| Notes |
- From the Blackheath Book by David Byrnes: (http://www.danbyrnes.com.au/blackheath/thebc2.htm)
"Neil Campbell (circa 1678-1761) of the College of Glasgow (1728-1761), which university of course contributed many talented Scotsmen to the service of the British Empire, and/or, to less formally Imperialistic areas of endeavour.
Principal Neil's paternity remains an intractable genealogical problem. Luckily, Neil's wife Henrietta has a coherent lineage. Information on Neil's known Australian descendants (stemming from only one of the hulks overseer's sons, "Duncan Jnr.") stops at 1938 in mid-north Queensland, at Almaden, inland from Cairns. Here, little is known also about an ex-Sydney civil engineer, William Dugald Campbell (1848-1938), who was buried at Chillagoe Cemetery, Queensland.
Neil's uncle was Colonel John Campbell of Black River, Jamaica (?-1740), "the first Campbell on Jamaica", and therefore, conspicuous. Colonel John Campbell (or, John Black River as I shall call him) was a military employee of the Scottish Darien Company, which is just one factor requiring the historian of just one Campbell family to delve deeper into the late seventeenth century."
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David Rathoon writes (davidarathoonstudio@sympatico.ca)
Neil Campbell was born of 'mysterious circumstances',...His mother was a Jean Campbell and no one seems sure of his father... some say an executed Earl of Argyll, or Earl's son. Neil's dates are 1678-1761, he was Dr of Divinity, U of Glasgow...he was raised by his uncle for a good bit; John Campbell and Jean Campbell."
While allegations persist about a blood-connection with the first Dukes of Argyll. Absurdly, so far, it can only be said that Principal Neil came from a cloud of anonymity named Clan Campbell. Where to go from here?
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The son Duncan born to Principal Neil and his wife Henrietta on 5 January 1726, was possibly named for his mother's brother. (Duncan means "brown warrior" and Campbell means "wry mouth"). He was baptized on 9 January at Renfrew, where his brother Colin was later to be minister. Patrick, Henrietta's eldest son, was born on 6 December, 1713. Patrick matriculated at 14, then obtained his BA, but he died on Jamaica in 1737 aged 24, a medical student. By then, Duncan was only eleven, due to matriculate in two years. (All Duncan's brothers matriculated at the College of Glasgow). Archibald became a marine and served in the North British Fuseliers; he may have seen military service during the suppression of the rising of 1745? Colin became a reverend. Neil became an ordnance survey clerk at the Arsenal at Woolwich, London, where he would have seen behind-the-scenes as Britain fought the American colonies from 1776.
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It is possible that Jean of Pennymore was the mother of Neil Campbell, Principal of Glasgow with a Campbell of Clenary (possibly a Major John Campbell). She and Rev Patrick raised Neil none the less. Marion of Kilberry suggests he is a child of some lesser member of Jean's family. Principal Neil was born 1675/76 Glenaray and died 22 Jun 1761 Glasgow.
I found a printed transcript of the burials of Neil and Henritta in Glasgow, and they read as follows:
-Neil Campbell, Principal, buried Blackfriars Churchyard,25 June 1761.Age 85.Cause of Death - aged.
-Henrietta Campbell, widow of Neil Campbell, buried Blackfriars Churchyard,26 December 1764.Age 65.Cause of Death - fever.
The age for Henrietta is obviously wrong - 75 would be more accurate - but it is possibly someone just mis-reading the original entry for the printed volume. The age for Neil, presumably supplied by his widow is interesting, as it would make Neil's birthyear as 1675 or 6,and not 1678 as is quoted elsewhere (I wonder where that date came from?).
The Blackfriars Church and Churchyard, incidentally, lay beside the Old College of Glasgow. Like the College, they were swept away during the civic improvements of the mid 19th century, and all the burials re-interred elsewhere.
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Raymonf Cook writes with a theory on Dr. Neil's ancestry.
One of Dr Neil Campbell
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1676 - 1761 (85 years)
