Margaret Bea Campbell
(July 20, 1848 - August 17, 1924)
Kay's information about the Campbell family initially came through a young first cousin, once removed. Tina Schmid Baron, my cousin's daughter, is also interested in genealogy and furnished me with a very detailed family tree with most of the information attributed to Dorothy Adcock (Dottie), the wife of a Campbell descendant, Evan Adcock.
Since then I have found a number of Campbells who have researched our common heritage and I recently met with one who remembers many of the older generation. It seems that an adventurous Campbell, John Campbell, left Ireland (Donegal, in the north west) before 1847. Having staked himself a claim in south central Texas, and knowing of the conditions 'back home', he returned to Ireland about 1850 and convinced several of his brothers and their families to sail back to Texas with him, to pursue a better life. Thus, in 1851, about 20 Campbells appeared in Guadalupe County, near Seguin. John's cabin was expanded to accommodate the growing families, and the Campbells became Texans. The cabin was continuously lived in by members of the Campbell family until 1952.
Kay's great-grandmother, Margaret Bea Campbell was a young child aboard the Peramid which sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, arriving December 1, 1851. The family traveled by schooner to Indianola and then overland to Seguin. Passengers supposedly included John's elder brothers, Peter and Patrick, and younger brother Thomas (Andrew, John Neal and their sisters Mary Ann and Rose stayed in Ireland). Peter's family who traveled with him included 5 of his 6 children by his first wife -- John, Mary Jane, Ellen, Edward and Hannah-- as well as Peter's second wife, Bridget McLaughlin, and their 4 children, James, Margaret Bea, Catherine and Ann (Michael, Francis Marcus, Peter Joseph Jr., and Andrew were born in Texas). Patrick's family included his wife, Mary Meehan, and children Thomas, Joseph, Michael, Vincent, Patrick, Daniel, John, Mary Ann and James (Catherine, Francis and Hugh were born in Texas). John himself, the original Texan, had his marriage to Canzada LaFaver recorded in Vol A, Guadalupe County Marriage Book, page 1, evidently not marrying until his brothers were settled in Texas.
A smaller version of the original Campbell cabin is now located in Seguin, Texas, and was dedicated as an historical monument in 1979 . Several members of my branch of the Campbell family attended the dedication. Among them were my aunt, Alice Campbell and her daughter, Mary Ann.
Not a great deal is known about Margaret Bea Campbell (July 20, 1848 to August 18, 1924), as her daughter, Annie Proctor, is said to have married without her parents' approval, and spent most of the rest of her life estranged from her parents. In her later years, after her husband, Joseph H. Proctor died, Margaret Bea lived with her son Joseph and his family. According to the 1910 census, when she and her husband and family were living in San Angelo, Texas, only 5 of her 8 children were still living. As Hugh, Joe and Beatrice were living at home, and my grandmother, Annie, was in Oklahoma, Kay is unsure of which of her twin sons had died by that time. Both Pater and Silas (the twins) were alive as of the 1900 census, when 6 of Margaret's 8 children were listed as living. Kay has found the marriage license of Annie's older sister, Lena, who married in 1897 and died about 1899 in childbirth. Lena's husband was Henry Standifer and their son was named Cecil (this information was gleaned from the 1900 census). The 8th child, Grace, born after the twins, but before Michael Joseph and Beatrice, probably died in infancy.