GEORGE A. CAMPBELL.
The biographies of successful men are instructive as guides and incentives to those whose careers are yet to be achieved. The examples they furnish of patient purpose and consecutive endeavor strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish. George A. Campbell, a well-known farmer of Melville township and the proprietor of five hundred and sixty acres of land, all located in that township, is a conspicuous example of one who has lived to good purpose and who has achieved a definite degree of success in the special sphere to which his talents and energies have been devoted.
George A. Campbell was born on March 5, i860, in Lincoln, Illinois, the son of George Campbell and the brother of Thomas Campbell, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. George A. Campbell and his brother, James, came to Iowa in 1884 and settled on a large tract of land which they had purchased in 1882. A sister kept house for the brothers until her marriage. George A. Campbell bought his first tract of two hundred acres in 1889, at twenty-two dollars and fifty cents an acre, and at that time there were very few improvements on the land. Mr. Campbell has built several barns on the farm and in 1908 he remodeled his house, making it thoroughly modern. Mr. Campbell has added to the original home tract until it now comprises three hundred and twenty acres. He has besides this two other farms, on which there are three sets of buildings. He feeds practically all the time, from ninety to one hundred head of cattle and from seventy to one hundred head of hogs.
In 1884 George A. Campbell was married to Sophia Messersmith, a native of Indiana, and to this union have been born nine children, seven of whom are living, namely: Edward, who married Amy Murray and is at home; May, the wife of Fred McCoy, of Melville township; John, Mary, Ella, Frank and Ephraim, all at home. The two deceased children were George and Robert. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are members of the Catholic church and their children have been reared in that faith. Mr. Campbell is a Democrat and served on the school board for twelve years, in which capacity he discharged the duties of his office to the satisfaction of the people of Melville township.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 542-543.
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