JAMES ALONZO CAMPBELL

(1846-1933)
By Dorothy Campbell

Great-grandfather of James Alan Campbell

Campbell Tree #1, Page 15

James Alonzo Campbell was the third child and first son of Elias and Annis Campbell.  He was born in Marlboro County, SC. in 1846.  Sometime after arriving in Alabama (date unknown) , James Alonzo  enlisted or was drafted  to serve in the Confederate Army (Civil War).  So far this writer had not found a record of the date of enlistment or place where he lived at that time. 

One military record that was found was a record showing  that Jas. A. Campbell had served in Company C, 8th Calvary Regiment of Alabama and that his residence ( in May, 1865) was in Choctaw Co, AL.  This form noted at the bottom that his name" and men unavoidably left off on regular rolls, Confederate States Gen. R. Taylor, C.S.A., to Maj. Gen. E. R. S Canby, U.S.A. , May 4, 1865, and paroled  at Gainesville, Ala., May 14, 1865.  Roll dated Gainesville, Ala., May 14, 1865." Another record, U.S. Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865, was listed on Ancestry.Com, but a copy of the original document could not be provided without joining  another genealogy group.  The only data provided was that a James A. Campbell  was in the Eighth Cavalry AND Eighth (Hatch's) Cavalry.  Apparently he served under an officer named Hatch in one unit. Another record was a U.S. Headstone Application for Military Veterans, 1925-1962 and the application was completed  James A's son, Fred after James Alonzo died in 1933. James A. filed for a confederate pension in 1906, and was listed as still getting his pension in 1932.

We don't know exactly where James Alonzo lived or what he did after he returned from the war.  He was single and living at home with his mother in 1870, so we assume that he was there in 1865 and that he helped his father, Elias, with farming, etc.  His father, Elias, died  in 1868 when James was about 22 years old.  In 1870 he was listed on the census as the oldest male at home with his mother, Annis and his aunt Rachel Pearson and all his siblings except Elizabeth Ann, who had married in 1867.
It was about this time that James Alonzo decided to get married.

According  to a story related to this writer by Oliver Campbell, grandson of James,  James had specific ideas  about marriage.  He said that his bride would come from a good and decent family, and that he knew just where to go to get her.  So he went to Mt. Sterling to visit Alfred and Sarah Ann  Penrice Mills and their daughter, Alice Emma. According to family bible records, Alice Emma Mills was born in Mt. Sterling on October 10, 1851.  Mt. Sterling is located 3 miles east of Butler on Hwy 10 in central Choctaw County, AL.
The 1870 census indicated that James A. lived with his mother in Township 10 and listed the post office as Butler.  Family legend left me with the impression that the Campbell family lived in Barrytown, but perhaps that referred to a later date.  James must have lived close enough toAlice to have already met her and possibly even courted her.

Elias died in 1868 and was buried in Barrytown, so that lends credence to the family stories about the family living in Barrytown.
 

Sometimes records would specify just a township and at other times just a beat number.  One or more times they indicated that the residents lived in beats 9, 10, 11, and 12 and the census gave no indication which of those beats they lived in.  In 1870 the Choctaw County census listed A. Campbell (Annis, widow of Elias) as head of household and living in Township 10, but the post office was shown to be Butler.  Township 10 may include Butler and Mt. Sterling, but appears to cover only the Barrytown area.

James Alonzo did go to Mr. Sterling to "take his bride", Alice Emma Mills and they began their married life together in 1870, when he was about 24 and she was about 19 or 20 years old.  In 1880 James A. and Alice lived next door to her parents in Beat 9 in Choctaw County.  The location of beat 9 is unknown to this writer at this time, but may have been in Barrytown or in Mt. Sterling. Apparently Barrytown had ceased to be a thriving community by 1880. The census record of beats 9 and 10 in 1880 listed only one or two pages naming residents enumerated.   Many of those families were listed as Powe and Mills, but did include severfal others such as the  McFadden and Taylor families.
James A. and Alice Campbell  lived on land given or sold to them by her parents.  Alfred and Sarah Ann Mills gave each of their children land, but the date is not known. One or more of Alice's siblings decided to move west so they gave or sold their part of the land to her.  James and Alice may have acquired the land simply by paying back taxes on it, as that was a common practice in those days.  A granddaughter of James A. and Alice E. stated that the land did not come into the Campbell family through the Campbell line, but through the Powe and Mills lines.  At least two siblings of Alice had married into the Powe family.  This same granddaughter indicated that most of the land around Barrytown and Womack Hill (or Gilbertown?) was owned by Powe and Mills families.  So James Alonzo and Alice Emma Mills Campbell continued to live on their land and raised their family of 6 children .  They had lost one child to death in 1887 when she was less than two years old.

Family legend indicates that James Alonzo was a quiet  but  pleasant man who liked children.  His granddaughter said she was told that he usually kept treats (pecans, etc) in his saddle bags for the little ones.  He was also  said to have a hearing loss in his later years. Deafness  definitely runs in the James A. Campbell descendants.  His sons, Joe and Fred are said to have lost some hearing (probably in their old age).  His grandsons Horace and Oliver, sons of Joe and Geneva, lost hearing in their latter years.  Fred's  son, Foy Campbell, has a hearing loss now in his older years.  This trait probably extends to other Campbell family members that we don't know about.

James and Alice gave their children part of their land and several of them stayed in Choctaw County.  Two of Alice's sons, Julius and Joseph Oliver, moved to Florida around 1912. Alice  Emma Mills Campbell died in 1916 and James Alonzo died in 1933.

Alpheus B. married Fannie Ray and they moved to Mississippi around 1921.  Julius married Lou Anna Hearin and they moved to Florida around 1912.  Joe married Frances Geneva Hearin, sister of Lou Anna, and they moved to Florida around 1912.  James' oldest daughter, Sarah Annie,  married Ollie Taylor  and stayed near her parents for most of her married life. .  Their youngest son , Fred, did not marry until he was about 45 and lived with his parents until  after his marriage to Leona McFadden.
 

Alice Emma Mills Campbell died on October  23, 1916 in Choctaw County. James Alonzo Campbell died on July 26, 1933 in Choctaw County.  Both are buried in the Campbell family cemetery now owned by their grandson, Foy Campbell.  Others known to be buried in this cemetery are Alfred and Sarah Ann Penrice Mills,  parents of Alice E. Campbell.  Sarah Annie "Hat-T" Campbell Taylor, daughter of J.A. and Alice Campbell, and her husband Oliver "Ollie" Taylor.  Other unidentified persons are believed to be buried there as well.  This private cemetery is located on County road 5 north of  Hwy 84 about 2 miles east of Silas, Choctaw County, AL.  After you turn north on County Road  5 go about one and a half miles.  The cemetery is on the left down a dirt road and cannot be seen from the main road.