The fruitful soil of America, together with the prospects of a home and an independent living, was peculiarly adapted to awaken noble aspirations in the breasts of those who were interested in the welfare of that class whose condition needed a radical enlargement. Among this class of Nature's noblemen there is no name deserving of more praise than that of Lauchlan Campbell. Although his name, as well as the migration of his infant colony, has gone out of Islay ken, where he was born, yet his story has been fairly well preserved in the annals of the province of New York. It was first publicly made known by William Smith, in his "History of New York."
Lauchlan Campbell was possessed of a high sense of honor and a good understanding; was active, loyal, of a military disposition, and, withal, strong philanthropic inclinations. By placing implicit confidence in the royal governors of New York, he fell a victim to their roguery, deception and heartlessness, which ultimately crushed him and left him almost penniless. The story has been set forth in the following memorial, prepared by his son:
"Memorial of Lieutenant Campbell to the Lords of Trade. To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Trade, &c. Memorial of Lieut. Donald Campbell of the Province of New York Plantation. Humbly Showeth,
That in the year 1734 Colonel Cosby being then Governor of the Province of New York by and with the advice and assent of his Council published a printed Advertisement for encouraging the Resort of Protestants from Europe to settle upon the Northern Frontier of the said Province (in the route from Fort Edward to Crown Point) promising to each family two hundred acres of unimproved land out of 100,000 acres purchased from the Indians, without any fee or expences whatsoever, except a very moderate charge for surveying & liable only to the King's Quit Rent of one shilling and nine pence farthing per hundred acres, which settlement would at that time have been of the utmost utility to the Province & these proposals were looked upon as so advantageous, that they could not fail of having a proper effect.
That these Proposals in 1737, falling into the hands of Captain Lauchlin Campbell of the Island of Isla, he the same year went over to North America, and passing through the Province of Pennsilvania where he rejected many considerable offers that were made him, he proceeded to New York, where, tho' Governor Cosby was deceased, George Clarke Esqr. then Governor, assured him no part of the lands were as yet granted; importuned him & two or three persons that went over with him to go up and visit the lands, which they did, and were very kindly received and greatly caressed by the Indians. On his return to New York he received the most solemn promises that he should have a thousand acres for every family that he brought over, and that each family should have according to their number from five hundred to one hundred and fifty acres, but declined making any Grant till the Families arrived, because, according to the Constitution of that Government, the names of the settlers were to be inserted in that Grant. Captain Campbell accordingly returned to Isla, and brought from thence at a very large expense, his own Family and Thirty other Families, making in all, one hundred and fifty-three Souls. He went again to visit the lands, received all possible respect and kindness from the Government, who proposed an old Fort Anna to be repaired, to cover the new settlers from the French Indians. At the same time, the People of New York proposed to maintain the people already brought, till Captain Campbell could return and bring more, alledging that it would be for the interest of the Infant Colony to settle upon the lands in a large Body; that, covered by the Fort, and assisted by the Indians, they might be less liable to the Incursions of Enemies.
That to keep up the spirit of the undertaking, Governor Clarke, by a writing bearing date the 4th day of December, 1738, declared his having promised Captain Campbell thirty thousand acres of land at Wood Creek, free of charges, except the expence of surveying & the King's Quit Rent in consideration of his having already brought over thirty families who according to their respective numbers in each family, were to have from one hundred and fifty to five hundred acres. Encouraged by this declaration, he departed in the same month for Isla, and in August, 1739, brought over Forty Families more, and under the Faith of the said promises made a third voyage, from which he returned in November, 1740, bringing with him thirteen Families the whole making eighty-three Families, composed of Four Hundred and Twenty Three Persons, all sincere and loyal Protestants, and very capable of forming a respectable Frontier for the security of the Province. But after all these perilous and expensive voyages, and tho' there wanted but Seventeen Families to complete the number for which he had undertaken, he found no longer the same countenance or protection but on the contrary it was insinuated to him that he could have no land either for himself or the people, but upon conditions in direct violation of the Faith of Government, and detrimental to the interests of those who upon his assurances had accompanied him into America. The people also were reduced to demand separate Grants for themselves, which upon large promises some of them did, yet more of them never had so much as a foot of land, and many listed themselves to join the Expedition to Cuba.
That Captain Campbell having disposed of his whole Fortune in the Island of Isla, expended the far greatest part of it from his confidence in these fallacious promises found himself at length constrained to employ the little he had left in the purchase of a small farm seventy miles north of New York for the subsistence of himself and his Family consisting of three sons and three daughters. He went over again into Scotland in 1745, and having the command of a Company of the Argyleshire men, served with Reputation under his Royal Highness the Duke, against the Rebels. He went back to America in 1747 and not longer after died of a broken heart, leaving behind him the six children before mentioned of whom your Memoralist is the eldest, in very narrow and distressed circumstances."
All these facts are briefly commemorated by Mr. Smith in his History of the Colony of New York, page 179, where are some severe, though just strictures on the behavior of those in power towards him and the families he brought with him, and the loss the Province sustained by such behavior towards them.
"That at the Commencement of the present War, your Memoralist and both his brothers following their Father's principles in hopes of better Fortune entered into the Army & served in the Forty Second, Forty Eighth and Sixtieth Regiments of Foot during the whole War, at the close of which your Memoralist and his brother George were reduced as Lieutenants upon half pay, and their youngest Brother still continues in the service; the small Farm purchased by their father being the sole support of themselves and three sisters till they were able to provide for themselves in the manner before mentioned, and their sisters are now married & settled in the Province of New York.
That after the conclusion of the Peace, your Memoralist considering the number of Families dispersed through the Province which came over with his Father, and finding in them a general disposition to settle with him on the lands originally promised them, if they could be obtained, in the month of February, 1763, petitioned Governor Monckton for the said lands but was able only to procure a Grant of ten thousand acres, (for obtaining which, he disbursed in Patent and other fees, the sum of two hundred Guineas), the people in Power alledging that land was now at a far greater value than at the time of your Memoralist's Father's coming into the Province, and even this upon the common condition of settling ten Families upon the said lands and paying a Quit Rent to the Crown. Part however of the People who had promised to settle with your Memoralist in case he had prevailed, were drawn to petition for lands to themselves, which they obtained, tho' they never could get one foot of land before, which provision of lands as your Memoralist apprehends, ought in Equity to be considered as an obligation on the Province to perform, so far as the number of those Families goes, the Conditions stipulated with his Father, as those Families never had come into & consequently could not now be remaining in the Province, if he had not persuaded them to accompany him, & been at a very large expence in transporting them thither.