Section 52:  A Campbell Family Legend

There is a romantic story connected with your family -- comes down from our remote ancestors, which may have been true but is unsupported by any reliable evidence and my Father never took any stock in it, but my Uncle Joe and my old maiden Aunt Ibby had considerable faith in it.

The hero and heroine were said to be the grandparents of old Grandfather Robert Campbell. As the story goes, sometime along in the 17th Century this Campbell, whose name was Robert, was the owner and captain of a fast sailing vessel engaged in the disreputable and dangerous trade of smuggling goods from St. Malo in France into the Hebrides and the northern parts of Scotland. His crew, of course, were a band of outlaws and ruffians and could only be held in subjection by the superior intelligence and bravery of the Captain. By the aid of friends in the interior of Scotland, the skill and daring of the crew and the speed of their craft, they succeeded in eluding the police boats and vessels and through a series of years introduced a large amount of contraband goods into Scotland. The Captain, if not rich, became quite a property holder and felt not the slightest compunction at defrauding the government. As in the days of James the Second, it was under Catholic influence, and our revered ancestor was a violent Protestant and cordially hated the Pope and all his adherents. But about this time William of Orange landed in England (Nov. 5, 1688). From Torbay to London was rather a walkover than an invasion, and without a serious battle William and Mary were quietly seated on the throne of England, and the Revolution of 1688 was an accomplished fact.

Against this government Campbell did not wish to be an enemy or a marauder, and having something of the cunning of the canny Scot, he saw a chance of selling his ship at a good price and as William wanted soldiers for his campaign in Ireland, he also saw an excellent chance of making his peace with the government and discharging a conscientious duty by fighting the Pope in Ireland. So he formed a military company out of his crew of ragamuffins and secured a pardon for all illegal acts and went with the army to Ireland. Having gotten his business matters comfortably arranged before embarking for Ireland, like many another Scotchman, he fell desperately in love with a young lady of the Douglass family and wanted to marry her, but not liking him or his antecedents, or for some cause, she promptly and peremptorily rejected him and to settle the matter, quietly married another man.

So having nothing to detain him, Mr. Campbell -- and probably in no very amiable frame of mind -- started off to thrash the Irish. What he did there has not been recorded and can only be inferred from the fact that a nice little piece of confiscated land was assigned to him when the war was over. And he went back to Scotland and found his lady love a childless widow and he again made overtures for her hand, but she was still obdurate and turned up her nose at him. This was more than our ancestor could stand, and so gathering up some of his disbanded company one night they surrounded her father's house and after his campaign in Ireland seemed to have had no conscientious scruples in carrying off the young widow by force to an old castle he had on the Isle of Man.

The Douglass family of which she was a member appear to have been of better blood or more ancient stock than the branch of the Campbells to which he belonged. At any rate the Douglass family instituted a vigorous search for the abducted member, but Campbell had been too long dodging police officers and hiding smuggled goods to be caught, and the search was in vain. Abductor and victim seemed to have vanished from Scotland, and the old soldiers would not betray their Captain.

It was not till some months after that a rumor reached the Douglass mansion that the young widow was at Campbell's old castle on the Island, and the father and brother lost no time in hastening to her rescue. They landed on the Island and had no difficulty in finding the castle, and the first man encountered was Campbell himself. The old man angrily charged him with the crime and demanded his daughter. Campbell, with great politeness, assured him that his daughter was safe and well but that he could not possibly spare her, but if he would go around to the back of the castle he would see his daughter. Seeing that the drawbridge was up and having no means of forcing an entrance into the castle, they were forced to accept the proposal and went around to the point designated where they were to see the widow. And sure enough, they had hardly gotten to the position till she appeared at an upper window, beautifully dressed and looking splendid.

Her father told her to come down and they would take her home in spite of all the Campbells that ever stole cattle from the lowlands. She assured them that she could not get down or out, but that she was used and waited on as a princess and that Campbell, instead of treating her rudely, had been as kind and good to her as her own relatives could have been. Her father told her to be careful and patient for a short time and he would be back with a force that would rescue her and inflict summary and terrible punishment on her abductor, and not leave a stone of the old castle standing; but his daughter told him she would have no cruelty practiced on a man who had been so thoughtful and gentlemanly with her and that in view of all the facts, she had concluded to marry him. This greatly disgusted the father and brother and they told her if that was what she was going to do, she might go and take care of herself.

The upshot of it was she married Campbell, became reconciled to her friends and he became a stern Presbyterian and a supporter of the Kirk and a believer in the "Solemn League and Convenant [sic]." In a word, he became a shining light in the church and a bigoted old Scotchman, but always revered and loved his beautiful wife.

Their first child was a boy and they called him Dugald -- not Douglass. The former is an old name among the Campbells of Scotland. He grew up to be a man and married in Scotland and was sent to Ireland to occupy the confiscated land given to the old smuggler. There Dugald Campbell lived and his first child and son was Robert. While quite young his Scotch Mother died and in a few years Dugald Campbell married an Irish wife -- probably a Catholic -- at any rate she proved to be a stepmother to the first wife's son, and as soon as he became a man he crossed the ocean and finally married a woman of his own name, and no doubt descended from the same race or clan and became the founder of our family in this State. I never knew of him having any communication with his Father's family after he came to Pennsylvania the second time, and I know he had no love for the Catholics.

Our old stock traced the quick and vicious temper of the Campbells to the old smuggler, and all that was good, pure and amiable to his beautiful wife, and to this day Douglass is a favorite name in the family -- but at least half a dozen Roberts perpetuate the name of the old smuggler.