Quincy Campbell's livelihood

Thanks to Laura for getting this information and typing it up!


Quincy Routillous Campbell owned a prosperous construction company in Charlotte that did so well that he could afford to send his daughter Grace to college (Mary Baldwin College). 

When he was an older man, the depression hit. Although the pressure was immense, he refused to foreclose on any homes, which eventually led him to declare bankruptcy.

When people asked why he would do this, he simply answered that he couldn’t turn people out of their homes. He deliberately gave up his status as a wealthy business owner to make sure he watched over his neighbor! What an example of selflessness and Southern Gentlemanly kindness.

Granddad JC and time with cousins

Here's Granddad JC talking about his time with cousins

It was a stupid thing. I was wanting to go to visit my cousins in North Carolina. But I was the only one wanting to do it. I don’t know what happened, but I put on a raincoat, I was barefooted and was wearing short pants and all.

I went down to Aunt Docia’s. She lived on Fair Street on the corner right there by the school and she was a nurse. And I was going to see if she was going to North Carolina – I might have asked her for money to ride the bus up there. I dunno, it was crazy--it never materialized – she said oh yeah, so she put me in a car and brought me back home. <chuckles> so this was the end of my trip to North Carolina.

My cousins always came down here. We all had so much fun. When they came down here we all got out of the beds and let the older people use on the beds and we slept the floor. That was fun. We’d sleep there and then get up in the morning and we’d go out and play, hide in the hay stack and all this stuff. That was fun. All this was open land around here – farmland. We played like Blind Man Buff or you cover your head and everyone goes and hide and you go out and try to find them. Mostly Red Rover Red Rover. You ever play that? <chuckles> We’d do that. Crazy.

They’d come at Christmas time; maybe Thanksgiving. Not really other times.

In the wintertime, we’d set trout lines down right down there in the pond and catch catfish. And we’d have catfish stew. Every-well we'd need some more so we would go down there and run the line.

Somebody said they were down there runnin' the trout line and they got the boat on top of a stump when there was an alligator, comin' around there. It was on the stump, so they couldn't move the boat to get away from the alligator! They must've hit it on the head with a paddle or something to get away; I dunno exactly how they got away.

That was over at Aunt Julia’s over the top of the hill up there. It’s all grown up now. The house is gone now, I don't know what happened.

Yeah, those were fun times. Fun times for the kids.

Aunt Docia on right as a recent nursing school grad

Note: I assume that the cousins in NC were Cora Lawrence (nee Connell)'s children. Does anyone know?

Alvie and Lethia: a brother-sister pair

This one isn't really much of a mystery, but it was fun looking for and finding them. Check out the names as they were indexed; the indexers sure did struggle with these unusual (and old-fashioned) names!

Alvie Dunn

As far as I can tell, Alvie Burton Dunn was the youngest child of William Dunn and Margaret Gray Dunn. He was born June 5, 1878, never married, and passed away on April 18, 1946. He was a farmer, and lived with his sister Lethia Alafaire Dunn Primm for most of his adult life.

I'm sure that Lethia helped with the farm in addition to keeping up with the house and cooking meals.

Uncle Alvie Dunn, Oliver Lawing

Oliver Lawing married Essie Dunn, who was a niece to Alvie and Lethia. We also have a picture of her sister, Mayme Dunn. Essie and Mayme's father was Alvie and Lethia's brother William Leo Dunn.

Uncle Alvie Dunn

I think Alive liked horses.

From the records, it looks like Alvie and Lethia cared for their parents as William and Margaret advanced in age. Here's a sweet picture of Lethia with her mother Margaret and her cousin Floyd Todd's first wife, Carrie Asbury Todd.

Carrie Asbury Todd, Lethia Dunn Primm, Margaret Ann Gray Dunn. Taken about 1914.

Lethia was born on February 19, 1871, older than Alvie by seven years. She married R. Ernest Primm on May 18, 1893 and became a widow soon after. According to research done by cousin Rita, he died in an accident while working about a year after their marriage. Lethia never remarried. After a long life, she passed away on December 19, 1949 at the age of 78.

I like to think that Alvie and Lethia were somewhat like Matthew and Marilla in the Anne of Green Gables series: a brother and a sister who divided the work on the farm and supported each other. When Alvie registered for the WWI draft, he listed Lethia as his closest relative.

I found a lot of sources for these two; you may be interested in looking at some of them.

Source timeline:

1880 Census

1893 - Lethia Dunn's marriage to Ernest Prim

1900 Census

1910 Census

1917 - WWI Draft Registration

1920 Census

1930 Census

1940 Census

1946 - Alvie's death

Alvie's headstone

1949 - Lethia's death

Lethia's headstone

Margaret Ann Gray

Floyd Todd's first wife (Carrie Asbury Todd), Aunt Lethia Primm, Grandma Dunn (Margaret Ann Gray).
Picture taken about 1914.

 Parents: George Alexander Gray, Mary Wallace
Birth: May 20, 1838
Marriage: May 9, 1857 to William Charles Dunn. He was 30 and she would be 19 in just a few days. They had at least 8 children: Charles Millard, Delia Anita, Molly, Viola, Lethia Alafaire, William Leo, Lloyd L, and Alvie Burton (there may be more children; according to the 1910 census, Margaret bore 11 children, and according to the 1900 census, she bore 12. 7 were living at the time of both of the censuses.)
Death: February 5, 1916

Margaret Ann Gray was born in Tennessee in the year 1838. Steam-powered boats were gaining popularity, and one even crossed the Atlantic Ocean in record time in the year she was born. One thing that happened fairly close to home was that the Trail of Tears began that year in Georgia.

Margaret's family was originally from North Carolina, and had moved to Tennessee no more than two years before her birth, since her older sister Narcissa was born in North Carolina. The family stayed in Tennessee for only a few years; Margaret's sister Mary was born in Tennessee when Margaret was three years old, but by the time Margaret was six (1844), the family was back in good ol' Mecklenburg county where her next youngest sister Lydia was born. Fun fact: Margaret and Lydia married brothers! William was 17 years older than his brother James Franklin Dunn who married Lydia. William and Margaret were married about 14 years before J. F. and Lydia tied the knot. Both couples were married in Gaston County, NC.

Sometime in her childhood, Margaret probably attended school. The 1900 census states that she was able to read and write, so I assume that she learned at school. However, it is possible that one of her parents taught her to read and write.

When she was just shy of 19 years old, Margaret married William Charles Dunn. They lived in the same general area, so they had probably known each other--or at least each other's families--for some time. William was 11 years Margaret's senior. Their children came slowly at first, then more quickly. Charles, their first to survive childhood, was born in late 1859. It was eight years before their next child to survive childhood--my great-great grandma Delia--was born. The next six children came quickly, one every two or so years. The youngest (Alvie) was born when Margaret was 40.

I wonder if the other 3 or 4 children indicated by the 1900 and 1910 censuses came before Delia, but did not survive long enough to be recorded on a census? Because of the closeness in age of her younger children, I believe that Margaret must have had more pregnancies between Charles and Delia. She must have been devastated at the loss of her babies; she still remembered them to have them recorded--even as an impersonal number--when she was in her 60's (1900) and her 70's (1910).

Edward Dunn is listed with the family in the 1870 census. It's possible even that this Edward living with them was not even a Dunn; the census taker could have been lazy and listed all children in the household with the last name of Dunn. He certainly didn't double-check Margaret's place of birth! Anyway, I believe that he's related to Margaret and William. Older children and teenagers often lived with relatives at various times either to help the family they were living with, to be in a more advantageous situation, or even just to have an extended visit. I'm fairly certain that this Edward is not Margaret and William's child, as he was born before the couple were married.

In later life, Margaret and her husband William lived with their children Lethia and Alvie, as you can see in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. I believe that Margaret was also close to the Todd family, since Floyd Todd's wife is pictured with her and Lethia in the first picture in this post and F. L. Todd reported her death. According to her death certificate, Margaret passed away at the age of 77 due to "natural debility." She passed away just three years after William, her husband of 56 years.

Another picture of Margaret Ann Gray. I think this picture must have gone through a fire to look like this.
We're lucky to have it!

1850 Census

1860 Census
Gaston County, NC

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census

1910 Census

Death record (Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC, 1916)

Grave marker
Note: I believe the year on the grave marker for Margaret's death (1927) is incorrect. The death record I found for "Canty A Dunn" lists the correct parents and the correct birth date and place for Margaret, as well as having F. L. Todd as the informant. We know that Margaret was close to the Todds, as we see in the 1914 picture we have of her with "Floyd Todd's first wife." Also, in 1900 and 1910, William and Margaret both lived with their son Alive and daughter Lethia. It made sense for their children who didn't have families of their own to take care of their parents. In the 1920 census, Alvie and Lethia still lived together, but Margaret was not listed with them.

William Charles Dunn

Parents: James Andrew Dunn, Betsy Elizabeth Cox
Birth: April 17, 1827
Marriage: May 9, 1857 to Margaret Ann Gray. He was 30 and she would be 19 in a few days. They had 9 children: Edward, Charles Millard, Delia Anita, Molly, Viola, Lethia Alafaire, William Leo, Lloyd L, and Alvie Burton
Death: January 24, 1913 at the age of 85.

As I researched William's life, three things stuck out to me: he was a farmer, he was a homebody, and he cared about detail. On every census, his occupation was listed as farmer, although many of the other farmers that I've researched listed secondary occupations in the occupation field instead. William identified as a farmer. Of all the documents I found for him, none of them showed him being further than 20 or so miles away from the place he was born. He liked being with his family, both immediate and extended. The thing that made me realize that he payed attention to detail was that his birth date was correct on every record that I looked at. Compared to other records that I've looked at from his time period in the South, he was very particular to get this one thing right. I imagine that carried over to other aspects of his life as well.

_________________

William was born in Mecklenburg county, probably just northwest of Charlotte where he lived most of his life. He was the only boy in his family for the first 6 years of his life, with two older sisters and two sisters between him and his next youngest brother. After that, five more sisters came into his family, followed by the two youngest, both boys. The youngest brother was born just a few months before the 1850 census was taken. All this time, it appears that the family was living in Mecklenburg county, northwest of Charlotte.

William met Margaret Ann Gray about 6 or 7 years later, and they were married--or at least they obtained their marriage license--in Gaston county, immediately east of Mecklenburg county. It's about 20 miles from the county seat of Gaston county to Paw Creek, where the family lived, but I'm guessing that William lived closer than the county seat.

William and Margaret stayed in Gaston County for at least three years after their marriage; in 1860, they were living there with their fist child. Sometime before 1870, though, they were back in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg county, next to William's family. They stayed in the area until William passed away in 1913 at age of 85.


References:

1830 Census (father James listed; all that indicates William is the one boy attributed to that family)

1850 Census:

*note that immediately below the James Dunn family on this census was the
Andrew Dunn family. Andrew was James's older brother.

Index of marriage record
(Gaston county)

1860 Census
(Gaston county)

1870 Census:

1880 Census

1900 Census

1910 Census

Henry W. Marcus

Parents: ?, Mira Marcus
Date of birth: May 1862
Marriage: early 1890's to Mattie Young, they had two children: Lela and Laura
Henry had another son named Ivey. I don't know anything about Ivey's mother.
Date of death: October 6, 1901

Thank goodness for censuses, or I would know next to nothing about Henry Marcus. From stories that I've been told by my relatives that have done more extensive research on him and his family, it seems that his mother was mistress to a wealthy man in the area who supported her and her children but remained anonymous.

Henry was the oldest of at least four children and grew up near the mountains of NC. He apprenticed with a blacksmith in a nearby town in 1880 when he was 18 years old, and probably for some time before and after that.

Henry's 16-year-old brother Hosea was working as a servant at the same time for a farmer and his wife that lived in Johns River Township, where they grew up. I couldn't find any records for their younger brother Noah besides the 1870 Census shown here. However, I did find a Laura Marcus Allen that was living close to a Hosea A. Marcus at the time that they both passed away in/near Carrabus county, NC. I'm guessing that they are Henry's younger siblings. I found one other record for Henry's sister Laura--it appears that she and her mother were working as servants in 1880 (Laura was 14 at the time). I'm guessing that Henry's father must have passed away and had not been able to leave anything to Mira and her family. For some reason, Hosea and Laura are listed as being two years younger than they would have been if the 1870 census's ages were correct. As teenagers, I'm sure they cared very much about their actual age, so I wonder what made them claim that they were younger than they actually were?

Between 1880 and 1900, some significant things happened. Henry fathered a son, Ivey--I wasn't able to find any records for Ivey's mother, but that doesn't mean she and Henry weren't married. Of course, that doesn't mean they were, but we can't assume anything. Henry also moved to South Carolina at some point, and met Mattie Young. The two were married in the early 1890's and had two girls, Lela and Laura.

About Henry's death--the story goes that Henry had been incarcerated and escaped. There was already tension between him and Mattie, so when Mattie asked the town law enforcement for advice, he told Mattie to shoot Henry Marcus if he tried to go into the house. He did come by, so she took out a gun and told him to leave or she'd shoot. Henry came up to the house, and well, she shot. It's a sad story, but definitely an interesting piece of our family history. Evidently there's a news article about it, but I don't have it, so we'll have to suffer without the official story until I do.

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census

J.O. Thompson--Record Count: 3

When I made my initial search for J.O. Thompson, I only found one record for him. I ran into similar scarcity of records for his wife, Grace Campbell. In the process of looking for J.O.'s father (James Henry Thompson), I found two more records for J.O, and one record for Grace. This brings the record count up to 3 for J.O. and 2 for Grace (I found a record for each when I was researching them earlier)

One of the records was in the 1940 US census. You can see the image and the link at the bottom of this post. It's neat to see a record with so many people that I've actually met--Aunt Margaret, Aunt Sugie, Aunt Ruby, Uncle Foy, and of course Grandma Izzy.

The other record was a WWI draft registration card that contained his physical description and his date of birth. J.O was described as a man of medium height and weight with gray eyes and light hair, not bald (he was only 25). At the time of registration, he was already living in Charlotte, NC. J.O. claimed exemption from the draft because he was deaf in one ear (you can see that at the bottom of the first page). Also interesting is J.O.'s signature at the bottom of the card.

This record is about 2 years after J.O.'s first wife and children passed away. I can imagine the heartbreak he felt--but didn't show--as the registrar asked if he had a wife or children solely dependent on him for support and J.O. had to reply, "No." At this time, he may or may not have met his second wife Grace yet. They married about a year after J.O. registered for the draft. Here's the card:

WWI draft registration, circa 1917

The other record I found was for J.O. and Grace in the 1940 Census.

1940 Census, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, North Carolina

Delia Anita Dunn

Delia was a popular name in the 1800's. The name came from Greek mythology, and it meant "visible from Delos." It's pronounced DEAL-ya, like Amelia Bedelia.

Parents: William Charles Dunn, Margaret Ann Gray
Birth: January 1866
Marriage: January 20, 1892 to Quince Routillus Campbell. Quince was 29 and Delia was 25. They had six children:

A baby boy, who died soon after birth, Grace Viola, William Lafayette, Foy Routillus, Margaret Elizabeth, and Ella Alafaire

Death: October 22, 1925. Delia was only 59.

From the information I have from the censuses, it looks like Delia lived in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina until she married Quince Campbell. Her father was well-enough off to own his own place, as you can see in the 1870 census. She had one older brother--Charles--who was significantly older than her. It appears that she had some other older siblings who weren't able to survive childhood. So sad!

After Delia married, she moved around some--at least to Ironton, NC and back to Paw Creek. She stayed at home, kept up with housework, and I'm sure she also helped with the farm.

Delia was acquainted with loss--her very first child died the day he was born, and her second-youngest daughter (Margaret) passed away when she was only 15 years old. Delia and Quince were obviously distraught over the loss of their daughter, and they commissioned a beautiful headstone for her with the inscription, "Weep not father and mother for me, For I am waiting in glory for thee." They also commissioned a headstone for their first child, although I'm sure that as a newly married couple, they did not have much money to spare.

Below are the records I have found that chronicle Delia's life.

1870 Census

1880 Census

1910 Census

1920 Census

Delia Dunn's death certificate

Grave marker

Quince Routillus Campbell

"Grandfather Quince Routillus Campbell"

Parents: Joseph Alexander Lafayette Campbell, Sarah Elizabeth Meadows
Birth: July 12, 1862
Marriage: January 20, 1892 to Delia Anita Dunn. Quince was 29 and Delia was 25. They had six children:

A baby boy, who died soon after birth, Grace Viola, William Lafayette, Foy Routillus, Margaret Elizabeth, and Ella Alafaire

Death: December 10, 1943 at age 81.

Wow. I can't believe how many documents I found for Quince R. Campbell, considering how hard it was to find any for Grace Campbell. There are so many! I found census records from both before and after he was married, a record of his marriage to Delia Dunn, and a record of his passing. We have a neat picture of his life here:

1870 Census, Sugar Loaf Township, Alexander County, North Carolina:

Click to enlarge

This census record doesn't really list much, but we can still learn from it. Quince's stepmother Jane is listed here (nee Gwatlney), and his half-brother Lebius was already born. Quince grew up in or near Sugar Loaf, North Carolina. This is north of Charlotte and just about directly due west from Greensboro and Winston-Salem, NC. The area highlighted in pink on the map is Sugar Loaf, NC.

Sugar Loaf, Alexander County, NC (screenshot from Google Maps)

1880 Census, Sugar Loaf Township, Alexander County, North Carolina:

Click to enlarge

In this census, we see that Quince is still in Sugar Loaf with the family he grew up with. We see that he had attended school within the last year, and that his father and paternal grandparents were born in North Carolina.

1910 Census, Ironton Township, Lincoln County, North Carolina

Click to enlarge

A lot can happen in 30 years, and that's how long it has been since the last census that I found Quince in. Quince was married to Delia Dunn in Paw Creek, NC, about 7 miles from downtown Charlotte. Ironton township, where he was living when this census was taken, is about 30 miles northwest of Charlotte. All six of Quince and Delia's children had been born by this point, and they already knew the grief of losing a child. It looks like Quince was a farmer, just like his father before him. He was renting the land he farmed, and the census lists his three oldest children (including Grace!) as being "farm laborers" on the "home farm". I wonder if that was just carelessness on the census taker's part, or if Grace did take a big part in helping with the farm. I wouldn't be surprised, since her younger brothers were a lot younger than her, and she was the oldest. Also, I know Grandma, and I wouldn't be surprised if her mother had just as much gumption as Grandma does.

1920 Census, Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Click to enlarge

Quince and his family had returned to Paw Creek by 1920, but his two oldest children had moved out. The oldest at home is still listed as a "farm laborer" on the "home farm," but it shows that Quince was working -- at least part-time -- as a carpenter at a broom factory.

1940 Census, Masonic and Eastern Star Home, Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina:

Click to enlarge

The Masonic and Eastern Star Home was an exclusive community for members of the Masonic and Eastern Star lodges who had retired. Accordingly, we learn from this census that Quince was a member of one of those organizations. We also learn that as late as 1935, Quince was still living in Charlotte. On a side note, the Home is still in business, but is now open to everyone.

I also found the extracted data from Quince's death certificate. This data shows that he was a widower when he passed away, the date of his passing, his birth date, and the names (or at least partial names) of his parents. His father was listed as Joseph F. Campbell. At first I was stumped by this, but then I found some information that showed that his father's nickname was "Fate" or possibly "Fayette,"  short for Lafayette. It makes sense, especially considering that Quince's father was listed as "Lafayett" on one census but "Joseph" on another. The record lists Quince's mother as Elizabeth Meadows. I'm looking forward to learning more about her and finding out if she went by her middle name or if this is possibly another error.

Quince Campbell had a full life. I get a sense of satisfaction as I document it. I'm sure it was full of hardships harder than I can imagine (soft modern girl that I am :), but I imagine it was filled with the joy of family.