History of the Restoration Movement

James Campbell

18 October, 1808 - 30 June, 1885

Sarah Woodruff Dodd Campbell

24 January, 1808 - 22 September, 1881

Some Ancestry

1. John Campbell (1706-1841) and Rebecca White (b1699 Ireland) married bef. 1728
(9th Great Grandparents of Rebecca Hooper, Richard Harp & Brooke Harp)

2. Archibald Campbell (1728-1801) and Elizabeth Baker (bet. 1759-1760)

3. James Campbell (1759-1826) and Jane Means (1764-1831) (m. 04.27.1784)

4. Archibald J. Campbell (1786-1826) and Annie Jane Peck (1788-1869) (m. 08.09.1806)

5. James Campbell (1808-1885) and Sarah Woodruff Dodd (1808-1881) (m. 10.15.1828)

6. Nancy Adeline Campbell (1841-????) and Minton Isaiah Harp (1830-1912) (m. bef. 1859)

7. Albert Asbury "Ab" Harp (1859-1931) and Abbie Zena Morris (1869-1938) (m. bef. 1885)

8. Paul Richard Harp (1894-1918) and Hettie Leona Fell (1900-1990) (m. bef. 1918)

9. Paul Ralph Harp (1918-1991) and Bernice Victoria Oden (1920-2005) (m. 12.19.1936)

10. Richard Turner Harp (b. 05.30.1938) and Dixie June Baldy (08.10.1939) (m. 03.01.1957)

11. Scott Derand Harp (b. 05.31.1958) and Jennifer Joan Hubbard (b.07.06.1961) (m. 07.24.1983)

12. a. Rebecca Danielle Harp (05.28.1985) and Dennis Kyle Hooper (m. 06.06.2009)
b. Richard Scott Harp (05.28.1985) and Mary Paige Palmer (m. 07.07.2007)
c. Leona Brooke Harp (03.27.1988) and Louis William McCurry (m. 07.27.2013)

13. a. Gabriel Scott Harp - son of Richard Scott Harp and Mary Paige Palmer - (b. 10 Dec. 2011)
b. James Richard Harp - son of Richard Scott Harp and Mary Paige Palmer - (b. 19 Nov. 2013)
c. Emma Skye Hooper - daughter of Rebecca Danielle Harp and Dennis Kyle Hooper - (b. 3 Apr. 2014)
d. Korban Lucas Hooper - son of Rebecca Danielle Harp and Dennis Kyle Hooper - (b. 27 Aug. 2016)
e. William Louis McCurry IV "Liam" - son of Leona Brooke Harp and William Louis McCurry III - (b. 5 Jun 2018)
f. Isla Brooke McCurry - daughter of Leona Brooke Harp and William Louis McCurry III - (b. 30 Dec 2021)

Finding The Graves of My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandparents

As long as I can remember, my grandfather, Ralph Harp, spoke about his great grandparents, Minton Isaiah and Nancy Adeline Campbell Harp. It was known that they were from the remote region of North West Georgia's Walker County.

Finally in April, 2011, I ventured out one morning from my Buford, Georgia home and headed to Lafayette, pronounced "LaFAYit" though named for the famous French Revolutionary War hero, The Marquis de Lafayette. My primary goal was to see if I could find any information on the parents of Minton Isaiah Harp, Samuel & Emily Harp. In addition I thought maybe, just maybe, information on Nancy Adeline Campbell Harp's parents, James & Sarah Woodruff Dodd Campbell, would be found as well. Information on the Campbells had already seemed favorable, though I didn't know where they were buried. Since Minton and Nancy married there I assumed that if I found where one set of parents were buried, I'd also find the others not far away.

I spent the morning in the genealogy room at the Cherokee, Walker County Library in Lafayette. I was disappointed that I could not find anything about the death date of Samuel or Emily Harp. I could find no deed records, no death records, and no marriage records. Inquiry at the Courthouse brought fuller explanation that most of the records for the county were burned up in the 1880s when the courthouse burned. I was pleased, however, to find the grave listing in the Walker County Cemetery book for James and Sarah Campbell, the parents of Nancy, and inlaws of Minton Isaiah, aka my 5th great grandparents. The records showed that they were buried in the Hardin Cemetery (Harding Cemetery) in the Kensington community, about seven miles northwest of Lafayette in the hill country.

The details of the location were sketchy. I went online and found the cemetery listed on Find-A-Grave.com. It had GPS coordinates of the cemetery. However, before leaving town I went by a Funeral Home to see if they had better instructions. The director of the funeral home said he had lived in the region all his life and had never heard of the Hardin Cemetery. That sent up red flags for sure! If a funeral director does not know where a cemetery in his county is, chances are it is abandoned. Anyway, I set out for the Kensington community. Very few people live in this community today. Perhaps in the mid-1800s it was quite the bustling little town--not anymore. As I had put the coordinates in my GPS, I followed them until all the sudden I heard the words "Off Road." I began looking off in the distance to where I was at the time. I noticed about a quarter mile off in the distance in one pasture, a cattle gate and fence around a thicket of trees. In my years of cemetery hunting, I suspected that it may be the location I was looking for. Generally when farmers fence in a group of trees in the middle of a field, it is to keep the animals out of an area that is being preserved, like a cemetery. So, I parked the truck, grabbed a couple pieces of chalk and a broom I had in the back of the pickup and off through the field I went on foot. In the course of getting there I had to go through three barb-wired fences, the second of which was so tight and narrow that I had to find a low place and scoot through laying on the ground. Finally I got to the grove of trees where I thought the cemetery might be. Thankfully it was still early enough in the spring of the year that it was not difficult to get into, though there were many briars all around. Finally making it into the grove, I began seeing fading field stones that had long served as grave markers. They were spread out though. No stones had writing that was legible. Finally, just north of the middle, I saw a marker that had been knocked off its base, and laying on the ground. The side facing up had no writing, but I made out the name "Sarah" on the side. I'm telling you, I saw no other stones around with words. The stone probably weighed 250-300 lbs. It was all I could do to lift it up on end. Finally I lifted it, and could make out the writing on the other side of the stone as "James Campbell." I had found it! I quickly cleaned it as much as possible with my broom, and snapped a couple of pictures. It had rained earlier, so chalking was not going to render what I would have liked, but it did help some. See pictures below.

I stayed around until it began raining, and then I had to make my way back to the truck. I didn't mind the rain as it was so nice to know that I had found the grave. I will never forget standing at the grave of my great, great, great, great grandfather and grandmother Campbell.

-Written By Scott Harp, 7th generation from James and Sarah Campbell, 8 April, 2011 (updated, 12.2022)

Thoughts On Samuel And Emily Harp

The records that should preserve information on where Samuel and Emily Harp are buried were destroyed in the 1880s when the Walker County Courthouse burned. No records extant show where the Harps are buried, or when they died. Add to this the fact that Minton and Nancy fell in love in this community and married here in 1858. Perhaps an old family in the Kensington Community still has unpublished records of those who are buried in the old cemetery. It is my feeling, after seeing all the lost stones marking graves in the abandoned Hardin Cemetery that Samuel and Emily are probably buried in the same cemetery, not far from Campbells.

Directions To The Grave of James and Sarah Woodruff Dodd Campbell

The Campbells are buried in the Hardin Cemetery or (Harding Cemetery) in Walker County, Georgia. From Lafayette, go north on Hwy. 27. Just north of town turn left on CO136. Go about five miles to a four-way stop. Turn left on CO341. Go a couple miles and turn right on Halls Mill Rd. Halls Mill will dead end into Kensington Road. Turn left onto Kensington Road, and go for about a half-mile. When you see Proctor Road on the right, stop the car in front of it. Directly across from Proctor Road you should see a cattle gate that enters a field. Look off into the field beyond the gate, and in the distance and slightly to the left. On a knoll in the distance will be a fenced in a group of trees. It lies about 2/10ths of a mile from the road. When I was there in the spring of 2011, the field was already getting overgrown. It appears that the graveyard is on private land. Also, you would not want to visit the cemetery during the summertime. Better in the winter or early spring. Just north of the center of the graveyard is the grave of James and Sarah Campbell.

GPS Location
+34.77778167, -85.36836667

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