Robert D. Campbell

(Sorry for not posting last week, I got embroiled in trying to figure out possible DNA matching -- slow process but some progress.)

He was born in 1842 in Gibson County, Tennessee, USA as the fifth child of Robert C Campbell Sr and Sarah T Lyon (or Lyons). He had six siblings, namely: Mary L, Sarah Elizabeth, Susan Adline, Almarinda Etna, Eliza Jane, and John Andrew. He died on 08 Jun 1862 at the age of 20.  He is my Great Grand Uncle on my father's side, brother to my great grandmother Eliza Jane Campbell.

There is little, actual, documentation for Robert.
     He appears on the 1850 census, age 8, with his family in Gibson county, Tennessee

     Then on the 1860 census, age 18, with his younger brother (John Andrew Campbell) and next door is his 2nd oldest sister (Sarah Elizabeth Lyons) in Magazine, Yell county, Arkansas.   These are the only two documents that I can tie directly to him because of his age and family group.

His parents are not showing up in the 1860 census - either by themselves or with family members. I presume that they have died, yet grave sites can not be located. The last record I have of his father, Robert C Campbell, is a land grant of 34 acres in Gibson, Tennessee on 1 January 1856.  And the last record of his mother is the 1850 census. So something happened between 1856 Tennessee and 1860 Arkansas that caused young Robert to take his 12 year old brother and move with, or take to, his sister in Arkansas.  And as I write this, I am reviewing the 1860 census and something is a little off.

On a census there is a column to number the family visited.  The next column lists the names of that family. Generally speaking, the head of the family is listed first followed by the spouse, their children and then any other family members, boarders or servants.  Now, census' are great documents but sometimes the enumerators were tired, bad spellers or just slack(ish) plus the head of the family may not want to be bothered with the time to do the census.  So sometimes the ages or names of the family members are off from census to census.  Then you have the indexers - a WONDERFUL bunch of volunteers through the years that have worked tirelessly to interpret the names and information on documents that were not kept in the best conditions and so on.  But there are errors and it takes looking at the specific census in the light of the whole family. And, many times, going back and looking at the census again.

Back to the 1860 census in Arkansas - I just noticed that Sarah's family is listed as family #341 with her husband's occupation as a Farmer with real estate valued at $1700.  Robert D (and John Andrew) is listed as family #342 whose occupation is Farm Laborer but with no real estate; and, with them is a family named Jones whose occupation is a Farmer with real estate valued at $2000.  That doesn't make sense for family #342 to have a property-less 18 year old listed first and then the landowner and his family.  I believe that Robert D Campbell and John Andrew are not next door but in the household with his sister, Sarah, who is taking care of them until they reach the age of majority.

Sadly, that is not going to be the case for Robert.  The only other mentions I found for him have to do with the Civil War.  As you can imagine the given name Robert and the surname Campbell are pretty common.  There is a young man, named Robert D, Campbell, that served in the Confederate Army, 1st Regiment, Arkansas Mounted Rifles, Company H (Yell county) as a Private who enlisted in 1861, this is more than likely him but there is not an age or birth date.  There is a grave marker for a young man named Robert Campbell who died 8th of June 1862, inscribed aged 20 years, in the Union Cemetery, Forest City, Missouri.

Looking at the history of 1st Regiment, they first saw battle in August 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri and then moved northwestward to the Missouri border to help fight the pro-Union Cherokee soldiers, September through October 1861.  And then back to northwest Arkansas for the Battle of Pea Ridge in March of 1862.  I will have to do more research into the regiment but it looks like Robert may have been wounded or captured at one of these battles and then, consequently, died.

Interesting side note - I was born 100 years (and 1 day) after he died.