Everyone Has a Story

"Everyone has a story", and we have ours. Our grandsons, Phil and Tom, have decided to create this blog to tell it. There are actually many stories within the larger one because we started a family of our own, and like any family, each member contributes to the whole in his or her turn -- those who came before us as well as those who came after us.

We are Claud and Bessie Sanderson Campbell, and we met in Warren Twp, Midland Co, MI just after the turn of the 20th Century. We were married on January 5, 1908 there in Warren Twp by Hy Bickerton, a local minister. Half-brother, Harry Campbell, and sister Anne Sanderson stood up with us and witnessed our marriage. I was listed on the certificate as a 20-year old farmer, and Bessie was listed as a 16-year old who did housework.

Looking back now, it's interesting to note how inaccuracies can appear even on a primary source document, but then our minds at the time were on each other and not the details. Our parents were listed as Jno. D. Campbell and Effie Chapman, J. M. Sanderson and Leona Sackett. That's only partially correct. Where in the world did they get that information?

My parents were James Bird Campbell and Effie Rebecca Chapman, and Bessie's were Francis Marion Sanderson and Louisa M. Sackett. Even so. . . , we were just as married, and that's all that mattered to us. I was really only 19 and Bessie 15 too. Neither of our birthdays had taken place that year yet, but. . . , just more technicalities really. We were eager to be on our way and making our own story together.