This section of the Clarion County PAGenWeb site contains a transcription of the book, The Journal of James Campbell 1813-1892, which was published in a limited edition run of 100 copies by The Naylor Co., San Antonio, TX, 1955.

The original leather-bound volume contains 334 pages.  The text was scanned and digitized using OmniPage Pro and formatted into HTML for this site.  The digitized text was proofread as closely as possible, but some errors could have been missed.  Please accept our apologies.

The book is not divided into chapters or any other logical segments.  For presentation on this Web site, the book has been divided up as logically as possible with the goal of optimizing page load times.

Judge Campbell moved to Clarion just after the county formed.  He writes in extremely vivid detail about the people, places, and experiences he found there.  Much of the book discusses his family, education, career, and investments.  Those passages have been left intact, even though they may not relate specifically to Clarion County, because of the background they provide for readers.

The journal began January 25th, 1885, when Judge Campbell was 71-years-old.

Foreword by Ruth Campbell Taylor

My father, Robert Douglas Campbell, gave me the original manuscript, written in a lined day book, of this journal by my grandfather, James Campbell.

The journal was begun fourteen years after James Campbell retired from the bench, and was written over a period of about five years and completed about three years prior to his death.  He wrote this as if he were living it, and not as an old man.  It covers, principally, his education, practice of law, his judicial experience and retirement.

I would like particularly to call to the attention of my grandchildren that he was reading both Greek and Latin while in high school.

In order to preserve the original manuscript, I had it bound.  Believing the journal would be of interest to members of the family, and as it was impractical to circulate the original, I decided to have it put into book form, and I hope it will prove to be of interest.

Chronology of Hon. James Campbell

July 25, 1813 -- Born - Son of John and Rachel (Oliver) Campbell 1837 -- Graduated from Jefferson College 1840 -- Settled in Clarion, Pennsylvania May 10, 1847 -- Married Nancy Jane Hallock 1861-71 -- President-Judge of the 18th Judicial District January 25, 1885 -- Journal begun Subsequent to October 29, 1889 (date of brother's passing) -- Journal ended August 3, 1892 -- Died

The Armstrong County Beers Project has more information on Judge Campbell's lineage, his obituary, and post-mortem tributes.

From the Centre County, PAGenWeb site:

Three books in the Pennsylvania Room of the Centre County Library in Bellefonte apparently deal in part with the Campbell family.  They are Joseph Campbell's Genealogical Account of the Ancestors of Joseph Andrew Kelly Campbell and Elizabeth Edith Deal (His Wife); Sue Campbell's Family History of John Campbell 1730-1810 and His Sister Jane 1736-1821, Chester, Pa. and Mifflin Co., Pa.; and Hallock Sherrard's The Campbells of Kishacoquillas:  Historical Sketch and Genealogical Records of the Robert Campbell Family, and the John Campbell Family.  [The last volume would address Judge Campbell's family.]