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Life
b.1 Feb. 1763; b. Co. Down, son of an Anglican; father of Alexander Campbell - a noted Ulster and American divine; ed. Glasgow University, studied Theology [grad. Div.,]; m. Jane Corneigle, of Huguenot descernt, June 1787; received minister at church in Rich Hill, Co. Armagh, settling at Broughshane, nr. Ballymena; became Presbyterian minister; Alexander b. 12 Sept. 1788; emig. to America in 1807, leaving the school in charge of his son; settled in Pennsylvania; appt. minister at Chartiers Presbytery, Washington, Co. PA, where most of his associates from Ireland and Scotland had settled;
helped to launch the American Restoration Movement [2nd Great Awakening] identified with the doctrine of ‘no creed by Christ’ chiefly attached to the Acts of the Apostles; lost his congregation after charges of departing from the Anti-Burgher doctrine which he had first supported; founded the Campbellites, later the Disciples of Christ or ‘Christian Church; addressed himself to Christians on the basis that ‘where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent, we are silent’; established the Christian Association of Washington, and prepared a “Declaration” and a longer “Address” which the Association permitted to be printed in a vote of 7 Sept. 1809;d 4 Jan. 1854.
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References
Website: The Cobb Six: Restoration Movement - online [accessed 07.07.2023].
Thomas H. Olbright, review of The life of Alexander Campbell by Douglas Foster, writes: ‘[...] Thomas Campbell, the father of Alexander Campbell, served as an ordained minister of the AntiBurgher Seceder, Old Light Presbyterian Synod of Ulster in North Ireland whose constituency were predominately those of Scottish descent. Ireland proper remained staunchly Roman Catholic.’ (See 2 Journal of Discipliana, Vol. 74 [2021] - available at Digital Commons - online [accessed 07.07.2023].
Robert Richardson, Memoirs of Alexander Campbell [...] (1868): ‘His grandfather, Thomas Campbell, it is known, was born in Ireland, near Dyerlake Wood in Co. Down, and lived to the great age of one hundred and five years. His own immediate father, Archibald, was in early days a Romanist, and served in the British Army under Gen. Wolfe. He is said to have been somewhat eccentric, but peculiarly social and genial in his habits and warm in his feelings.’ (Memoirs of Alexander Campbell, embracing a view of the origin, progress and principles of the religious reformation which he advocated (1868) - Chap.: Paternal Ancestry, p.21 [digital rep. as online as pdf; accesssed 07.07.2023].
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