Black male, born about 1871. He single at the time of his death on December 14, 1921. He was 50 years old and worked as a laborer. He died at 217 W. Intendencia Street in Pensacola, FL, which city he had lived in for 10 years. His cause of death was listed as Heart trouble and the death certificate was signed by William D. Nobles, who could not be bothered to provide any further information. There was no informant on the death certificate and Mr. Campbell’s birthplace and information on his parents were filled with “don’t know.” He was buried at the Escambia County Poor Farm by F.R. Pou.
There are two Willis Campbells in the 1921 City Directory; one of whom is in the family tree of Infant Girl Campbell. As that Willis Campbell lived on N. Guillemard, I believe the subject of this entry to be the one listed as living at 231 W. Intendencia with no occupation listed. 231 W. Intendencia St. was also occupied by Emma Luckey, a woman of color who worked as a laundress. As of this writing, I have not yet identified any particular relationship between the two; it is likely she was his landlady.
In December 1898, there was an article in The Pensacola Journal about a Willis Campbell who was a man of color: “Willis Campbell, a colored bayman, found to his sorrow yesterday that his hand was not so tough as he thought it was. He held and exploded a cannon cracker, his fingers being so badly lacerated that two of them had to be amputated.” While there is no address given, I suspect it is the correct Willis Campbell; the other was born in 1885, making him only 13 years old at the time of the incident reported.
If Willis Campbell, bayman, is the correct man, in the 1903 Pensacola City Directory, he was residing at 15 South DeVilliers St. The city directories, after that year, appear to list only the other, younger, Willis Campbell.
A 1919 article in the Pensacola Journal speaks of Willis Campbell who was given a $100 fine and 30 days in jail for “operating a blind tiger in the vicinity of his home on west Intendencia street. He was arrested after Special Officer McIntyle, of the police department, worked up the case.” (A “blind tiger” was an illegal drinking and gambling establishment.) Given the address, this appears to be our Willis Campbell.
I have not identified this Willis Campbell in a federal or state census as of yet. It is entirely possible he was mistakenly listed as “William” or a variation of that name, in which case it would be difficult to positively identify him. Or, given his reported brush with the law and the somewhat transient nature of his employment, he may have been located elsewhere during census years.
SOURCES:
Death certificate of Willis Campbell (No. 12340), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
“Christmas Day’s Doings,” The Daily News [Pensacola, FL]. 27 DEC 1898, p. 5.
“Negro Draws $100 Fine for Conviction in City Court of Bootlegging,” The Pensacola Journal, 18 MAR 1919, p. 5.