Campbells of Nelson, PA

THE REUNIONS. Nelson, PA's Campbell Reunions ran from 1893 to 1942, and were open to the public, but were for the descendants of Joseph & Mary Harper Campbell, associated Lugg and Blackwell families, and friends. Attendance was sometimes several hundred. They resumed in 2001.

THE DINNERS. The Cousins Dinners started in 1909 and ran at least until 1923. Joseph and Mary Harper Campbell had eight children. But the dinners were only for the grandchildren of one of their children, Joseph Campbell, and his wife, Ann Clinch Campbell. They were by invitation only and were primarily for the 35 grandchildren of Joseph and Ann Clinch Campbell, the grandchildren's spouses and whomever a particular dinner's hostess chose to invite. Those 35 first cousins all were born in, or near, Nelson and had contact with each other before dispersing around the country. Attendance at the dinners seldom was more than 50. They often used the term own cousins to refer to themselves rather than its synonym, first cousins. The dinners started because those "own cousins" felt a bond and wanted to keep in touch -- and because they wanted a more intimate gathering than the hundreds that attended Campbell Reunions in the early 1900s.