Esther Anna (Brown) Campbell
Marriages
John L. Campbell
Served as Eagle County Treasurer, 1889-1891
Burial Details
Obituaries
Eagle County Blade page 1 - February 8, 1906
Mrs. John L. Campbell, who has been an invalid for many years, died at the family home in Denver on Tuesday morning, February 6, 1906.
Mr. Campbell was formerly treasurer of this county and the family resided here several years.
Mr. Campbell is now in business here, but for several weeks has been at the bedside of his wife. The son, Will, went to Denver Tuesday to be present at the funeral.
The other children are Mrs. James W. Woods of Salida, and Miss Ella Campbell.
The Denver Republican of Wednesday had the following interesting ketch of the deceased and her devoted husband:
In April of 1865, the Third New Jersey was stationed at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. All the men were under orders at the railroad depot waiting the arrival of the train bearing the remains of Abraham Lincoln to the banks of the Sangamon in Illinois.
A drummer boy was standing with a soldier near the depot, and it was raining. The two noticed a couple of girls under a large umbrella, and joined them.
The drummer boy was John L. Campbell, a resident of this state from 1871, and one of the girls was Miss Esther Anna Brown, who later became Mrs. Campbell.
The meeting of the two was not the only romantic experience of their intercourse. The acquaintance which sprung up at the chance meeting ripened, as many such acquaintances do.
When Mr. Campbell established himself at Sweetwater, Wyoming, in 1869, he sent for the rosy faced Pennsylvania girl to join him in establishing a household.
She had never been away from home before, but made the trip over the railways to Bryan, a station on the Union Pacific, and from there by stage through 100 miles of Indian country to Sweetwater.
The stage was guarded all the way by soldiers, as traveling was unsafe. Arriving at Sweetwater, she found no minister was within 400 miles of the place.
The pair were married by Judge James S. Stillman a famous jurist of the time, who had been a resident of Utah and who was said to have been at one time a member of that church. The wedding made the first legal marriage of the Sweetwater country.
