Corp. Franklin E. Paul, son of Captain Clark and May (Young) Paul, was born in Dover, N. H., Sept. 14, 1829. He received his education in the public schools of his native town. His father was a sea captain, and followed the sea for over forty years. At the age of fifteen he went to North Bridgewater, now Brockton, Mass., and lived on a farm for about a year, and then learned the trade of boot and shoemaking. After serving faithfully three years as an apprentice, he started out for himself, working in different towns in Massachusetts.
In 1858 he removed to Mansfield, Mass., and in September of that year he married Almira Alger, daughter of Edmund Alger, Esq., of that town. While busy in his calling, the tocsin of war resounded throughout the land, and aroused within him a spirit of loyalty and devotion to country, and he determined to enroll himself among his country’s defenders, and do all in his power to maintain the honor and integrity of free institutions and good government.
Corp. Franklin E. Paul.
On the 29th of September, 1862, he enlisted with five others from Mansfield, in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, and was mustered into service Oct. 14, 1862. Leaving a good home, a devoted wife, and a little daughter, he offered all upon his country’s altar, and served loyally and faithfully with his battery until the termination of the war. He was promoted to corporal in 1865. He was mustered out with the battery June 28, 1865.
On returning to his home in Mansfield, Mass., he worked at his trade for two years, and then removed to Boston to take charge of a large shoe manufactory on Pearl Street, in that city. He continued in this position until May 27, 1877, when he received an appointment as clerk in the Boston post-office, in which capacity he still remains.
In the year 1892 he was unanimously chosen first vice-president of Battery H Veteran Association, and in August, 1893, was elected to the office of president. On assuming the chair he delivered an excellent address appropriate to the occasion, which was listened to with marked interest and attention. He is also a member of the publication committee on the History of Battery H. He is held in high esteem by his comrades of Battery H, his associates in the Boston post-office, and by his fellow townsmen of Chelsea, Mass., where he now resides.
Corp. John P. Campbell, son of John and Nancy J. (Malin) Campbell, was born in Boston, Mass., on the 8th day of April, 1846. His parents were of Scotch descent. On his father’s side he is descended from the Campbells of Clyde, having an ancestry of rank in the Scottish Highlands. On his mother’s side also his ancestors attained high distinction.
The subject of our sketch in his youth was brought up in the family of Jeremiah Russell Smith, father of William Russell Smith, a noted musician in South Medfield, Mass. He attended the South Medfield and Walpole schools, previously going to schools in Boston.
In the War of the Rebellion he enlisted as a private in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, Sept. 19, 1862, and was mustered in Oct. 14, 1862. He was subsequently promoted to corporal. That he served with credit and honor in his battery is attested by his being wounded severely in hand, shoulder, and foot, in action near Petersburg, Va., April 2, 1865. He was corporal of the right piece, of the right section of his battery in that engagement. He was mustered out of service June 28, 1865.
Corp. John P. Campbell, 2d.
Immediately upon his return from the army he went West, and was engaged in teaching in schools, holding some important positions in high schools, etc. He received his college education in Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. After leaving college he read law under Judge Alonzo Converse, and was admitted to the bar in Iowa. He went to Abilene, Kansas, in the year 1876, where he located in the practice of law, and where he has since resided. He there established the “J. P. Campbell Collection Agency,” at the head of which he has continued since its formation. His practice has been in all courts, and has been a successful and profitable one. He is the author of several literary publications, brought out by some of the best known publishing houses in the country.
He is also well known as a lecturer, and has met with much success in that direction. His lectures on “What is Life?” “Courtship, Marriage, Divorce,” “A View of Heaven, from the Poet’s Standpoint,” and “The Soldier,” have been spoken of in the highest terms, and been received with universal favor. Of the author of these lectures this has been said:
“John Preston Campbell has, perhaps, the most complete and choicely selected law and literary library in the State of Kansas, and being greatly attached to books, of his more matured and written deliberations much that is entertaining, ennobling and beneficial may be expected. An hour was spent in his rooms examining his books and chatting with one of the most genial conversationalists we had ever met.”
He has always been in warm sympathy with his comrades-in-arms, the “boys who wore the blue” in the trying days of the Rebellion, and is an honored member of Post No. 63, Department of Kansas, Grand Army of the Republic.
Artificer Leon Allison, son of James and Josephine Allison, was born in Three Rivers, Canada, May 1, 1820. He worked on a farm until his eighteenth year, when he went to Spencer, Mass., where he learned the shoemaker’s trade. From there he removed to Providence and worked at his trade for awhile and then enlisted in the navy about the year 1841, serving on board the United States man-of-war Delaware for three years, when he was honorably discharged, returned to Providence, and resumed his former occupation, the shoemaking business, and was thus engaged when he entered the army in the War of the Rebellion.
He enlisted as a private in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, Oct. 9, 1862, and was mustered into service Oct. 14, 1862. He was subsequently promoted to artificer. While the battery was stationed at Fort Smith on the Potomac River, near Aqueduct Bridge, Comrade Allison was sent into Washington on official business. On his return he was brutally assaulted and all his valuables taken from him, even to the shoes on his feet. Upon his arrival at the fort he was sent to the hospital, where the surgeon found that his jaw was broken. After he had recovered from his injuries he resumed his duties in the battery, and served with credit until his muster out June 28, 1865.
On returning to Providence he again followed his accustomed avocation, and has been engaged in the shoemaking business ever since. Although a veteran in years as well as of the war, he is still active and strong for a man of his age, and is highly respected in the community.
Horace F. Floyd.
He is a member of Prescott Post, No. 1, G. A. R., of Providence, and also of Battery H Veteran Association.