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Note: f the leading educators of his area in Iowa. He studied law with General James Baird Weaver, a Populist Party founder and Greenback candidate for United States president. In Springfield, Missouri after McCammon passed the bar, he was a founder of several corporations and the president of others. He was a member of the board of regents for State Normal School at Springfield, Missouri. His wife, Lucy Campbell Owen, was a granddaughter of John Polk Campbell, who had laid out Springfield, and the McCammons are considered among its founding families. JPM's biography is included in a number of publications, such as Fairbanks and Tuck's 1915 history Past and Present of Greene County, Missouri. Springfield grew to be among the largest cities in its Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska region. A May 14, 1877, letter from JPM to John McCammon tells of Purdue's help for this family, "[Purdue] did a great deal for me in giving me an opportunity to get a collegiate education."
Sam's other first- and second-generation descendants included: John, who became a judge in St. Louis, Missouri; Owen, who married a daughter of "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, the governor of Oklahoma; William, who patented a dirigible headlight; Edith, who married into wealth but gave it all up for a career as a dancer in silent movies in Hollywood; and William, who was in the million-dollar class with a shell factory in W.W.I.
John McCammon started successful businesses as a merchant-tailor and as an accountant in Westerville, Ohio, reared his family, and did much to keep Uncle's memory alive. In spite of his having crisscrossed the country numerous times, he managed to retain many of Uncle's letters. He became one of four attorneys for the Purdue heirs and later for the estate, which included Frank and William Prosser, and Thomas Park. The estate took years to settle. Of the four attorneys, one died and two moved away. McCammon spent much of his spare time for the rest of his years working on estate affairs. It was evident from the beginning that there would be little financial gain. Perhaps McCammon did this as a tribute to his uncle. The estate was never really settled; the attorneys simply gave up. According to Myron Seifert and Johnny Jones, as late as 1881 the "final business affairs" had not been terminated until the heirs met at McCammon's residence to wind up matters. Kriebel mentioned that McCammon was still working on estate matters in 1884. However, his correspondence showed that until he died he, like Uncle, had continued to correspond with and visit the next generation of Purdues about the estate and many other matters. He had watched during the exciting times as the family spread across the continent founding and actively participating in the development of many new areas.
After McCammon's death, Purdue had continued to take a role in the McCammon family, for John McCammon's obituary told of his great interest in education-he saw to it that his children, John McCammon and Ada McCammon Crippen, were well educated. They attended Otterbein College on a John Purdue scholarship, and this is why they seemed so cultured to me those many years ago. Both loved the farm Uncle bought for the family and, after they married, both lived on the farm in neighboring houses, kept the legacy of his materials, and continued to correspond with Purdue University and others about Purdue. Both were well-liked and became a strong influence to both family and neighbors. Purdue's influence extended to my own generation in several ways: for one, the neighbors of the farm he selected for the McCammons became my ancestors.
Note: In Sam McCammon's family, Samuel's oldest son, John Purdue McCammon, (JPM), was: head of what became Iowa Wesleyan University; superintendent of public schools at Brooklyn, Iowa; and considered one o
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