Daniel Campbell

Daniel was born in Scotland around the year 1696. I'm not sure where exactly he was born, but likely in Agyle in the Scottish Highlands where Campbell Clan is based. He came to New England in 1716 during the beginning of the Great Scottish Migration. He settled in Rutland, MA.

I can find no evidence of him having a wife, children, or a family, though he may very well have had one. There was a lot of local hostility toward the "Scotch Irish", and since they did not generally attend the town church their vital records were not always included in the town records. He did have a rather large and successful farm in the southern part of Rutland.

In early March of 1743/4 he was killed on his farm during a dispute with one of his employees, one Edward Fitzpatrick from Ireland. The court records list the date as March 12, so either the gravestone is incorrect, or he was injured on March 8 and died on March 12. This was the first murder recorded in Worcester County that did not involve the indigenous people, so it caused quite a stir. Fitzpatrick was taken into custody and stood trial on September 18, 1744 at the Superior Court of Worcester County. He was convicted of the murder on September 22 and hanged for it on October 18. His was the second hanging in Worcester County, with the first being John Hamilton (alias Hugh Henderson) for burglary in 1737.

A double date (1743/4) appears on his gravestone because until 1752 though the calendar year changed in January the legal new year happened on the Spring Equinox, which is approximately March 21st.

Daniel Campbell rests in the Old Burial Ground in Rutland.

HERE LIES BURIED ye

BODY OF MR DANIEL

CAMPBELL BORN IN

SCOTLAND CAME INTO

NEW ENGLAND ANNO 1716

WAS MURDERED ON HIS

OWN FARM IN RUTLAND

BY ED. FITZPATRICK AN

IRISHMAN ON MARCH

ye 8th ANNO DM 1743/4

IN ye 48 YEAR

OF HIS AGE

~~ MAN KNOWETH

NOT HIS TIME

The gravestone was carved by Jonathan Worcester.