7th, 1827. L. T. McCabe also made one of our company on this trip. I can not describe the many little incidents of our journey. And could I do it, they would often seem so ridiculous, that alone who may hereafter read these lines would not believe them. To one who had never been twenty miles from home every thing was new and interesting. Our traveling was in a two-horse covered wagon, the women and children riding and the men walking, and was therefore necessarily slow. We came by the old National road. At Wheeling, Virginia, Bro. Warren and family and myself embarked on boat and made the trip down the river to Cincinnati. L. T. McCabe drove the wagon through to Eaton. From Cincinnati to Eaton the family came by hack and brother and I footed it. We arrived at Bro. William's, May 2nd, about two weeks before L. T. McCabe did with the wagon, being twenty-five days on the road.

After remaining with Bro. William and other acquaintances awhile, a party of us consisting of Bro. William, L. T. McCabe, Nathan and John Sellers, Thomas Flemming, and myself, concluded we would like to see more of the western country. We left Eaton in August and walked westward through Indiana. The country was new and wild then, not thickly settled as at the present, the houses consisted of log cabins, and where many of the large towns and cities are now were then collections of but a few cabins. Although the country was wild and the mansions consisted of cabins, still the dwellers therein had huge hearts. We had a very pleasant trip. To one who had never seen prairies, they were quite a sight and made a lasting impression on my memory. They were entirely different from any country I had ever seen. The city of Indianapolis, now one of the greatest cities of the west with its many railroads and thousands of people, was then a very small village with only one grocery and that had a bakery attached. While in Indianapolis we visited an old Delaware friend, Elisha Taylor, who had emigrated there some years before. The country then was full of Indians. And since they were friendly to us and we to them I have no exploits with the red men to chronicle. We returned to Eaton in the same manner we departed therefrom i. e. on foot.

William and Lavina had six children. The were John Bennett Campbell, who married Nancy Huffman on Nov 15, 1836, Unity Campbell who married Eaton Joseph Gray on Oct 12, 1837, Lynda M Campbell born April 25, 1820 d. Feb 2, 1884 m. Benjamin Bennett, Jehu Bennett Campbell b. Apr 29, 1823 Sussex d. Aug 5,1894 Eaton m. Alzina Huffman of Armstead, Ebe (born 1829 in Preble Co and died at age 6) who is buried with his parents in Antioch Cemetery. and an Issac Steven Campbell born in 1832.

On Jan 13, 1856 Issac S Campbell married Lucy A Lincoln in Preble Co where Issac continued in farming which was the trade he had learned from his father. Issac and Lucy A are listed in the 1860 Census for Preble Co, OH along with two children, Harriet (Hattie) and Francis (Frank). In September 1864, they along with Hattie and Frank and third child John B, pulled up stakes and moved to Keosauqua, IA. Why they moved or why they picked Keosauqua, we don't know. But it could have been because Issac’s sister Lydia Campbell Bennett already lived there and knew it was a good place. Shortly after arriving in Keosauqua, a fourth child was born named Mary J. This child died at 2 months of age and is buried with Issac and Lucy in Purdom Cemetery in Keosauqua.

At the time of the 1870 US Census for Van Buren Co, IA, Issac, Lucy A, and children are still living there and Issac's mother Lavina is also counted with this group. We know from Lavina’s obituary that after the death of William, Lavina moved around and either lived with or visited her three remaining children in Missouri, Iowa, and Preble Co, Ohio. Those who remained living at the time of her death on Dec 4, 1879, were Unity Campbell Gray who lived in Hen Co, MO, Lydia Campbell Bennett who lived in Van Buren Co, IA, and Jehu Bennett Campbell who lived in Preble Co.

In Keosauqua Issac got out of the farming trade and took up shoe making. However in 1876, the first anniversary of the birth of our nation, Issac died leaving Lucy the responsibility of completing the raising of their family. At Issac’s grave in Purdom Cemetery there is a GAR marker. There is evidence that he did in fact fight in the Civil War for the state of Iowa but there doesn’t seem to be any record of his unit or length of service.

Lucy Lincoln Campbell on the left, Blanche Sommerville Morrow standing, Hattie Campbell Sommerville on the right, and Margaret Morrow in the front.

During the 1880 US Census, Lucy A is still living in Keosauqua with sons, Frank and John. But living next door to the Campbell's is William Sommerville, with his new wife Hattie. At this time the young Sommerville's have two children: Blanche and Edith.

On May 16, 1888 Lucy married J. W. Phillips. However, he died shortly thereafter on Oct 11, 1888 after having been married only five months. The premature death of two husbands could and probably did make Lucy a bitter and cranky old woman.

In the 1900 Census Lucy A is shown living in Keosauqua with Blanche Sommerville Morrow and family. We know that Lucy A went through some tough times before she died in 1902. After her two sons left home, Frank P. moved to Denver, CO and John B. moved to Gray, IA which is in the western part of the state, Lucy lived with various relatives and some of the Sommerville grandchildren, but for some reason couldn't seem to get along with any of them. So probably as a result of this, on Sep 25, 1900, Lucy tried to take her own life by jumping off the Keosauqua Bridge which crosses the Des Moines River. This was an unsuccessful attempt because she jumped into the shallow water and was pulled out unhurt.

Six weeks before her death on Mar 21, 1902, she caught pneumonia and shortly church. Issac was a member of the Odd Fellows and Lucy was a member of the Daughters of Rebekah.

Last Modified: