Sonoma County CA Archives Biographies.....Campbell, John Tyler 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com March 3, 2006, 3:52 am

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. (1880)

Campbell, John Tyler, Lawyer, Santa Rosa, California. John Tyler Campbell was
born in Bowling Green, Pike county, Missouri, soon after the exciting
presidential contest which resulted in the election of William Henry Harrison as
President, and John Tyler as Vice-President of the United States. Harrison died
in one month after his inauguration and Tyler became President. In those days
President Tyler was called the "lucky man," and it was the subject of remark
that nothing could successfully stand in his way. From his youth up fortune had
smiled upon his every undertaking. In those days slavery existed at the
birth-place of the infant Campbell, and while a baby he was placed in charge of
an old colored woman, who drank in the superstitious idea of the "luck" of the
President of the United States, and at her earnest solicitation the boy was
christened John Tyler, in the confident expectation that the same good fortune
of the lucky president would fall to the lot of his namesake. The grand-father
of the subject of this sketch was the first settler in Pike county, having
removed from Tennessee to near the present town of Bowling Green, in 1817, and,
like Jacob of old, he was the father of twelve sons. About the year 1827 one of
those sons, James W., married Sophia A. Henry, the youngest daughter of Colonel
Malcolm Henry, an officer in the Revolutionary war, and a cousin of the famous
Patrick Henry. John Tyler was the seventh child of this union. As soon as he
arrived at suitable age he was furnished with Webster's old "Elementary
Spelling-book," and sent to the district school, taught by an old Presbyterian
preacher—the maximum length of the term being three months. He attended this
school each Winter, and progressed about as others of the same age. This partial
education developed a taste for literature; unfortunately the source of supply
was small. He read the "Scottish Chiefs," the "Life of General Francis Marion,"
"Pilgrim's Progress," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," and many works of fiction,
besides reading the county newspapers. In 1857 he attended McGee College one
year, but being stricken down with a severe spell of sickness, he did not return
at the next session. He again returned in 1859-60. He was a member of the
literary societies, and participated in the debates with others of the college.
The Presidential election of 1860 left the political sky as black as night. The
excitement kept up at fever heat. The booming of cannon was heard at Fort
Sumter, and war between the States was inevitable—it had begun. The shrill
clarion of the warrior's trumpet was heard, and the patriotic songs of both
sides filled the souls of the young men with ecstasy and delight. Young
Campbell, yet in his "teens," fell into line on the Union side, wearing the
chevrons of a sergeant in a company of cavalry in Colonel Smart's Third Cavalry
Regiment of Missouri Troops. Frank Blair had been commissioned to recruit a
Brigade of Infantry, and Campbell was ordered to Troy, to recruit men for the
Thirty-second Missouri Infantry of Blair's Brigade. Having recruited a squad of
men, he took them to St. Louis, where he was mustered in as Second Lieutenant,
having been previously discharged from the cavalry company by special order of
Major-General Halleck, at the request of General Blair. Company B, of the
Thirty-second Infantry was officered as follows: Jesse E. Hardin, Captain;
Joseph O. Butler, First Lieutenant, and John Tyler Campbell, Second Lieutenant.
Lieutenant Campbell was the youngest commissioned officer in the regiment, and
indeed in the corps. Lieutenant Butler died, and Captain Hardin resigned, soon
after the Company was mustered in, and Lieutenant Campbell was promoted to First
Lieutenant and then Captain, and remained at the head of his company until
finally mustered out at the beginning of the year 1865. He was tendered the
appointment as Cadet to the United States Military Academy at West Point in
1863, but being in active service as captain, commanding a company, he declined.
He served in the war with the Army of the Tennessee, and participated in all the
great battles of that command, including Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Lookout
Mountain, and the Georgia campaign. The war over, he returned home, studied law,
and was admitted to the bar, and elected Corporation Attorney of Louisiana City.
Was nominated Circuit Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Missouri in
1868, by the Democrats, but was defeated with the ticket by reason of the "test
oath" and an unfair registration of voters. In 1869 he was elected captain of a
militia company. In 1871, having removed to Kansas City, he was elected City
Attorney by a large majority. His health failing he removed to California,
settling in Santa Rosa, where he has since resided. In 1875, Hon. John G.
Pressley, then City Attorney, having been elected County Judge, resigned as City
Attorney, and Campbell was appointed to fill the vacancy. He was elected for the
full term, without opposition, and at the end of his term declined a
re-election. In June, 1879, he was nominated by the New Constitution party as a
candidate for the Assembly. He has been an occasional contributor to newspapers,
and has written stories for magazines, etc. In 1868 he was married to Mollie
Reed. They have two children, a girl and boy, aged nine and seven years
respectively.

Additional Comments:
Santa Rosa Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY
—OF-
SONOMA COUNTY,
-INCLUDING ITS—
Geology, Topooraphy, Mountains, Valleys and Streams;
—TOGETHER WITH—
A Full and Particular Record of the Spanish Grants; Its Early History and
Settlement, Compiled from the Most Authentic Sources; the Names of Original
Spanish and American Pioneers; a full Political History, Comprising the Tabular
Statements of Elections and Office-holders since the Formation of the County;
Separate Histories of each Township, Showing the Advancement of Grape and Grain
 Growing Interests, and Pisciculture;
ALSO, INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE; THE RAISING OF THE BEAR FLAG; AND BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES OF EARLY AND PROMINENT SETTLERS AND REPRESENTATIVE MEN;
—AND OF ITS—
Cities, Towns, Churches, Schools, Secret Societies, Etc., Etc.
ILLUSTRATED.
SAN FRANCISCO:
ALLEY, BOWEN & CO., PUBLISHERS.
1880.


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