Montgomery County PA Archives Biographies.....Campbell, John J. October 21, 1850 - 
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Source: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County Pennsylvania, T. S. Benham & Company and the Lewis Publishing Company, 1904
Author: Ellwood Roberts, Editor

JOHN J. CAMPBELL, a prominent citizen of the borough of 
Rockledge, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he is a 
real estate broker, conveyancer and justice of the peace, is 
a native of the city of Philadelphia. He was born October 
21, 1850, a son of Thomas and Catherine (Dowling) Campbell.

The Campbells are of Scotch origin, as the name indicates, 
but Mr. Campbell's father and grandfather were both natives 
of Ireland. Thomas Campbell (father) was born in County 
Louth, about 1820, and came to America in early manhood. He 
resided in Wilmington, Delaware, and at Harper's Ferry, 
Virginia, but was a resident of Philadelphia for nearly 
forty years. He carried on the business of a contractor and 
builder for many years in Kensington, a manufacturing 
district of Philadelphia, erecting many houses there. He 
also operated stone quarries very extensively at the corner 
of Front and Clearfield streets. He died November 2, 1892. 
Mr. Campbell was twice married. His first wife was Catherine 
Dowling, also a native of Ireland. Their children were: John 
J., subject of this sketch; William J., residing in 
Philadelphia; Mary A., wife of John Gormley, also residing 
in Philadelphia. Mrs. Campbell died in 1855. Her parents 
were Luke and Annie Dowling, and her mother lived to the 
advanced age of ninety-five years. The second wife of Thomas 
Campbell was Mary McBride, also a native of Ireland. Their 
children: Joseph E., Thomas F., Alice, Frank and Mrs. 
Campbell, who died in 1899.

John J. Campbell, the subject of this sketch, was educated 
in the public schools of Philadelphia, in St. Michael's 
parochial school in that city, and in a night school which 
he subsequently attended, at which he studied German, 
bookkeeping and other useful accessories of a business 
education. On leaving school he engaged in the business of a 
contractor and builder, in connection with his father, who 
had already established it. In 1890 he entered into the real 
estate business at 103 East Lehigh avenue, in the city of 
Philadelphia, conducting it very successfully at that place 
for a half-dozen years. 
 
The next two years he was engaged in the same pursuit in 
Germantown. For the past five years he has conducted a 
prosperous real estate and general conveyancing business in 
Rockledge, and has aided greatly in the development of the 
borough, one of the youngest in Montgomery county. He also 
holds the office of justice of the peace, having been 
appointed April 15, 1904. He has been an active worker in 
the ranks of the Democratic party, but is in no sense an 
office seeker. During the years 1895 and 1896 he was 
employed in the office of the recorder of deeds in 
Philadelphia. The family are Catholics in religious faith, 
and attend services at the Church of the Presentation, in 
Cheltenham. Mr. Campbell is one of the most prominent and 
progressive citizens of Rockledge. During his residence in 
the borough he has done much to advance its interests, 
leaving nothing undone that is calculated to promote the 
public welfare.

Mr. Campbell married, in Philadelphia, May 3, 1876, Clara A. 
Donahoe. The couple have had seven children, as follows: 
Thomas, deceased; John L.: Louis, deceased; Edward F.; Agnes 
G.; Eugene; Mary, deceased. Mrs. Campbell died September 22, 
1900.

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