GEORGE H. CAMPBELL
Page 217

Was born July 19, 1821, at Nashville, Tennessee; a son of P. W. Campbell, also an early resident and large property owner in Mason county. His parents, on both sides, were related to some of the early historical families of Tennessee. In 1838 he came to Mason county to superintend the fencing and cultivation of lands his father had entered between the Sangamon and Illinois rivers, then a part of Sangamon county. Thus, we find him a boy of seventeen, a stranger in a wild frontier country, dependent on his own sagacity for a beginning in life. For two years he carried out the plans designed, and was followed by his father, P. W. Campbell, in 1840. P. W. Campbell was elected to a county office on the organization of the county in 1841, and our subject, George H., was elected as soon as he attained his majority, to the office of assessor and treasurer of Mason county. After a course of legal study he was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-three, and soon after actively participated in the politics of that day. In August, 1846, he was married to Miss Eliza Jane, daughter of Major B. H. Gatton, a noble woman, a true and devoted wife and mother. For more than a quarter of a century she shared his joys and sorrows, but on the first of July, 1873, she was taken to her final home. Their oldest son, W. H. Campbell, is a member of the law firm of Dearborn & Campbell, of Havana. (See biography of W. H. on another page.) In politics Judge Campbell was an old line whig, but more latterly has been identified with the democratic party. In 1856 he was tendered a nomination for the legislature by the democratic party, but declined. In 1857 he engaged in the practice of law in Havana, and the same year was elected county judge. In 1858 he was elected to the legislature to represent the counties of Mason and Logan, in which body he was second to none in ability and influence. An epitome of his legislative career would be of interest, but too lengthy for this work; suffice to say that he was at the head of many important committees, originated many useful laws, and was regarded one of the most able debaters in the house. He received the nomination for the office of Secretary of State in 1860, but failed of election. On the breaking out of the rebellion he assisted in raising the 106th regiment of Illinois infantry in Logan county, and was made lieutenant colonel of that regiment, but resigned after about one year's service on account of poor health. In 1868 he engaged in a mercantile and banking business in Mason City. In 1870 he took the necessary measures to organize the First National Bank of Mason City, and was elected President. It would be superfluous verbiage to add encomiums on the talents and abilities of Judge Campbell; neither is it the province of this work so to do. We relate historical facts, dates and figures. Prominent official positions, long continued, prove ability, honesty and the confidence of friends and constituents, more emphatically than words can do. If mens' lives and acts, that go to make up a man's history, are compliments to him, then facts of his life and not we flatter him. Long will the Campbell family be remembered in the official archives of Mason county, as for three generations they have been its most honored citizens.

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