Riley Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-George W. Campbell
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL. Clerk of the Court, Riley County, a gentleman of talent, ability and high personal character, is considered a decided acquisition to the citizenship of Manhattan, where he has taken up his residence. His portrait, which appears on another page, is in like manner an important acquisition to this volume. He was born in Jersey City, N. J., Feb. 3, 1849, a son of George P. and Eliza A. (Watson) Campbell respectively of New York and New Jersey. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Washtenaw County. Mich., where he bought a large tract of land in the midst of the primeval forests, cleared and improved a fine farm, and was a resident there until his death, having accumulated in the meantime a handsome property.
The father of our subject was reared in Michigan, and when he attained to manhood, ambitious to secure a better education and to see something of the world, he left the old homestead, although his father wished him to stay at home, and he thus forfeited his share of his father's wealth, he proceeded to visit the East, and we next hear of him as teaching school on Long Island and elsewhere. He finally learned the daguerrean's art. and going to Helena, Ark., opened a gallery there, and was conducting a successful business, when he was stricken in 1852, with a fever, and his promising career was soon losed by death, while he was yet in manhood's prime. He was a man of much culture and of refined tastes, a gentleman and a scholar, whom to know was to respect and honor. By his untimely death his wife was left with two children to care for, our subject and his brother Louis, the latter of whom died in Leavenworth in 1859.
At the time of her husband's death Mrs. Campbell was in Ann Arbor, Mich., with her children. She bravely shouldered the responsibility of their support, and removing to Cincinnati shortly afterward managed a boarding-house there with good success for some years. In 1857 she boldly resolved to face the dangers and hardships of life on the frontier, believing that she could utilize her education where school teachers were so much needed by the intelligent, heroic, determined, thrifty class of men and women who were bravely struggling to maintain their rights on the soil of Kansas, and to gain its admission into the Union as a free State. With her children she embarked on a steamer on the Ohio, and proceeding to Leavenworth, in the Territory of Kansas, she secured a position as teacher in one of the schools of that city, thus becoming a pioneer of the profession in this State. With characteristic foresight and good judgment, she bought a share in the town site of Manhattan in 1858, and in 1860 came to this city from Leavenworth on a stage and located her property.
Mrs. Campbell subsequently went to Ft. Riley, and thence returned to Leavenworth, and in 1860 retraced her way eastward, and took up her residence in New York City, where she resided until 1863. In that year she again made her home in Cincinnati and went into business there, opening a book and news store and a circulating library, which she managed with her usual success until 1866. She then once more became a resident of Kansas, living in Manhattan until 1868, when she opened a book store and a millinery establishment in Ogden. and has ever since been prosperously engaged in business there. Soon after going there she bought a lot in the city and erected a dwelling on it, and afterward invested some money in a homestead of thirty-seven acres near Ogden, which she still owns and which has greatly increased in value since it came into her possession, not only on account of improvements that she has made, but also on account of the rise in the valuation of real estate. Mrs. Campbell is a woman of rare tact and business capacity, combined with more than ordinary energy and force of character, and her present prosperous circumstances are due solely to her own exertions.
George W., of whom we write, was given good educational advantages, attending school in Leavenworth, afterward being a pupil in the public schools of New York City, and later of Cincinnati. During his residence in the latter city he assisted his mother in her store, and also acted as her clerk in Manhattan. After their removal to Ogden he built his mother's house, and also erected buildings on the homestead. In 1875 he bought the stock and building of a druggist in Ogden. paying for it in installments, and. adding a stock of general merchandise, continued to carry on an extensive and flourishing business until 1889. In 1887 his store and stock were destroyed by fire, but with characteristic enterprise he immediately renewed his stock and opened a store in an adjoining building. In 1889 he turned over his stock to Charles Eastman, who is acting as his agent in the business, he having been elected Clerk of the Court of Riley County the year before, his duties in that office precluding the possibility of close attention to the management of his store.
Mr. Campbell was married in 1878, to Miss Eugenia F. Parish, a native of Canada, and a daughter of Lewis and Laura Parish, early settlers of Riley County. Three children have been born of this marriage�Clarence C., Laura J. and Louie M. Mr. Campbell is a man of fine mental endowments, who without wealth or influence has won for himself an honorable position in the history of this county. By a singularly blameless and upright life he has gained the confidence of all with whom he associates, his career as a business man. as a public officer, and as a private individual being without blemish. While he was a resident of Ogden he took an active part in the administration of its government, served as a member of the City Council, and was City Treasurer. For several years he was a member of the Union Sunday-school of that city. He served two terms as Township Treasurer, and also as Postmaster from 1876 to the administration of President Cleveland. He has always been an earnest supporter of the Republican parly, interesting himself much in politics. He and his wife sustain pleasant social relations with the best people in Manhattan, and in their attractive home dispense a charming hospitality with characteristic tact and geniality.
As an officer, Mr. Campbell never forgets that he is a servant of the people, and his promptness and courteous treatment of every one having business relations with him are making him hosts of friends. He is one of the very few whom prosperity cannot spoil.