John (Johnnie) Campbell [Gullah informant]

The settlement of Harris Neck, McIntosh County, Georgia, began when on September 2, 1865, Margaret M. Harris donated her land to Robert Dolegal (the name is also spelled as Delegal and Denegal), who she had formerly enslaved. According to Mrs. Harris' will, she had raised Robert and trusted him to take care of her and her mentally disabled son Bright Harris until their death in exchange for the lands. Mrs. Harris appears in the 1850 Census slave schedule as being the enslaver of 59 individuals. In the 1860 Census slave schedule, she appears as the enslaver of 66 persons. Robert Dolegal must have sold parcels of his land immediately after he took possession of it. In the Census of 1870, there were 87 African American households and 21 white households in Harris Neck.

John Campbell was born about 1877, the son of Isaac Campbell and Rose Bacon Campbell. On December 27, 1900, John married Georgia Stevens. The couple had at least five children but by 1910 had lost one of them. The surviving children were Ophelia, James, Agnes, and Johnnie. John was working as a boatman for the oyster industry. Georgia worked as a cook for a private family. They owned their house. After appearing in the 1910 population census, both John and Georgia disappear from the record. However, we know that Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner interviewed John Campbell at Harris Neck in the summer of 1933. It is possible that both John and Georgia Campbell were living when the Federal government took the land at Harris Neck through eminent domain to build a military airport. The residents were given two weeks to move out. On July 27, 1942, all the community's houses were bulldozed and burned down.