Series 8 - John F. Campbell memoir

186pp

Transcript and copies created from a public source: Campbell, John F. (1925).The Campbells of Drumaboden, on the River Lyennon, Near Rathmelton, County Donegal, North of Ireland.

[This memoir contains outdated attitudes or language that does not reflect the current views or positions of the University of Galway Library. Reader discretion is advised.] Materials related to the memoir of John F. Campbell. Campbell was born in 1844 on an 85-acre farm in Drumaboden in east County Donegal and emigrated at age 7 in 1851, along with his parents, siblings and a nurse. He wrote his memoir in the 1920s, publishing it in 1925. It covers: life in east Donegal during the Famine and the family's departure from Ramelton; the journey to America, landing in New Orleans then travelling up the Mississippi to Tennessee; early life and politics in Tennessee; letters to and from home; genealogical information about the Campbells, included information on Scottish lineage; the Civil War in the American South and lead up to it, as well as his brother's wounding and capture as a Confederate soldier and eventual death in battle; the early Jim Crow South and rise of the KKK; Reconstruction and life after the war; farming and building practices; eventual work in oil and the building of a mill in Hickman, KY. Professor Kerby A. Miller writes of the memoir, 'There's a tone of anger and even violence, alongside much romantic sentimentalism, throughout. [...] note the family's ardent expressions of Presbyterian faith and Scottish identity, symbolized by alleged devotion to the Solemn League & Covenant as well as the children's Scottish dress (was the latter common?-an "invented tradition"?). Yet also some interesting examples of cultural appropriation from the Native Irish, such as (if he's serious) fairy belief, allegedly "native" dialect. Some interesting data on the Famine and relief works in east Donegal [...] Claims the family's emigration was forced by landlord oppression specifically by the much-despised Lord Leitrim (Campbell's enthusiasm over Leitrim's later assassination is quite extraordinary).' Miller ultimately argues that, 'although the family's status was not representative, their stated reasons for emigration were common. Joining relatives in Tennessee who had emigrated in previous decades; very common, although such a large family emigration, with lots of capital, was not typical.' The series contains Miller's typed transcription of part of the memoir, a photocopy of the original published memoir, and Miller's research notes.