As one does research, new information constantly appears as more newspapers are digitized from the 1800. Families come forward and share what information that they may have as has happened with this blog. A search of newspapers one day may lead to one or two or more new pieces of information and the next more newspapers are digitized and additional information is discovered. It can be frustrating to not be able to see all the information at one time but it is what it is. So, with more research the last couple of days a little more information has been found in various newspapers that carried an obituary of Colin. What I wanted to discover was the year that he came into Arizona. What I found did not fully answer my question and more research will be needed to one day resolve the question of when Colin Campbell arrived in Arizona, where he was prior to coming to Arizona and just maybe, why he came.
One newspaper, Arizona Daily Star, stated that he came into Winslow, Arizona with a pack train from Utah in the 1860s. While this may be plausible, it would put his age of arrival somewhere between seven years old (born in 1853) if we consider 1860 as the date and as old as 16 if the date of 1869 is used. It is doubtful he came alone at the age of seven since he was the first member of his family to come to Arizona. This newspaper also stated he died at home. I will come back to this piece of information. Further information on him was that he had been in the sheep business 40 years. Using 40 years and subtracting backwards we arrive at the date of at least being in Arizona by 1887 since he died in 1927.
But then what about the newspaper that stated he came to the United States when he was 20. That would mean 1873. The newspaper further stated that he went to Dakota in 1876 and came to Arizona in 1879. What he was doing between 1879 and 1883 has not been discovered as a search of available newspapers do not record any activity. We know that in 1883, he formed a partnership with Frank Hart and the two men ran sheep together under Hart and Campbell until Mr. Hart passed in 1898. While not germane to discovering more on Mr. Campbell, the newspaper reported that Perkins and Rand, two other sheepmen, bought Mr. Hart’s interest in Hart and Campbell from his estate. But back to Colin, he could have had sheep prior to the partnership with Hart, running them himself so the 40 years in the sheep business may be low.
Another newspaper, Williams News, stated he died at Hotel Escalante in Ash Fork which differs from the Arizona Daily Star. Is this really important to know? No, but it does make a researcher wonder how accurate any of the information in the paper is. Williams is not far from Ash Fork but Flagstaff is. Does that make a difference the distant one newspaper is from the actual event? It makes a researcher want to check further to verify the accuracy of all information to not continue any falsehood. But for now, it will be left! One fact that was found in both newspaper was that it reiterated that he was in the sheep business.
Colin was still in the sheep business when he died in 1927 as his sons reported that in 1929, they could not find herders and sold the sheep. They may have sold out just in time before the Depression and the sheep industry took a real nosedive.
And that is part of the “rest of the story!” as Paul Harvey would say.
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