1848
Oil portrait
By Samuel Bell Waugh
Campbell House Museum
Portrait Description
Hugh Campbell, with his sparkling blue eyes, slight flush upon his cheeks, and reserved but friendly smile is youthful in appearance in spite of being well into middle age when this was painted. In true Victorian style, Hugh embodies the male physical ideal of the era: a small waist topped by a robust chest and broad shoulders, all cloaked in a richly-colored, stylish suit. His posture is one of comfort and ease. The reddish-orange and earth tones surrounding the figure add to the overall warmth and liveliness. This oval-framed half-portrait was painted in 1848 when Hugh was fifty-one by well-known Philadelphia portraitist Samuel Bell Waugh (1814-1885). The low perspective employed makes viewers seem to be looking up at Hugh. There is a companion portrait of his wife Mary.
Adventure: Journey to America
This portrait is a snapshot of stable adulthood in a life that wasn’t always easy. Born in 1797 in County Tyrone, Ireland, Hugh was the third child and second son in what would eventually be a family of six children. Because his father’s will left him with little, Hugh tried medical school. He dropped out after a year because he struggled to pay tuition and to remain upright in the dissection room. With few options, he left Ireland for America in 1818. Younger brother Robert followed him four years later.
With a dry wit and gift for storytelling, Hugh recorded his fantastic journey across the Atlantic. He captured the prevailing feelings of fear and loneliness on board ship in writing, “I believe there is no period that emigrants feel more sorrow than commencing a wide sea voyage.” Embarrassing mishaps such as naively being tricked out of his passage on one ship, the drudgery of daily life below deck, and his wonder at the sights of the new country are part of his detailed journal. Lifelong friendships that emerged from shared misery coupled with the humbling experience of living as a stranger in a country that was often hostile to the Irish, no doubt describe what many Irish felt as they left their family homes for America.
Building a New Life
Upon arriving in New York in September 1818, Hugh began to carve out a new life for himself. Eventually settling in Philadelphia, Hugh became a prosperous merchant. In 1828 he married Mary Kyle, the daughter of his business partner, David Kyle. In time, his brother Robert would meet then marry his sister-in-law’s cousin, Virginia Kyle. Hugh acted as Robert’s agent in Philadelphia, negotiating purchases, selling furs from the West, and arranging shipments of supplies to St. Louis. In 1859, Hugh and Mary moved to St. Louis into a house on the corner of Washington Avenue and 16th Street—steps away from Robert’s home. Hugh and Mary had no children, but they enjoyed a close relationship with their nieces and nephews. Robert and Virginia’s children called Hugh and Mary’s home “the other house.” In the backdrop of the Civil War, the brothers continued their burgeoning dry goods business.
Hugh was active in the elite social and political landscape of the city. President Lincoln appointed him to adjust claims against the military in the West. Throughout his life, Hugh remitted money to his family in Ireland. He took care of the tenants on his family’s property, sending them clothing, cash, flax seed, and seed potatoes. When the potato crops failed during the Great Famine, he sent food. Hugh was equally generous with Irish who immigrated to America. Because of his charity and assistance to fellow countrymen, he was greeted with a hero’s welcome each of the four occasions he returned to Ireland to visit. Hugh died just six weeks after Robert, on December 4, 1879.
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