How We Came to Republish the
Campbell Cousins Correspondence.
Volume 1 of the Campbell Cousins correspondence was originally
printed and distributed in 1922. As you will see in this printing,
it was conceived, organized, and published by our third generation
cousin, William E. Selph of the
Julia Campbell family. The
second printing is something of a modern miracle and is due largely
to the efforts of two contemporary cousins, William B. Thompson and
Thomas P. Zurflieh. By the miracle of today’s internet, Bill and Tom
became aware of their common interest in Campbell ancestry and were
able to collaborate to produce this volume.
Bill Thompson, (of the Phebe
(Hoyt) Campbell line) has done a great deal of research on our
Campbell ancestors and miraculously, has possession of four Campbell Cousins Correspondence volumes. He has been
the initiator and driving force" behind this new printing and the
computerization of the volumes. Bill wanted to make heritage
available to other living cousins, so he began retyping the letters
and sharing them with living cousins discovered via the internet.
Both he and Sharon Zurflieh contacted genealogy hobbyist Eric Clinch
to ask about Ann Clinch. (Eric
lives in Australia and has a very interesting web site featuring his
photography and writing [as of Dec. 2012 it's http://webspace.webring.com/people/pe/ericlnz/MainMenu.htm]
At that time he didn't have data about her, but getting two
inquiries about her in the same week led to putting Bill and Sharon
in touch, sending her some of the letters, and an offer from her to
help retyping. This in turn led to a visit by her dad, Tom Zurflieh,
to Bill's home, and Tom's offer to scan the typed pages of William
Selph’s volumes and reproduce them.
Tom Zurflieh, being a Campbell cousin and having a considerable
amount of computer graphics hardware and software eagerly
volunteered to produce this printed version. Lots of scanning,
restoration, and printing of the photographs by Tom and additional
typing by Bill, led us to the present point. We plan to publish volumes 1‑4 on the web as soon as our
schedules permit. That version will have convenient cross‑indexes
on-line search capabilities. There are an additional nine volumes,
but the copies apparently are presently tied up in an estate and are
not available. [That's what we were told, but we have seen
no verification.]
One of our goals has been to preserve the appearance of Will Selph's
original volume. To this end we have tried to reformat the scans to
match the original layout, format, typeface and photographs. Therein
lies another modern miracle, for without computers, scanners, and
digital printers we probably would never even attempted this task.
There is something unique about having hard copy in your hands,
where you can see the real dimensions, and look at your own pace,
not depending on screens, keyboards, mice, vagaries if Internet
response time - just sitting in your favorite chair or under your
favorite tree. Errors were undoubtedly made when the original
handwritten letters were typed in Will Selph's office (we assume)
for mimeographing, and we may have introduced errors in our retyping
and scanning processes. Best efforts have been made to supplement
the letters with William
Hoyt's copy of Munsell's 1883
History of Tioga county, Pennsylvania, and other sources:
histories of the Beecher's Island Presbyterian Church and of the
Farmington Presbyterian Church prepared by Rhoda English Ladd about
1945; information from many cousins, and generous sharing of
information from many genealogists.
A valuable feature of this modern version is the genealogical data
provided by Bill Thompson. Bill inherited the first four volumes of
the Campbell Cousins Correspondence from his mother, but found it
hard to make sense of all the references to people in the letters.
Getting a genealogy software package as a present one Christmas
provided the necessary framework. Starting with a Campbell Cousins
genealogy chart prepared by Will Selph in 1924, and then adding the
marriages, births, and deaths, mentioned in the four volumes, at
last provided a simple method of keeping track of who was who, and
decoding who "John" or "Sally" referred to. We have included Bill’s
genealogical work in two appendices at the end of this volume. We
encourage you, as you read the letters, to refer to the appendices
in order to find out more about the people mentioned.
It's unfair to mention only a few people, but special thanks must be
given to Anna P. Lugg and Stella Blackwell for their many
kindnesses, and to our cousins, Diane Owlett Pitts, Rieta Boyden,
and Bob Kelley. Thanks to the many others we have not mentioned by
name, but who shared data and ideas. Most of all we owe a permanent
debt of gratitude to William E. Selph, who conceived the Campbell
Cousins Correspondence Club in the first place, and made it a
reality, with incredible effort, perseverance, and lots of his time
and money. Without his foresight and hard work, we would not have
the Campbell Cousins
Correspondence.
If you have access to the later volumes, or have corrections or
additions, please feel free to contact us at [the 2000 e-mail address is not current, you
can used this website's contact info].
Bill's Backround.
Bill has worked with computers ever since graduating from Binghamton U, and now operates his own consulting company, W. T. Associates [Since then retired.]. He has been active in many community and professional organizations, receiving certification in Inventory and Production Control and in Data Processing Management. Currently he participates in the Independent Computer Consultants Association, the Apple Solutions Expert program, and church committees.
He is president of the Campbell Cousins Reunion. [He's since retired from that too.] When not working, reinstituting the Campbell Cousins Correspondence Club and the Campbell Reunions, designing the CCCC website, or doing genealogy research, Bill enjoys hiking, canoeing, or relaxes by reading sci-fi. He and wife Mary, live in Allentown, PA. Last fall, they traveled to England and Scotland, and had a wonderful time visiting the communities the Hoyts came from, the church in Avening (built by Wm. the Conqueror) where Ann Clinch was christened, enjoyed the Argyll scenery and touring the home of the Duke of Argyll, and an unsuccessful search of the Register and the Archives in Edinboro for records of our Campbell and Hazlett ancestors.
[Updated family info: Bill has a wife, two sons, a step-daughter, and 5 grandchildren.]
Tom's Background.
Tom Zurflieh was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida.
His great-grandfather and namesake, Thomas
C. Campbell, having moved from Knoxville, PA to St. Petersburg
in the 1920’s was responsible for Tom’s being a Floridian.
The Zurflieh side of his family also migrated from Pennsylvania in
the 1920’s due mainly to Tom’s father, Jason
Zurflieh, having pursued and married Frances
Shewman. Frances was the grand daughter of Thomas Campbell
and, with her parents and two brothers, came to Florida soon after
her grandfather.
Tom has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and was a
college engineering instructor for thirty‑eight years, specializing
in engineering graphics. He has authored four college textbooks, one
on technical mathematics and three on computer-aided graphics. He
has had a lifelong interest in photography, at one period having a
darkroom. He has won several awards for and has sold some of his
work. He is currently involved in digital creation and restoration
of photographs.
[Updated family info: Tom and his
one-and-only-wife have two daughters and 4 grandchildren.]
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