A New Find! One More Piece to the Puzzle

My grandma told me that when her father passed away, her mother put his birth place as Shreveport, Louisiana on his death certificate. All that my grandmother had heard about him was that he was from Texas, and many of the documents we have show that he claimed Texas as his birth place. She even asked her mother why she put Shreveport, LA as his birth place, and she remembers her mother saying that she didn't know why. As a result, my grandma had always assumed that she'd put that because of her state of mind, being grief stricken and distraught after the sudden loss of her husband. I asked her recently if she'd ever looked into the Shreveport, LA possibility and she told me no, because of the response from her mother and the fact that everything she knew about her father pointed to Texas.

Well, one simple search on Ancestry for a William Campbell in Shreveport, LA revealed a match! This record confirms the story that William left his home for Texas for several years to work.

Not only does it indicate where he was living while in Mexico, but he lists an emergency contact: Ida Eliot of Cisco, TX. We're not sure yet who Ida is, but this is a great step into learning more about William and his family. 

A HUGE thank you to my sister-in-law Amber who found this and sent it on. You're an angel!

More Documents We Have - Death Records

Newspaper Story

Death Certificate


SSA Application (Index only)

Coroner's Report
 (to come)

More Documents We Have - Census and Marriage

1930 Census

Here William is single, head of household, renting a home with three other men. Here he lists that he and his parents are all from Texas.

Marriage License and Certificate

 Here he lists the names and birth places of his parents. My grandma has always said that his father "called" his mother Ella, as if it was possibly a nickname.

William Willard / Wilbur Campbell 1881-1939

William Willard Campbell is my great grandfather. We don't know much about him as he died suddenly when my grandmother was just six years old, and we don't have much information about him. Here is what we know:

(William Campbell and Louis Mattier on a CA beath about 1928)

John Wilbur Campbell (discovered different middle name on WWI Draft Registration form: Willard)

Birth: 2 Oct 1878 - 1883 (depending on the document: Death Certificate and WWI Draft Registration)
Married: 9 May 1932 to Geneva Laura Maze Mattier (widow with two sons). He listed this as his first marriage. They were married in Redwood City, San Mateo, California.
Died: 8 Nov 1939. San Mateo, California. Poisoned himself with Strychnine because of financial troubles. I have a news article, death certificate, and coroner's report.

"When William and his father had the falling out his father told him to leave and never come back again, so William went into Mexico and sheep herded. He came back out when there was a Mexican uprising and all of the Gringo's were chased out. William said he came into the town his parents lived but did not go to his parents house but did visit a sister who also lived there. At this time he was told his mother had died in the interim. His father had bad health suffering from Gout and had hired hands to do work. He remembered his mother being the strong one who never complained about any heath problems. (All of this was told me by my mother so all of the facts may not be correct)."

His WWI Draft Registration lists the new middle name, not Wilbur. It also notes an earlier birth year that in other documents, 1878.  He lists his father as John William Campbell from Brownwood, Brown County, Texas, United States. My grandmother remembers her father saying that his father called his mother "Ella", so this is likely a nickname.

                     (World War I Draft Registration Card)

It appears that he arrived in California around 1915 and worked in the San Mateo area before marrying Geneva Laura Maze Mattier in 1932. They had one daughter, Wilma. William died when she was 6 years old. We have several records documenting his death.

We've also located him in the 1930 census, living in California.

There is a lot of varying information for William, so we'd love to hear from everyone, even individuals that are not connected to Texas.