Santa
Clara County
Biographies
BENJAMIN
CAMPBELL
BENJAMIN CAMPBELL. To Benjamin Campbell belongs the distinction
of having laid out the little town of Campbell in Santa Clara county, California, which is in many respects a model town
and the very center of a vast fruit-growing district. Although a resident of the golden state of
California since 1846, it was not until 1890 that Mr. Campbell showed his
capacity to plan and execute with a determined hand, and in a superior way. Grasping the situation with a master hand and
having once determined upon a line of action, he has permitted no obstacle to
turn him from its accomplishment.
Realizing the many evils of intemperance, he conceived the idea of
founding a town in the midst of the fruit-growing district – a town founded on
temperance principles, and one that will remain so, not only for a short time,
but forever. The original plat of
Campbell contained but eighteen lots, but since then three additions have been
made and the place has gradually increased in size and population. In executing the deeds to these lots, the
title was made subject to the following conditions and restrictions: “That if the party of the second part, his
heirs or assigns, shall at any time sell or keep for sale, on any portion of
said premises, or knowingly permit any one to keep for sale any spirituous or
intoxicating liquors either distilled or fermented, the entire title and estate
in and to said premises hereby created, shall cease, and title to said premises
shall thereupon at once revert to said party of the first part or his heirs and
assigns forever, and it shall then be lawful for said party of the first par,
his heirs or assigns, to enter upon said premises and eject said party of the
second part, his heirs or assigns, and every person claiming under them, or
either of them.”
In tracing the ancestry of
Mr. Campbell, we find his paternal grandfather to have been a native of
Virginia and a farmer by occupation.
Leaving the state of his nativity he located for some time in Bourbon
county, Kentucky, removing in 1833 to Callaway county,
Mo., where he lived until his death at the age of sixty-five years. His son, William, the father of Benjamin,
began his existence in Bourbon county, Ky.,
November 12, 1793, near Lexington, and was a soldier in the war of
1812. He was a tanner by trade and
operated a tannery near Greenville, Ky., prior to going to Missouri in
1839. Locating in Saline county, Mo., he followed farm pursuits until 1846, crossing
the plains to California during that year, the trip being made via the Platte
river route.
Pre-empting a claim of one hundred and
sixty acres, two miles south of Santa Clara, he moved upon it and a year or so
afterward he built a sawmill two miles above Saratoga and was engaged in
developing the natural resources of his land until 1849. Selling his farm in 1855, and having been
deprived by death of his beloved wife, he made his home for some time with his
sons in Tulare county. It was in that
county that he died December 2, 1885, having been during his active life a
faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he was first a Whig and
afterwards a Republican. He was thrice
married, two daughters being the fruits of his first union. Some time after the
death of his first wife he was joined in marriage with Miss Agnes Hancock, a
lady born in Kentucky in 1800, and this union was blessed with six children,
four sons and two daughter, Benjamin being the second boy and the third oldest
in this family. The mother passed to her
final rest in 1846, her demise having taken place in Santa Clara, on the
thirtieth day of November.
Reared as he was in the states of
Kentucky and Missouri, Mr. Campbell had attained the age of twenty when
his parents took their family to California, and during this trip he drove one
of the teams, walking most of the way.
Assisting his father to prepare a home for the family in a new country,
he stayed with him until 1849, and during that year he returned to Missouri on
a visit. Upon his return to California,
in 1851, by way of the Isthmus, he purchased the land upon which the town of
Campbell stands, and in the fall of the same year he again returned to
Missouri, this time after his bride. By
his marriage in Saline county, Mo., he was united to
Miss Mary Louise Rucker, and in the spring of 1852 he again made the trip to
California by way of the plains, accompanied by his wife, her father and his
family. It may be appropriately
mentioned in that place that Mr. Rucker was a native of Virginia and had
left his native state for a home in Saline county,
Mo., some time in early manhood. Upon his arrival in California, he purchased
land near Santa Clara and followed farming there the remaining years of his
life.
Taking his bride to a home upon his
place previously purchased, it is there that the intervening years have been
passed by Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, and three children have blessed their
union. Of these the eldest, James Henry,
resides near the old home; Laura Ann, the second, married Mr. Swope and is
now deceased; and the youngest child, Lena M., married S. G. Rodeck, the present manager of the Campbell Fruit Growers’
Union. The family unite in worshiping at
the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which Mr. Campbell is now
officiating as both steward and trustee, being one of the most active members
of that church, especially interested in Sunday school work, and laboring for
several years in the capacity of superintendent.
Prior to the building of the railroad
through that section the fine farm of Mr. Campbell contained one hundred
and sixty acres, and in 1885, he began fruit culture, which proved a good
business venture in that locality, and although he has sold a great deal of his
land, he still conducts a sixty-acre farm and has twenty acres in fruit alone. In his political views, he was a Whig in the
early days, but afterward became a Democrat.
At the present time, however, he is entirely independent in
politics. He was appointed the first
postmaster of Campbell, but after a couple of years he resigned. A man of fertile ideas, broad-minded and
public spirited, he has certainly done his part toward furthering the interests
of his section, serving as justice of the peace two years, as school director a
number of years, as member of the Board of Trade, of which he is director; one
of the promoters of the Campbell Bank, of which he is not only director, but
vice president, and an influential member of the Grange society, of which he is
now officiating as trustee.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 618-619. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.