Ohio Governor Gravesites: #38 James E. Campbell

James E. Campbell

Born: July 7, 1843
Died: December 18, 1924
Political Party: Democrat
Term of Office: January 13, 1890 - January 11, 1892
Buried: Greenlawn Cemetery Columbus, Ohio
3 of 56

   James E. Campbell was born in Middletown, Ohio in 1843, the son of a Doctor. As a young man he taught school and studied law, eventually getting his law degree. He joined the Navy during the Civil War, serving on boats along the Mississippi River until an injury sent him home. He had been a Lincoln and Grant supporting Republican, but switched parties and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat and served 3 terms there.

   Campbell ran a tough campaign against Governor Joseph Foraker in 1889. He won the election but would only serve one, 2 year term. He lost re election to future President William McKinley in 1891. When he became Governor he had the authority to appoint various positions in the cities of the state. As Governor he gave the cities back there right to fill these positions on their own. He also gathered the General Assembly to remove the corrupt Government of the city of Cincinnati. These things up set many in his own party and contributed to his lost for re election.

   After being Governor he stayed busy. He was a delegate to the Democrat National Conventions in 1892, 1920, and 1924. He also served as a trustee for both the Ohio State University and the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society. He also ran for Governor again in 1895 but lost to Republican Asa Bushnell. He died in 1924.

     I visited the gravesite of Governor James E. Campbell around March of 2010. We went down to Columbus to go maternity clothes shopping because we just found out that my wife was pregnant. She said to look for any historical sites that I would want to see while we were down there. I looked into it. I saw that the largest cemetery in Columbus (Greenlawn) was the final resting place of 5 Governors of Ohio. I had been kicking around the idea of visiting Governor gravesites, but hadn't looked into where very many of them were buried yet. I thought that it would be a good start if I wanted to pursue it in the future.

     I really enjoyed the gravehunting trying to find where they were all buried. We found all 5 of them. James E. Campbell, James Rhodes, William Dennison, John W. Bricker, and George K. Nash. I went home and found out the final resting places of the rest of them.

After a few years on the back burner, In late 2016, early 2017, I have been getting back at this hobby of visiting Ohio Governor Gravesites. As I made new posts I realized that many of my old post were incomplete. In my earlier posts I usually gave a small paragraph of info on the Governor and then a couple of links for further information. I recently realized that those links no longer went anywhere. And also in many of my early trips I failed to get a picture of myself at the Governor's gravesite. This has caused me to want to go back and update these pages with proper information, as well as revisit any of the graves that I failed to get a picture with in the past.

   And so in April 2017 I went to down to Columbus and revisit Greenlawn Cemetery. Of the 5 Governors buried there, I failed to get pictures with 3 of them. The mausoleum where James Rhodes is buried was closed, but I was able to revisit the other 4 Governors.