campbellreunions.com   Nova Scotia Campbell Family

Mary R. Campbell 2^nd youngest daughter of Colin & Phoebe Campbell 

Mary R. Campbell was born February 25, 1860 in Weymouth North. NS.  She married Donald Kemp who was the Mercantile Bank Manager and later of the Royal Bank in Weymouth. 

In Cousin Sydney Holyoke’s memoirs I found these stories: 

 “ Aunt Mary and Uncle Donald made a wonderful couple devoted to each other.  I was her train bearer and Mary Vroom was the Flower girl. They lived in the big red house which Uncle Donald had built for his bride.  Their house had the first running water in the village, that is, the first natural flowing water.  He tapped the spring which was the source of the stream which operated Nichol’s Mill.  This spring was on high enough ground that it flowed right into the bathroom on the 2^nd floor. 

Their house, close to the river, had a lovely view  up to the railway bridge and out to the mouth of the river. The boat house was a hangout for me, for bathing and boating. 

 I remember one day, with my cousin “Dougal”, when we were sailing in Uncle Donald’s boat, we saw a man waving to us from the wharf behind Charlie Hankinson’s store. He asked us to take him across the river to the French shore.  We told him we would if he gave us a couple of cigars.  After we delivered him we lit up the cigars.  I was not effected but Dougal got very sick.  We took back the boat and started to walk home. As we went we met some of our aunts driving “Nanky Poo” in their Phaeton (a horse driven carriage).  I implored Dougal to buck up and not look so sick.  We didn’t want them to know we had been smoking.  Dougal’s father was very strict and would have punished him. Fortunately our sin was never found out. 

Aunt Mary was born to be a social  leader.  She and her neighbor Mrs. Burrill, fought without rancor to out–entertain each other, but in this Aunt Mary usually had the last word.  She simply loved to have people about her and would go to any amount of work to prepare for her many parties. She had a grass tennis court in front of the house and would delight and having guests happy and well fed.  At least once in the summer she would hire a two masted scooter and a tug to pull it across the bay to Sandy Cove.  This was a grand affair with 30 to 40 quests. One of the social highlights of the summer. 

Their house, in contrast to Beechwood, had a modern, up-to-date bathing facilities and that we used to go down there periodically to bath. When I was pressured into doing this I always sat around for several hours thereafter reading one of the many interesting books from Uncle Donald’s library.” 

 They had 1 child Jessie Catherine Matheson Kemp born in 1893.  She married Cuthbert Aikman Simpson. 

The Very Reverend Cuthbert Aikman Simpson was an Anglican priest and academic. From 1954 to 1959, he was Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Oxford. From 1959 to 1969, he was Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. Born on 24 May 1892, educated at the University of King’s College in Nova Scotia and ordained in 1921, his first post was a curacy at St Alban’s Woodside, Nova Scotia. He was a Fellow and Tutor at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. In 1954 he became a Canon of Christ Church, Oxford. Five years later he became Dean of Christ Church. a post he held until 1969. An eminent author and educator.                                           

He died on 30 June 1969. 

Jessie Simpson’s obituary. Wife of the Dean of Christs Church was a most vital person who will be sadly missed at Christ Church. She welcomed everyone to the Deanery, and took a personal interest in every undergraduate.  She was so enthusiastic and young in Spirit that each felt at ease with her.  She would spend hours watching the rowing, would allow the musicians to practice and give concerts in the Deanery, would invite brides and bridesmaids to change in her spare room before weddings in the cathedral.                                                                                                                        The wives of the Dean’s colleagues were. equally welcome. She had a luncheon club for them every Monday and arranged lectures to interest them.  She organized a party of wives to do needlework.         She was extremely efficient because she did so much with the minimum of fuss.                                           It is cruel that she should have been taken ill when she was so much needed at the Deanery of Christ Church and greatly beloved by everyone.