Old Missoula

 

Mrs. Mabel (Lindstadt) Campbell

 

The biography below appears in Montana – Its Story and Biography Vol. 2 by Tom Stout, published in 1921.

 

It should be noted that Mrs. Campbell presided over the office of Missoula County Superintendent of Schools during our involvement in W.W. 1, which surely presented some unusual challenges for her. Also, the great Spanish Flu pandemic struck during this period, causing the temporary closure of Missoula’s schools:

 

 

The life history of the estimable and popular superintendent of schools of Missoula County, Montana, Mrs. Mabel (Lindstadt) Campbell, most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out noble purposes. It is a story of a life whose success is measured by its usefulness – a life that has made the world better and brighter. Her career has been dignified and womanly, her manner unaffected and her actions, springing from a heart charged with love and altruistic sentiment for humanity, have been a blessing to all who have come within range of her influence.

 

Mrs. Mabel (Lindstadt) Campbell is a native daughter of the great Treasure state, having been born at Philipsburg, Montana, and she is the daughter of August W. and Minnie (Miller) Lindstadt. In the paternal line of descent Mrs. Campbell is descended from John Lindstadt, who was born in Stettin, Germany, came to the United States, was married to Caroline Bitte, and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1890. Among their children was August W., father of Mrs. Campbell. He was born in 1855 at Stettin, Germany, and his death occurred at Missoula, Montana, in 1912. At the age of fifteen years he had run away from home and came to the United States. He at once went to work, and so industrious and economical was he that in three years he had saved enough money to bring over his parents and two brothers, all of whom settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He, however, went to Mariposa County, California, where he followed his trade, that of a butcher. Subsequently he came to Montana, locating in the Deer Lodge Valley in 1884, and there he was married. In 1886 he moved to Butte, where he was employed at his trade for a year, and then located in Philipsburg, where and in Granite he spent the ensuing eighteen years. He then came to Missoula, and was connected with the John R. Daily Company up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1912. Mr. Lindstadt was a Democrat in faith and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

 

As above stated, while residing at Deer Lodge Valley Mr. Lindstadt was married to Minnie Miller who was born in New York City in 1868 and who now makes her home with her daughter, the subject of this review. Her father, Christopher Miller, was born in Germany in 1825 and died at Deer Lodge Valley in 1874, the year in which he came to Montana. He had married Margaret Gerken, who was born near Hamburg, Germany, in 1841, and who died at Deer Lodge Valley, Montana, in 1911. In 1874, after their marriage, they had come to Montana by way of Salt Lake City, to which city they had traveled by rail, whence they traveled to Deer Lodge Valley by emigrant wagons.

 

Mabel Lindstadt attended the public schools of Philipsburg, Montana, through the seventh grade. In 1906 the family moved to Missoula, where she completed her public school training, graduating from the high school here in 1910. She was then a student in the Minnesota State Normal School at Duluth, Minnesota, where she graduated in November, 1912. During the following year she was engaged as a school teacher in the rural district in St. Louis County, Minnesota, where all of her students were foreigners, none of them being able to speak English. This was certainly a severe initiation for a young girl into the educational field, but nothing daunted, she stuck to her school and completed her year to the entire satisfaction of the school board. She then returned to Missoula, and during the following year she was employed to teach a rural school in Missoula County. From 1914 to 1917 she was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Missoula. In November, 1916, she was elected to the office of county superintendent of schools, and in January, 1917, she entered upon the discharge of the duties of that office. So entirely satisfactory was her conduct of that office that in 1918 she was elected, without opposition, to succeed herself and is still the incumbent of that office. The office of county superintendent of schools is a most important one and Mrs. Campbell has made a most favorable impression throughout the county because of her businesslike method of conducting the office. She has supervision over fifty schools, ninety-seven teachers and over two thousand pupils. As a teacher she had met with merited success, and in her present capacity as superintendent her record presents a series of successes and advancements such as few attain. She has pursued her chosen calling with all the interest of an enthusiast, is thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the work and has a proper conception of the dignity of the profession to which her life and energies are so unselfishly devoted.

 

Politically Mrs. Campbell is a Democrat, while fraternally she is a member of the Electa Chapter No. 7, Order of the Eastern Star, and the local lodge of the Daughters of Rebekah. She is also a member of the Montana State Teachers’ Association and the National Teachers’ Association.

 

On December 23, 1918, she became the wife of Nigel H. Campbell, who was born in Missouri, where he was reared and where he followed farming pursuits until his removal to Missoula, Montana, in 1916. Here he has been in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. He is a gentleman of splendid personal qualities of character and is well liked by a large circle of acquaintances in the city of his adoption.

 

 

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