Early Years
James Campbell was born on February 4, 1826 to Scotch-Irish William Campbell (1788–1879) and Martha Adams (1794–1871) in Derry, Ireland. Campbell was the eighth child of twelve children. At the age of thirteen, Campbell boarded a ship leaving Ireland for Canada. He then went to work for his brother John in New York City. For two years in the United States, Campbell followed in his father's footsteps as a carpenter. In 1841 he joined a whaling crew bound for the South Pacific where the vessel was shipwrecked. Campbell and only two shipmates survived by clinging onto debris and floating to a nearby island. They were captured by natives and held prisoner. He convinced the chief he could be useful by using his skill at improvised repairs. After a few months he escaped on a ship bound for Tahiti where he settled and lived for several years.
Read more about this topic: James Campbell (industrialist)
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“I looked at my daughters, and my boyhood picture, and appreciated the gift of parenthood, at that moment, more than any other gift I have ever been given. For what person, except one’s own children, would want so deeply and sincerely to have shared your childhood? Who else would think your insignificant and petty life so precious in the living, so rich in its expressiveness, that it would be worth partaking of what you were, to understand what you are?”
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