Memory's Storehouse Unlocked, True Stories: Pioneer Days In Wetmore and Northeast Kansas
John Locke · en
Idle mining properties, or mines worked only spasmodically by lessees,
do not readily attract buyers, especially when filled with water, as in
the case of the Campbell mine at Vanderbilt. Incredible as it may seem,
there really is water deep down—in places—in that desert country, and
it even rises sometimes. The shaft at our own mine, in the very heart
of the desert, situated in a small depression on the mountain side, was
once filled to overflowing during a heavy rain.
Other bequests, principally to relatives, also were contingent upon the
sale of those two properties. And hope, tenacious hope, once bloomed so
very brightly but now devoid of sparkle, still lingers with heirs around
here.
Henry Campbell, a nephew, who was sheriff of Nemaha County for two terms
about the turn of the century, with his two sisters, Mary and Frances,
the son and daughters of John Campbell, all deceased now, were named
jointly for $100,000. The surviving heirs are: Emma Swarm Campbell, wife
of Henry, Bancroft, and two sons by a former marriage, living in
the West; George Cordon, husband of Mary, Ontario; Ray Drake, son of
Frances, Norton.
The heirs of Caroline Campbell, who married a Mr. Steele and went West,
and the heirs of Sally Ann Campbell, who married Henry Stanley and lived
near Circleville, were named jointly in the will for $100,000. William
and Edward Stanley and Laura Hart, all dead now, were children of Sally
Ann. William worked with his uncle in the mines and was named for an
extra $100,000.
Two daughters of Green Stanley, another son of Sally Ann, are married
to “Jack” and “Kid” Rudy, and live at Soldier. A daughter of Sally
Ann—Julia Alice Stanley — married Albert D. Chamberlin, now living in
Holton. Mrs. Chamberlin is dead. Her heirs are: Mrs. Lee Able, Holton;
Mrs. S. B. Moody, Centralia; Mrs. Ernest Hogg, Payette, Idaho; Mrs.
Mary Gaston and Nathaniel Chamberlin, Whitehall, Montana; and Charles
Chamberlin, Salt Lake City.
One small payment was received by the heirs here about two years back,
which revived interest in about the same degree of satisfaction as
that of a sprinkle of rain to a thirsty earth. Time was, though, George
Cordon tells me, when they could have accepted settlement at fifty cents
on the dollar.
It is probable that the inheritance of Charley Campbell was tied up in
this or by some other uncertain condition. Whatever the case, he settled
with the estate for $50,000. Crediting rumor afloat at the time, it
is my recollection that, in recognition of close—and perhaps
menacing—kinship, this was paid with money left by Green Campbell to his
second family.
Leaving an ex-wife and two sons, Allen and Robert, in the West, Charley
Campbell later returned to Circleville. There, in 1920, he married Laura
Deck. He is now living in or near Philadelphia.