Robert F. Campbell, M. D. Biography


	This biography appears on pages 7-8 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				ROBERT F. CAMPBELL, M. D.  

Dr. Robert F. Campbell is a prominent physician of Watertown, South 
Dakota. and is also one of the leaders in all aggressive movements 
having as their purpose the upbuilding of the city. He was born in 
Aylmer, Ontario, Canada, on the 23d of March, 1857, a son of William 
and Jane (Van Wagganer) Campbell, both natives of Canada and of Scotch 
extraction. The father was a business man and for many years was 
postmaster of Aylmer, Ontario, but after his retirement from business 
cares and responsibilities he and his wife came to Watertown, South 
Dakota, where their son Robert F. had preceded them. Both passed away 
in that city about 1905.  

	Dr. Campbell was reared at home and acquired his early education 
in the public schools of his native town. He was later a student at 
McGill University of Montreal and at the Bellevue Medical Hospital of 
New York, being graduated from the latter institution with the class of 
1882. In the spring following his graduation he located in Watertown, 
South Dakota, where he has been in active practice for thirty-two 
years. For more than thirty years he has occupied his present suite of 
offices in the Millett block. Dr. Campbell realizes thoroughly the feet 
that new discoveries are being constantly made by investigators and 
that the physician and surgeon must remain constantly a student if he 
would not be left in the rear of his profession. Through his membership 
in medical societies and through reading professional journals he has 
done much to keep abreast of the times, but he has also felt that 
further study in the medical centers of the world would be of great 
benefit. In 1900 he took special courses in surgery in Berlin and 
London, and again in the fall of 1913 he took a special course in 
Berlin and Vienna, spending eight months on the last trip. His study of 
the methods used in the great foreign hospitals and his observation of 
the work of the most famous surgeons of Europe have fitted him for the 
exacting duties of the surgeon and he is known as one of the best in 
South Dakota. In 1901, in connection with Drs. H. M. Finnerud and H. A. 
Tarbell, he established a private hospital known as the Watertown 
Hospital. Later he bought out the interests of his partners and is now 
the sole owner of the institution, which accommodates fifteen patients 
and is one of the best equipped small hospitals in the middle west. 
Everything possible is done to secure absolute cleanliness and the care 
given the patients compares favorably with that of the great 
metropolitan institutions. Dr. Campbell has a wide and growing 
reputation as a surgeon and his percentage of successful operations is 
unusually high.  

	The Doctor was married in 1884 to Miss Kate A. Williams, a 
daughter of Hon. C. G. Williams, of Janesville, Wisconsin, who 
represented his district in congress for a number of years and 
subsequently was appointed registrar of the land office at Watertown.  


	Dr. Campbell is a republican in his political belief and has 
served repeatedly as coroner and city physician, holding the latter 
position at the present time. He is surgeon for the Chicago & 
Northwestern, the Rock Island, the Great Northern and the Minneapolis & 
St. Louis Railroads. He is connected with the business interests of 
Watertown as a stockholder and member of the board of directors of the 
First National Bank of Watertown. He is a man of high principles, his 
record as a private citizen and as a physician being above reproach, 
and he is accorded that respect which true worth alone can command. 
Although he has prospered beyond the average in his profession and has 
a reputation which extends over the state of South Dakota, he has yet 
found time to make his life of great value to the public welfare and 
has taken the initiative in many movements that have proven of lasting 
benefit to his city and county.