James H. Campbell. Prominent among the men identified with the financial and business interests of Iola, Kansas, is found James H. Campbell, cashier of the Iola State Bank and an official in various other enterprises. Mr. Campbell had been a resident of this section all his life and here had worked his own way to an edifying and well-deserved success, unaided save by inherent business acumen and persevering labor. He was born on a farm twelve miles northeast of Iola, in Anderson County, Kansas, January 31, 1874, and is a son of James H. and Bethia A. (Simpson) Campbell.
James H. Campbell, the elder, was born in 1818, at Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, and was there educated and reared to manhood. He was trained for the law, which he took up as a profession when twenty-one years of age, and followed that calling in his native community until 1859, when he came to Kansas as a pioneer of Allen County. Here he homesteaded a claim of 160 acres, which he subsequently traded for another property, just over the line into Anderson County, and that tract continued to be his home until 1886, when he went to Colony, Kansas, and retired. After two years he came to Iola, and here made his home until his death, which occurred January 15, 1889. Mr. Campbell was one of the substantial men of his community, possessed of business ability and of superior educational attainments. He was a republican in politics, and after serving in a number of minor offices was sent to the Kansas State Legislature. He married Miss Bethia A. Simpson, who was born in 1834, at Hillsboro, Ohio, and still survives, making her home with her son, James H., and they became the parents of seven children: A. H., who is a practicing attorney of Iola; R. H., who was engaged in farming at Colony, Kansas, until his death: W. T. S., who also died at Colony as an agriculturist; Alice, who died unmarried at Iola; Mary Jane, who died single at Kansas City, Missouri; James H.; and Kate, who died, aged five years.
James H. Campbell of this review was educated in the rural schools of Anderson County and the public schools of Iola, and left the latter at the age of fourteen years to become a clerk in the drug store of John W. Scott, at Iola. He was enterprising and ambitious, learned the business thoroughly and saved his earnings, and in 1892 bought Mr. Scott out and became proprietor of the store. He remained alone until 1895, when he admitted Doctor Christian to partnership, the latter being succeeded in 1898 by S. R. Burrell, with whom Mr. Campbell was associated in business until 1905. In that year he sold his interests to Mr. Burrell to accept the position of cashier of the Iola State Bank, with which he had since been identified. The Iola State Bank, which is one of the sound and substantial institutions of Allen County, was organized in 1903 as a state bank, and had a capital of $50,000, and a surplus of $5,000. The new banking house, which was built in 1907-8, is equipped with the most modern appointments, and is located at the corner of Madison and Jefferson avenues. The present officials of this institution are: Louis E. Horville, president; A. W. Beck, vice president; James H. Campbell, cashier; and F. O. Benson and Francis McCall, assistant cashiers. Mr. Campbell is a member of the board of directors of this bank, as he is also of the Piqua State Bank and the Lone Elm State Bank, also Kansas institutions. He had a number of important business connections, among them being the Central Machinery & Supply Company, of which he is treasurer; the Kansas City Brick Company, of which he is secretary, and the Iola Industrial Building Company, of which he is secretary and treasurer. He had been vice president and treasurer of the Iola Commercial Club and had always been active in helping to build up Iola, to advance its welfare and to promote the interests of its people. Mr. Campbell is the owner of a farm of eighty acres in Wilson County and a dwelling at No. 109 First Street (North), as well as his own home, at No. 212 South Colborn Street. Politically, he is a republican, and at the present time is treasurer of the school board of Iola. With his family he belongs to the Presbyterian Church, while his fraternal connections include membership in Iola Camp No. 961, Modern Woodmen of America; Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and Iola Lodge No. 569, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He traces his ancestry back to Scotland, from whence the original Campbell of this branch of the family emigrated to America, first settling in Kentucky, from which state his descendants moved to Indiana.
Mr. Campbell was married in 1903, at Kansas City, Missouri, to Miss Kate V. Ausherman, who was born in Maryland, taken as a child to Springfield, Missouri, later to Bourbon County, Kansas, and finally to Allen County, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are the parents of two children: Clifford James, born October 5, 1904; and Charles A., born April 10, 1912.