William M. Campbell
A prominent business man of Washington C. H., Fayette county, Ohio, is William M. Campbell, vice-president of the Midland Grocery Company of Ohio and general manager of the Dahl-Millikan branch at Washington C. H. He has been a business man since his early manhood, his father having been a general merchant all his life, and, consequently, his early training was such as to influence him in favor of a business career. He has been living in Washington C. H. since 1897, where he has charge of the Dahl-Millikan branch of the Midland Grocery Company.
William M. Campbell, the son of Thomas C. and Margaret L. (Brown) Campbell, was born in Bainbridge, Ross county, Ohio, February 28, 1871. His parents, who were natives of Ohio, reared a family of six children: William M., of Washington C. H. ; Joseph Porter, of Bainbridge: Frances C, of Bainbridge; T. Clifford, of Berlin, Germany; Winifred, the wife of David H. Roche, Jr., of Chillicothe, Ohio, and Frank, who died in early childhood.
Thomas C. Campbell was born in Aberdeen, Ohio, and reared in Cynthiana, Pike county, Ohio. He was a general merchant and for forty-five vears was a prominent merchant of Bainbridge, where he is now living a retired life. He has extensive farming- interests as well as mercantile interests in Ross county. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Thomas C. Campbell's father, William H. B. Campbell, of Aberdeen, Ohio, was a grandson of Evan Campbell, whose father was Mathew Campbell, one of the founders of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mathew Campbell was a son of Colin Campbell, of the house of the Scottish Lords and the seventh son of the Duke of Argyle, Scotland.
The paternal grandparents of William M. Campbell, William H. B. and Nancy (Shofstahl) Campbell, were early settlers in Brown county, Ohio. William H. B. Campbell was the first man to start the Gretna Green for ferrying people across the Ohio river between Maysville, Kentucky, and Aberdeen, Ohio, and was a river boatman all his life. Thomas C. was the only child born to this union and was reared by an uncle and aunt, J. W. McCague. The maternal grandparents of William M. Campbell were Joseph P. and Mary (Perrill) Brown. Joseph P. Brown was merchant and farmer at Bainbridge, where he died at an advanced age. Mr. Brown and his wife reared a large family of children, Margaret L., John, Frances, Perrill F., Effie and Elizabeth.
William M. Campbell was reared in Bainbridge, Ohio, and graduated from the high school of Bainbridge in 1889. He then entered the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, and graduated from that excellent institution in the spring of 1891. He then began clerking in his father's store at Bainbridge, Ohio, and later took charge of the store, remaining at Bainbridge until after his marriage in 1897. In that year he came to Washington C. H. and took a position with the Dahl-Millikan Company in order to learn the grocery business. He went through all of the office positions and traveled on the road as a salesman for the company for a few years. He then returned to the home office in Washington C. H. and took charge of the buying, first of the notions, woodenware. etc., and later became the buyer for all of the departments of the store. He has been a director in the company ever since the organization of the Midland Company. He is now the vice-president of the Midland Grocery Company, controlling two stores, one at Columbus and the other at Washington C. H., known as the Dahl-Millikan branch. This company employs about forty salesmen on the road and is one of the largest wholesale grocery firms of the state. Mr. Campbell is essentially a self-made man and has worked his way up from a boy to his present position and is now one of the leading and eminently successful business men of Washington C. H.
Mr. Campbell was married June 24, 1897, to Ethel Dahl, the daughter of George and Ruth (Bereman) Dahl. To this union one daughter, Virginia, has been born. Mrs. Campbell was born in Washington C. H. and spent her whole life here. Her death occurred on December 27, 1911.
Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are stanch members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Campbell belongs to Bainbridge Lodge No. 196, Free and Accepted Masons; Greenfield Chapter No. 133, Royal Arch Masons; Chillicothe Council, Royal and Select Masters, as well as Garfield Commandery No. 28, Knights Templar, at Washington C. H. He is also a member of the Scioto Consistory, Columbus, Ohio, being a thirty-second-degree Mason. He also holds his membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Washington C. H. He is a director of the Fayette Canning Company and is a stockholder in the Fayette County Bank. In addition to his other interests, he owns two hundred and fifty acres in Union township, in this county. Politically, he has always given his hearty support to the Republican party, but has never been a candidate for office. Mr. Campbell is recognized as a man of worth and stabity of character and enjoys the highest esteem of his fellow citizens.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)