Bio: Campman, William “Bill” (Memories - 1978)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Campman

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 8/31/1978

Campman, William “Bill” (Memories - 1978)

Spry, Sharp and Full of Memories, That’s Bill Campman…

Bill Campman’s birthday is this week. In fact, he was to turn 100 years of age on Wednesday. Reaching the century mark is a major accomplishment for anyone, but Campman stated, “It’s just another day…nothing special.”

But as this writer entered Campman’s room in the Neillsville Memorial Home, Bill could be seen crossing another day off his calendar with Wednesday, August 30, circled for all to see. Being a modest fellow, Bill would probably never admit to any excitement about the special birthday.

He hasn’t changed much in the past few years. Even though he admits his memory is slipping a little, he is alert, says he is bored with his stay at the Memorial Home and surrounds himself with things that are important… including his ever-present pipes and his Granger pipe tobacco.

Bill says that if he had to live his life over again, he wouldn’t change much. “I’m a pretty moderate sort of fellow, no wild parties,” he explained, but he was reticent to use that as his magic formula for a long and full life.

But small vices are an important part of his life. He showed surprise that this writer knew of his fondness for Granger tobacco. He also showed off the interior of his bedside cabinet and pointed to a flask of spirits.

Campman is alert and able to move to and fro in the Memorial Home. He uses a can, eats in a dining hall and enjoys walked to the front porch of the building. He is a fairly new resident of the home, having lived until just a year ago in his Clay Street home.

This will be a busy week for Campman, even though he apparently doesn’t want much fuss over him. On Thursday evening, he will be feted at a special celebration at the Neillsville Masonic Temple. A few years back, Bill was honored by that same group as having been an active 75-year member. Open to the public, many dignitaries, old friends and community members are expected to attend.

At the home, Bill has seen a parade of reporters and photographers as well as special parties designed just for him. But Bill is taking it all in stride, ready to sit and talk, to recall years gone by, remembering names out of the past, all in the ten decades of life. Also, keeping him busy is a raft of letters of Congratulations, apparently coming from Government leaders, old friends and people Bill doesn’t recall ever meeting.

!00 Year Ago

Less than twelve years after the Civil War and just after Rutherford B. Hayes took the post of U.S. President from General Ulysses S. Grant, Bill was born in 1878 in St. Louis, Missouri. He stated, “he never knew his father, who died when Bill was very young, but he did recall that the family was very poor.”

Bill, his sister Bertha, and his mother came to the Neillsville are when it was just a rough logging area. Bill’s grandfather was in construction business and had worked building the original courthouse and several buildings still standing along the city’s main street.

Bill’s mother remarried after a-while in Neillsville and from that union between herself and Julius Tragsdorf, Bill and his sister gained several half-brothers and sisters. Bill had a difficult time remembering who they all were or what had happened to them since, but he did recall that Bertha had married Frank Hemp, a Neillsville merchant in the early portions of the 1900’s.

One of the Few Remaining

If there is anything that sets bill apart from others who are reaching for over the 100-year mark it is his service to country. Bill is one of the few remaining veterans in the United States who saw action in the Spanish-American War, which began with the blowing up of the battleship Maine and ended ten months later in 1898 with the rise of U.S. Naval power, the destruction of Spain as a colonial power and the platform for a fellow named Teddy Roosevelt.

Bill was a member of the National Guard unit in Neillsville during those wanning years of the 1800’s. The call to serve was issued and Bill decided to enter the army. He recalled that he was too young to volunteer. “I wasn’t 21 … I had to get my mother’s consent,” he stated. I was a crack shot,” he remembered, something that held true in his later years as an active hunter in the hunter in the area.

Bill first sent to Camp Douglas but then was asked to get 30 men to volunteer from the Neillsville area. He came home, managed to get 25 to immediately volunteer and waited until he got the last five before rejoining the group at Camp Douglas. From there, Bill and his fellow soldiers traveled to Puerto Rico, seeing action for the duration of the conflict.

Asked what rank he finally achieved, Bill chuckled when he replied, “Corporal. That was as high as I got.” He did remember that the friendship of the company officer aided his service time. “I was a favorite of the company captain … I did all of his work,” he said.

Long Law Career

Up until just a few years ago Campman could be seen in the Clark County Courthouse, always with pipe in mouth or pocket and wearing a felt, broad-brimmed hat over his white hair. When he came to the … (here is where I stopped as page 2 was not found, for me to continue.)