Lydia (Brooks) Campbell (1818 - 1905)

Born 1 Nov 1818 in Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, Newfoundland Colony

Wife of Daniel Campbell — married [date unknown] in Labrador, Newfoundland

Wife of William Blake Jr — married 1834 in Rigolet, Labrador

Descendants

Died Apr 1905 at age 86 in Mulligan River, Labrador, Newfoundland Colony

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Biography

BROOKS, LYDIA (Blake; Campbell), diarist; b. 1 Nov. 1818 at Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, one of three children of Ambrose Brooks, an Englishman, and his Inuit wife, Susan; m. first c. 1834 William Blake in Rigolet, Labrador, and they had five children; m. secondly Daniel Campbell, and they had eight children; d. April 1905 in Mulligan River, Labrador.

In 1894 a Newfoundland clergyman, Arthur Charles Waghorne, submitted for publication to the St John’s Evening Herald the autobiography of Lydia Campbell, “an old Labrador woman of Grosswater Bay of whom I had some knowledge.” The previous year he had sent her “an exercise book, and begged her to be kind enough to write me some account of Labrador life and ways.” Written as a diary at her home at Mulligan River, Lydia Campbell’s memorable “Sketches of Labrador life” appeared in the Evening Herald in 13 instalments between 3 Dec. 1894 and 17 May 1895.

Many Labradorians claim descent from Lydia Campbell. In Happy Valley the building housing Them Days, a magazine edited by her great-great-granddaughter Doris Saunders, is named in her memory.

Sources

• http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=6582
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Campbell
• http://www.labradorcura.com/arch/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Ch8_Stopp_Lydia-Campbell.pdf
• https://inuit.uqam.ca/en/person/campbell-lydia
• https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=12535
• https://www.thefreelibrary.com/%22Well+done+old+half+breed+woman%22%3A+Lydia+Campbell+and+the+Labrador...-a0234998075
• https://www.geni.com/people/Lydia-Blake-Campbell/6000000028817345910
• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MK2F-2NW
• From book - Them Days