BENONI CAMPBELL, the subject of this sketch moved with his family to Ridgeberry, Bradford County, Pennsylvania in 1805. The Campbell and Fuller families were the original settlers of Ridgeberry, as documented in several histories of that city. They came in 1805 with oxen drawn wagons, also bringing several cows and locating on Bently Creek about a mile from the state line.
The inconveniences and privations of the wilderness were fully experienced by these families. Their dwellings were made of logs and roofed with bark or shakes. They ate their samp and Johnny„cake made from pounded corn which they rendered more palatable by adding maple sugar of their own making. They roasted their potatoes in the ashes and boiled their beans in a kettle suspended over the fire from a forked stick, but venison, bear, wild turkey, pigeons, grouse and trout graced their table at all seasons of the year. They chopped and burned their fallows, and with a sharpened stick made a hole in the ground among the logs and stumps, into which they dropped their corn and covered it over by their feet. They formed logging bees to clear their wheat patches and harrowed in their grain by drags with wooden teeth. Their plows were wooden ones called "bull" plows. The back logs in their fireplaces were drawn into the house by a horse.
Benoni married Mary Leonard or Lenard, daughter of Solomon and Hulda (Hodge) Leonard about 1820. She was born at Onandaga County, New York 12 September 1802. The first of the family to join the church was Benoni's brother Benajiah in November of 1830, a scant seven months after the church was founded at Fayette, Seneca County, New York. Benoni's parents were baptized in 1832, at the same time that Brigham Young was baptized. Benoni was also baptized in the 1830's and moved with his wife and their oldest children to join with the main body of the Saints. While in Kirtland, Benoni was associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith, and worked as a carpenter on the construction of the Kirtland Temple. Also, while residing in Kirtland they had one additional son who was given the name Joseph Hyrum Campbell by Joseph Smith Sr., the father of the Prophet and Patriarch at his blessing as an infant. He was born 15 Aug 1837. By 1839, the family moved to Homer, Medina County, Ohio where the last three of his children were born. The Campbell's were driven with the Saints from Kirtland in 1845 and went to Nauvoo, Illinois where they spent one winter. Mathew and his wife Jane (Deardorf) Campbell, remained in Homer, Ohio. Their children were:
Elizabeth b. 7 Mar 1822 NY
Mathew b. 25 Dec 1823 NY
Solomon b. 29 Aug 1825 NY
Samuel b. 4 May 1827 NY
John b. 3 Sep 1828 NY
Deborah b. 26 Jul 1830 NY
George b. 22 May 1832 NY „ d. 9 Jul 1834 NY
Henry b. 29 May 1834 NY
Hulda b. 16 Jul 1835 NY
William b. ? „ d. 5 Jul 1834 NY
Joseph Hyrum b. 15 Aug 1837 Kirtland, NY
Harriet b. 5 Sep 1839 Homer, Medina, OH „ d. 1 Oct 1847 Holt, MO
Elisha Leonard b. 22 Mar 1841 Homer, Medina, OH
Heber K. (Kirtland?) b. 7 Mar 1845 Homer, Medina, OH
In 1846 the Campbell family left Nauvoo with the Saints and began their westward exodus. They stopped first in Mount Pisgah where several of the family died including Joel Campbell, brother of Benoni, 11 August 1846. His name is among the few that are listed on the historical marker at that place. According to one source, Jonathan Campbell, father of Benoni also died at Mount Pisgah, but no verification has been made at this date. From Mount Pisgah the Campbell family moved on to Council Bluffs where Benonis brother Jonathan and his son enlisted into the Mormon Battalion on 16 July 1846. Benoni and Mary were never to see either of them again in their life. Shortly after the above enlistment's, the Campbell family moved south into Holt County, Missouri where they worked to earn enough money to sustain them on their journey to Salt Lake City with the Saints. In 1850 they outfitted with the Stephen Markham Company in Kanesville, Iowa and left for Deseret on the 20 Th. of June. The Company was organized in the usual manner. Where conditions would permit they traveled three abreast. Sometimes the cattle would stampede and it would be several days before they could move on again. They generally followed the North Platt River. There were fifty wagons in the train.
In June the company was stricken with the dreaded cholera, and eleven of their numbers died. Mary passed away 30 Jun 1850. A very pathetic incident occurred in connection with her death. Her son John was traveling with a company ahead of them. A woman in this company was stricken with illness and was not expected to live. John was sent on ahead to dig a grave for her. She did not die, but got better, and the company moved on, leaving an open grave behind. In less than twenty„four hours John' s mother Mary was buried in the grave which he had helped to dig for the other woman. According to Journal History of the Church, a group of missionaries headed East came upon the Markham Company on July 2, 1850. At that time they were near the Joseph Young Company and very near Salt Creek. On July 4, 1850, Benoni also passed away. He was followed in death by his youngest son Heber, July 9. They were buried along the trail. The cholera also claimed the lives of several other relatives.
The remainder of the family proceeded across the plains, of the males were Solomon, John, Joseph and Elizha and of the females were Elizabeth, Deborah and Hulda. They arrived in Salt Lake 1 October 1850. Samuel, who joined the Mormon Battalion actually arrived in Salt Lake the preceding year, after mustering out in Los Angeles.
Joseph Hyrum Campbell recalled his experiences coming across the plains many years after when he said that his job was to drive the cattle and a few sheep, walking all the way. When his shoes wore out, he walked barefooted the remainder of the way. My great grandfather Elisha undoubtedly had a similar experience.
When the children arrived in Salt Lake, they were instrumental in settling several different areas. In 1851 they settled Ogden Hole, which is North Ogden today, and in 1857 settled Providence.
Solomon remained in North Ogden, and Joseph in Providence. Samuel went on to Vernal where he endured the hard winter, and Elisha moved on to Millville and Hyrum went to Idaho where he died at Portneuf or Fortneuf in 1912. John moved back to Holt County, Missouri and raised a family, but later returned to Utah where he passed away.
This history and story was submitted to the National Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers and revised 1986. The story was written by Phillip Glenn Wheeler, December 1888 and submitted by Lily Elleanor Campbell Wheeler, 551 West J. Street, Ontario, CA 91762, Telephone 714-986-8462. Sources of information was taken from FGRA Records, Journal History of the Church, History of Solomon Campbell.
