William Henry Campbell was born on September 14, 1808 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States; the youngest of the ten children of William and Ann (Ditchfield) Campbell. His father had emigrated to America from Ayrshire and was a thriving merchant and an elder of the Associate Reformed Church. His mother, who was of English extraction, died when William was three weeks old, and he was brought up by his sisters.
Education
William attended a small school kept by an able teacher but unfortunate man, the Rev. John Gibson, and then went to Dickinson College (1824 - 28) where he formed scholarly tastes and habits under the guidance of the celebrated Alexander McClelland. His course in the Princeton Theological Seminary was cut short in 1829 by the bankruptcy of his father, who had indorsed the notes of his friends. Through the offices of his brother-in-law, the Rev. Thomas M. Strong, under whom he continued his theological studies, Campbell secured a position as assistant teacher in Erasmus Hall at Flatbush, Long Island, and was licensed to preach by the Second Presbytery of New York in 1831.
Career
Campbell was co-pastor with the Rev. Andrew Yates at Chittenango, New York, 1831-33, giving up his charge because chronic bronchitis had temporarily incapacitated him for preaching; was principal of Erasmus Hall 1833-39; pastor at East New York 1839-41, at the same time keeping a school because his parishioners could not pay him a living wage; pastor of the Third Reformed Church in Albany 1841-48; and principal of the Albany Academy 1848-51. With twenty years of varied experience as preacher and teacher behind him, he succeeded his old master, Dr. McClelland, as professor of Oriental literature in the New Brunswick Seminary and of belles-lettres in Rutgers College, 1851-63.
He required all his students to study Chaldee, instructed some of them also in Syriac, and with one faithful pupil attacked Arabic. To maintain the decorum of his office, he gave up chewing and smoking, which had solaced him for years, but the reek of his friends' tobacco pipes was always grateful to his nostrils. He instigated the movement that brought about the separation of the Seminary from Rutgers College, and in 1863 was elected president of the College. Rutgers was at that time suffering severely from the depression caused by the Civil War and its supporters were beginning to lose heart, but Campbell took hold of the new work with his customary vigor and courage.
In 1864 the State of New Jersey established at Rutgers the State College for Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, which was to exert a constantly growing influence on the College as a whole. Increasing age and failing eyesight compelled Campbell to resign in June 1881, but he retained the presidency for another year, when a successor was found. The trustees of the College then made him professor of moral philosophy, a position without teaching duties that allowed them to show their esteem for him by paying him a salary out of their own pockets. Retirement, however, did not mean inactivity; his last years were given to establishing the Suydam Street Church in New Brunswick, in which his son followed him as pastor in 1889.
Achievements
Personality
A man of consecrated personal life, a conservative but by no means narrow-minded theologian, and a methodical, rigorous, enthusiastic teacher, he made a lasting impression on successive generations of theological students.
Connections
In 1831 he married Katherine Elsie Schoonmaker, of Flatbush, who was to be his companion for almost fifty-five years.