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THE CAMPBELL'S WHO MADE WAMPUM
by Gerald F. Cahill - December 2000
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Wampum belt by Lenni-Lenape Indians
INTRODUCTION...
According to family tradition some of my Campbell ancestors had been makers of wampum. I found this intriguing so I did some research on this aspect of our family. This article is the result of my investigations and I hope you find the information as interesting as I did while compiling it. I have included a discussion of wampum, it's uses and manufacture, and the Campbell connection. The Campbell names herein can be found in the Campbell genealogy section and are hyperlinked to that document.
I started from very limited knowledge of wampum. As a young boy I had seen some in our local museum and knew that it was a form of Indian money. But what was the true role of wampum in the Indian society? What was wampum made from and how was it manufactured? Why on earth would my ancestors want to make wampum? Who among the Campbell's were involved in the making of wampum? Exactly how was I related to them? etc.
As a starting point I had a copy of a Campbell family genealogy compiled by Harlan Rogers Campbell.[1] This gave me names, dates, and a location for the Campbell wampum makers. In the course of my investigations I learned that the Pascack Historical Society Museum in Park Ridge, N.J. had the remains of the equipment used by the Campbell's and a rich treasury of articles and artifacts on wampum. I visited this small museum which is open only during the summer as it is unheated. Their collection was outstanding, very informative, and a great help in my understanding of the wampum manufacturing process.
ROLE OF WAMPUM IN INDIAN SOCIETY...
As early as 1606 when the first European explorers arrived in North America they found the natives using beads and shells as a form of money. Roger Williams in 1643 described the process by which the Narragansett Indians in Rhode Island made wampum. Other explorers found wampum in use as far south as the Carolinas.[2] Although barter was the primary medium of exchange among the Indians, they also possessed a form of money which while crude, was so satisfactory, that the white settlers provided by custom and law for its use among themselves and in their trading relations with neighboring Indian tribes.[3] Because European coinage was in short supply, barter also became a primary means of commercial exchange between the early colonists. It was because of this shortage of "coin of the realm" that they soon adopted the "Indian's money". The English called it wampum, the Dutch zeewan[t] or sewan[t] and the French porcelain.[2] Laws placing certain monetary values on it were enacted as early as 1641.[4]
The origin of wampum is generally credited to the Algonquin Indians and is the Indian word for their bead ornaments, made from the hard clam shells found along the shores of Long Island, New England, and the Atlantic seacoast. Wampum is a string of cylindrical white and/or black shell beads about 1/8 inch in diameter, varying from 1/4 to 1 inch in length, and drilled longitudinally.[5]. The word derives from the Algonquin words wampi, meaning white, and umpe, meaning string. It was also called peag, and sometimes combined into wampum peag.[4]
Crudely made with very primitive tools, the Indians wore the beads as a form of jewelry. Due to the hand labor involved, wampum became a prized item of adornment and valued in trade among the natives. When the white men arrived in New Amsterdam and found how the Indians valued their wampum, they began making it themselves, turning out great quantities with better tools in small factories on Long Island and at Pascack and Egg Harbor in N.J. The most successful of these enterprises was built by the Campbell brothers in Pascack, NJ.[4]
Wampum beads were strung in varying combinations for many purposes other than ornamentation. Messengers usually carried them as tokens of safe conduct when traveling between tribes, "condolence strings" announced the death of an important chief, and strings were used as invitations to council meetings. When a new Iroquois chief was installed, he was given his wampum "horns of office" as evidence of his new position.[5]
In all affairs of state, the chief and sachems wore wampum belts around their waists or over their shoulders. In negotiations with other tribes, every important statement was corroborated by laying down one or more strings or belts of wampum. Friendships were cemented by them, alliances confirmed, treaties negotiated, and marriages solemnized. In all these, the giving of wampum added dignity and authority to the transaction. "This belt preserves my words" was the common phrase among the Iroquois when promises were made.[3]
The Indians made wampum in a variety of pleasing designs. When woven into great belts, averaging 6 inches wide and 30 inches long, these designs frequently became mnemonic devices, recording a particular event. Thus the famous wampum belts given to William Penn at the Treaty of Shackamaxon in 1682 not only transferred the Pennsylvania territory to him, but also recorded the event pictorially. It was traditional to exchange these belts at such occasions, to make the agreement binding upon all parties; the act had much the same impact as affixing an official seal to a document.[5]
True wampum was distributed from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River, and from the general Great Lakes region to the lower Ohio Valley. In the western parts of the U.S., other types of shell beads are often popularly known as "wampum," but the term is properly applied only to the east coast beads. Along the Pacific coast, the dentalium shell was used both as a standard of value and as an ornament. These were two inch long mollusk shells brought up from 50-60 feet beneath the ocean off the coast of Vancouver Island and when the top was snapped off were strung into bead sets. Because of the difficulty of obtaining the dentalium shells they were given value and used as "money" from Mexico to Alaska and across the Rocky Mountains to the northern plains.[6]
The flat, drilled disc-shell bead used throughout the West and Southwest is often also miscalled wampum. None of these Western varieties had the same many-sided uses and importance to the individual tribes as did the Algonquian and Iroquian wampum.[5]
The booklet "Trade Wampum: New Jersey to the Plains" (reference two) is an excellent review article on wampum and contains over 100 additional references for anyone interested in more information on wampum. This probably could be ordered from the museum shop, New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ. If anyone is interested in further exploring the subject of wampum and the Campbell's Wampum Factory, I highly recommend this reference as detailed and complete.
CAMPBELL BROTHERS WAMPUM BUSINESS...
Most early documents credit John Campbell, son of William, with setting up a factory in 1746 at Pascack, N.J. (now Park Ridge), for the making wampum and other shell items. However, Howard Durie, Historian of the Pascack Historical Society, based on his personal research states that Abraham Campbell, son of John W., actually was the first of his clan to settle at the present Park Ridge.[7] The Campbell wampum business did not die out until the death of Abraham's grandson, Abraham Campbell, in 1899. During this interval, Campbell wampum played an important role in the establishment of John Jacob Astor's fur business being exchanged for furs throughout the northern and western parts of the United States.[5]
Long after the Indians had sold their lands in New Jersey and moved west, wampum was still in demand for use in the continuing Indian fur trade, carried on by dealers such as John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, and by Governmental agencies.
Wampum making was a cottage industry of residents in the Pascack Valley and nearby areas as a seasonal occupation of the colder months, in the evenings when the farm work was done, and/or by the farmwife during the day and usually turned in at local stores on a barter basis for household needs. Wholesalers then collected the wampum and sold it to the government and fur traders doing business in the newly opened plains and Rocky Mountains.
Abraham Campbell, a blacksmith by trade, moved to Pascack in 1808 and made the drills and metal parts of the original hand process. His sons, John, James, David and Abraham Jr. were proficient at making wampum and they formed the firm of Campbell Brothers. They were not only manufacturers, but also suppliers of raw materials, and wholesalers.[3]
As the demand for wampum increased while production was still a cottage industry, prices rose from $1.75 per 1000 white beads in 1808 to $5.00 in 1816, an increase of approximately 35% per year.[2] As with all things, an increase in demand and price will drive inventive people to figure out a way to make more, cheaper. This the Campbell brothers did. About 1812, Abraham started the Campbell Wampum business mainly in the raw material supply and wholesale purchasing for local hand crafted manufacture. By 1819 Samuel Campbell, the son of Jacob Campbell and thus cousin to Abraham the blacksmith, was a well-established wholesaler supplying the American Fur Company with beads, moons, and hair pipes. Moons were circular curved shells, drilled in the center, and usually sold in sets of five graduated in size from slightly over three inches to about one inch. Hair pipes were long tubes of varying length up to six inches.[4]
This rapidly increasing demand for wampum was handicapped by the primitive tools and hand labor of the original process. The sons of Abraham formed a business to mass-produce wampum using an invention of James. The brothers made a change from foot power to waterpower to run the grinding and polishing wheels, which were required for their products. James and David his brother built two machines about 1842 to drill six pieces of shell at one time.[2] As this was a fixed alignment drilling process the pipes had more precise holes and being water cooled there was less loss during the manufacturing process. This mass production could turn out about 400 pieces a day.[4]
To enlarge the business they erected a mill on their property on the banks of the Pascack creek specifically for the manufacture of wampum. On the ground floor the work requiring the pick and chisel, grinding and polishing, drilling of holes in beads, moons, etc., was carried on, while the upper part of the building was used for working out improvements in the manufacturing process; and this was were the drilling machines were kept and operated. The results were the finest wampum and ornaments made. Inside the workshop the floors were hidden from sight by great heaps of shells. The rude benches and tools were covered entirely with white flying dust from the shells being ground and drilled.[4] One of the drilling machines has survived and was donated to the Pascack Historical Society by the widow of one of the last surviving members of the family.
When the western Indians began moving to reservations and had adopted the white men's dress, the demand for wampum ceased. The trade had reached its peak by about 1850, and large orders diminished in later years. All of the wampum made by and for the Campbell firm was sold in New York City to representatives of the fur trading companies and governmental agencies in the West, where it was shipped. The four Campbell brothers were all dead before 1900, prior to which time the business had ended completely. In 1910 the home of the Campbell business lay in ruins with the scrap heaps of shells nearby and today is probably non-existent.
Drawings and photographs of the Campbell brothers operation can be found in reference two. Frank Gregory sketched the four brothers in 1886 for an article published in American Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 5, March 1888. Robert Campbell estimated that during the best years of 1835-66 the Campbell family alone produced a million black beads per year! At a price of about six dollars per thousand this was a $6,000 a year business in black beads alone. That was a lot of money in those days especially as a winter time only occupation as they were farmers during the rest of the year.
The following is taken from reference [3] Westervelt, Chapter V, pg. 48-51.
The black wampum was made from the small, thick, blue part of the "quahog" or sea clamshells and the white wampum from the conch shell. As there is less of the purple portion of the shell than the white, the black beads were twice as valuable as the more common white beads. The process was simple, but required a skill attained only by long practice. The hardness and brittleness of the material rendered it impossible to produce the article by machinery alone. The first step was to split off the thin part of the shell with a light sharp hammer. Then the rounded thick potion was clamped in the sawed crevice of a slender stick, held in both hands, and ground smooth on a grindstone until formed into an eight-sided figure of about an inch in length and nearly half an inch in diameter, when it was ready for boring. The shell then was inserted into another piece of wood, sawed similarly to the above, but fastened firmly to a bench. A hanging weight, caused the sawed orifice to close firmly upon the inserted shell and held it firmly as in a vice. The operator ground the drill to a proper shape, and tempered it in the flame of candle. The drill was then mounted with a rude ring with a groove on its circumference around which the operator (seated in front of the fastened shell) curls the sting of a common hand bow. The boring commences by adjusting the point of the drill to the center of the shell, while the other end is braced against a steel plate on the breast of the operator. About every other sweep of the bow, the drill was dexterously drawn out, cleaned of the shell particles by the thumb and finger, above which drops of water from a vessel fell down to cool the drill, which was still kept revolving by the use of the bow with the other hand, the same as though it were in the shell. This operation of boring was the most difficult of all, the peculiar motion of the drill was hard on the breast, yet it was performed with a rapidity and grace interesting to witness. Peculiar care was observed lest the shell burst from heat caused by friction. When bored halfway, the wampum was reversed and the same operation was repeated until the holes met.
The next process was the finishing. A wire about twelve inches long was fastened at one end to a bench. Under and parallel to the wire was a grindstone, fluted on its circumference, hung a little out of the center, so as to be turned by a treadle moved with the foot. The left hand grasps the end of the wire, on which is strung the wampum, and wraps the beads around the hollow or fluted circumference of the grind stone. While the grindstone was revolving, the beads were held down on it, and turned by a flat piece of wood held in the right hand until round and smooth. They were then strung on hempen strings about a foot in length. From five to ten strings were a day's work for a female. They were sold to the country merchants for twelve and a half cents a sting, and always commanded cash.
The raw material for the manufacture of wampum, the hard shell clams from which the black hearts were extracted to make the valuable black wampum, were obtained at Rockaway, Long Island. The clams were first placed on the ground under trees and the neighbors invited to partake of the succulent feast. With the opening of the Washington Market in New York City, the thrift of the Campbell's was shown - they contracted for the empty clam shells. With a small hammer the black parts were skillfully broken from each shell and placed in barrels. They often returned home with ten or twelve barrels at one time. Many of the black hearts were sold to the farmers' wives and daughters, and wampum was made for miles around, which is evidenced by the finding of shell scrap heaps in different parts of the county. The black wampum beads sold for five dollars a thousand, every string twelve inches long counting for fifty. The white wampum was only half the value of the black.
From the West Indies, conch shells were brought as ballast, as many as five and ten thousand at a time. The firm purchased these and made wampum moons from them. From the conic centers of the shells the concave disks for the moons were made, each set composed of three to five disks ranging in size from one and a half to five inches in diameter, the smaller placed in the larger, according to size, with the beautiful natural highly glazed pink and white side up, tied together through two holes in each center with the required red worsted, the ends left to form a tassel. The Indians were fond of display, and the greater their wealth the more decorations they wore; the wealthy chief having a full set, while the poor brave had only one. The moons sold for three dollars for a five-piece set, two dollars for a three-piece set, one dollar and fifty cents for one piece. From the conch shell chief's buttons were made, a little smaller than the smallest moon, the price being governed by the beauty of the shell. The use of ornaments was not alone for show, but they were used in connection with religious ceremonies.
From large ridges or ribs on the lips of the conch shell the wampum pipes were made. The five-pound shells were the choice ones, as they yielded larger pieces for the pipes and moons, the remainder being used for the white wampum beads. The pipes were from one and half to six inches long, larger than a lead pencil, tapering from the center to each end. They were bleached with buttermilk and highly polished with sand and water. They were sold for six cents an inch up to four and half inches, then eight cents per inch to six inches. Their special use was as breastplates worn next to the body, also over the coat in rows from one to four in width. They were also called "hair pipes," and were used to ornament the Indians long hair by running some of the hair through them and tying them with bright colored strings. The moons and pipes acquired a standard value in trading among the Indians of the plains.
Campbell Wampum Making Machine
Photos by G. CahillThe mechanics of the firm were David and James Campbell, who invented but did not patent a machine to drill holes through the length of the pipes. The machine was made from material at hand, and its construction displayed ingenuity. The woodwork was crude, the flywheel a grindstone, the belting heavy leather. It was turned by hand, six spools being arranged to hold the handmade drills of fine steel, the size of a medium size knitting needle. Opposite the drills were six jointed arrangements that held the pipes that had been ground to the required form. By the use of a lever the drills and pipes were brought together in position for the critical task, the boring of holes through the center of the very hard shell, where the least change in line would burst and run them. By another lever the pipes and drills were immersed in water contained in a tank beneath them, then the power was applied. When the drills had gone half through the length of the pipes, the machine was stopped, the lever reversed, withdrawing the drills. The pipes were reversed, the drills reset and immersed and the machine set in motion again, until the holes were through the entire length, six of each size being done at one time. The art of drilling under water, the use of buttermilk for softening and bleaching, were the firm's discoveries and secrets, and with their valuable machine, which was kept on the second floor of the factory under lock and key, were guarded and kept from the public, and even many members of the families interested in the industry were kept in ignorance of the methods adopted in manufacturing of the articles.
WILLIAM CAMPBELL FAMILY [1]...
The Campbell makers of the wampum, were descended from William Campbell (1718-1793) who came to this country as a teenager from his native Ulster, Ireland about 1730-35. Soon after his arrival he married Elizabeth Demarest (1715-1797), daughter of David Demarest and Matie DeBaun. William and Elizabeth had ten children, seven boys and three girls. Their son John has been credited with starting the family business as mentioned above.
John (1747-1836) took unto himself as a helpmate a member of one of the original Dutch families of the district, Letitia VanValen (1751-1841) and they had six sons and three daughters. After buying and selling other lands at Teaneck and New Milford, John purchased a farm of 62 acres in Montvale bordering on the state line, from Jonathan Morris in 1789. Here he built his homestead, farmed and resided until his death. Another reference says that John W. Campbell, had an original homestead of one hundred acres at Pascack, twenty-five miles from New York City. At the old homestead, prior to 1775, John W. Campbell commenced the manufacture of wampum, which was afterwards for over a century continued by two of his sons, four grandsons, and two or more great-grandsons, and the family became renowned as wampum makers. The old homestead was of red stone, built on the beautiful Dutch lines with an overhanging roof in front and rear and was demolished about 1887.[3]
This is the John that reference 2 suggests started the wampum business in 1745 in Pascack. However, his date of birth makes that impossible and references 3, 4, & 5 give the credit for starting the Campbell wampum business to his son, Abraham. Reference 1 states that John started making wampum on his father's homestead prior to 1775. This could be very possible as many of his neighbors were probably doing the same over the winter months and this may be the source of the confusion of who started and when did the "business" start. It may well have been here that Abraham learned the wampum making skills that allowed him to start the family business.
John's son Abraham (1782-1847) married Margrietje Demarest (1778-1864) and they had six sons only four of which grew to adulthood. They were the Campbell brothers, John, Jacobus (James), David and Abraham Jr. In 1808, Abraham purchased from his father-in-law's estate, the former Wortendyke homestead and 58 acres laying on both sides of the Pascack Road in what is now Park Ridge for the sum of $2500. He was a blacksmith and had his shop and foundry on this site until his death. He made the drills and metal parts of the breastplates used by the wampum makers. Reportedly, he also made the first iron moldboard plow.
Abraham started the family business making wampum in Pascack but it was his four sons who "automated" the manufacture and formed Campbell Brothers Co. His first cousin, Samuel, was the business agent who conducted the business with the American Fur Co. in New York. Abraham and William Campbell, of the second generation of the wampum industry, were experts and did a great amount of work for John Jacob Astor. Abraham died in 1847, and his brother William, being of a roving disposition, could not be depended on to fill orders promptly and thus the firm of the four Campbell brothers was started and an extensive trade was done with the fur dealers on the Western Plains that continued about fifty years. The United States Government agents also sold wampum to the Indians of the Plains and the Far West. The death of Abraham Campbell in 1899, the last of the firm of four brothers, put an end to this extensive business that in the long period of time carried on by four generations of one name in output and wide distribution exceed any other industry in Bergen county.
A cousin to Abraham above, Samuel was in the wholesale wampum business with William Hopper in the 1830's doing business with the American Fur Co. of New York. On 12 December 1834, Pratte, Chouteau and Co., placed an order with the American Fur Co. in New York for "6000 inches of Wampum Hair Pipes, assorted sizes, mostly large." In the New York office the notation "S. Campbell" was placed beside this order. On 31 Dec. Ramsey Crooks of the American Fur Co. wrote to Samuel Campbell, Piersons Post Office, Franklin, Bergen Co., N.J.: "We want 3250 inches of Wampum Hair Pipes, none less than five inches long and not many of them over 6 inches." A letter from the American Fur Co. to Samuel Campbell, dated 21 Nov. 1838 designated the current price for shell hair pipes paid the makers as 3 1/2 cents per inch. (Ref., New York Historical Soc., manuscripts of American Fur Co. MS, A, pp 5-6; MS, B pp 3, 29; MS, B, pp 154-155; MS, A, pp 5-6, 23; and MS, D.). His son John left a note stating "Samuel Campbell Sr., died in 1865 in the city of Colorado".
John, the eldest son of Abraham, was a blacksmith and built his home on the northern part of his father's farm. He was in the wampum business with his brothers, their own mill having been built on the east end of John's farm by the Pascack Brook.[5] John (1808-1889) married Hannah Demarest (1813-1894). They had three daughters.
When Abraham's second son, James (1810-1847), reached a working age, he decided to enter the wampum-making field as a wholesaler. James and his three brothers, John, David, and Abraham, Jr., all proficient at making wampum, formed the firm of Campbell Brothers, and imported the shells, which were sold to local makers. The firm then purchased the beads from their neighbors and subcontractors; as well as the amount traded at local stores. The firm perfected the longer type called "hair" pipes, made in various lengths up to six inches, and the circular curved pieces called "moons", which were sold in graduated sets of three and five. James and his brother David made a machine for drilling the hair pipes, using a process invented by James, which drilled six at the same time. It could mass-produce 300 pieces a day, a great advantage over the hand method. The machine was never patented and the mechanism kept a closely guarded secret. The firm did much of their work in a mill that stood by the Pascack Brook on the family farm. They had what might be called a local monopoly while it lasted.[2]
James or Jacobus (1810-1887) never married. He was a blacksmith by trade and later became interested in wampum making, establishing the family firm of Campbell Brothers, which carried on an extensive business. Long made by local residents, wampum was always accepted as barter at the local stores. The pipes, moons and beads were used by Government agents in dealing with the western Indian, and by producing wampum of the best quality and buying up all the local output, the Campbell firm created a monopoly. The business continued as long as the wampum was in demand. James was also an inventor and created a machine for drilling six pieces of wampum at once. This was never patented and its use kept a closely guarded from the pubic, being operated only by members of the family. The business eventually died out as the demand diminished and by the time of the death of James, it was about finished. The sole remaining drilling machine is now in the museum of the Pascack Historical Society in Park Ridge, N.J. James resided in the old homestead with his mother, an early sandstone house dating from the middle 1700's. After a severe hailstorm in July 187? considerably damaged the old home, he had it demolished and built a new frame dwelling a short distance to the north.[5]
Brother David (1812-1893) married Sally Haring (1814-1899) and they had five daughters and four sons. He was a carpenter by trade but also took part in the wampum business with his brothers. He and his family resided in a house built at their marriage on land purchased by his father from the Powles family on Pascack Road in what is now Woodcliff Lake, NJ. It was the death of their son Abraham which finally closed the business in 1899.
The fourth brother, Abraham Campbell (1815-1899) married Mary Ann Wortendyke (1821-1881) and had two daughters and one son. A stone cutter by trade making monuments and headstones, he was also involved in the wampum business. They lived on the middle part of his father's farm at Pascack in what is now Pascack Road in Park Ridge.
If this short article has piqued your curiosity to learn more about wampum, the following points may be of interest to you. A large amount of belts and strings of wampum were made during the early Colonial period but now have become extremely rare. There are a few in museums, and some are still in the hands of public officials as records of treaties with the Indians.[3]
The two great collections of wampum and belts still extant are housed in the Museum of the American Indian, New York City, and in the New York State Museum in Albany. That these and two or three smaller collections are essentially all that survives of the great quantities of wampum once in existence is mute testimony to the erosion that time has levied upon much of the Indian culture.[4]
One of the Campbell drilling machines has survived and was donated to the Pascack Historical Society by the widow of one of the last surviving members of the family.[2] The museum and rooms of the Pascack Historical Society are located at 19 Ridge Avenue, Park Ridge, New Jersey.
Reference one, the compilation by Harlan Rogers Campbell of the descendants of William Campbell, contains well over four hundred names. However, as he pointed out, some family members moved away and he was unable to locate any further records. Likewise, he did his work some twenty-five years ago and by now a new generation has been born. Since my mother, Edith Campbell Cahill gave me a copy of the family genealogy several years ago, I have been trying to extend his work and have found one missing branch of the family located on the west coast. Currently my database has eleven generations of William Campbell descendants and probably about 800 names. If any readers are interested in exchanging information on this Campbell family, please contact me either by e-mail or leave a message in my guestbook. Connections to these can be made below.
[1] "William Campbell of Bergen County and Descendants", compiled by Harlan Rogers Campbell, 1969.
[2] "Trade Wampum: New Jersey to the Plains", Lorraine E. Williams and Karen A. Flinn, Copyright 1990, New Jersey State Museum.
[3] "History of Bergen County New Jersey" Frances A. Westervelt, editor; publd. 1923, Vol. I, pg. 47.
[4] "A Brief Story of Wampum", pamphlet by Pascack Historical Society.
[5] Encyclopedia Americana, International Edition, published Grolier Inc. 1988, Vol. 28, pg. 317.
[6] "Money from the Sea", Phil Nuytten, National Geographic, Vol. 183, No. 1, pg. 109, January 1993.
[7] Personal communication from H. Durie dated 1 May 1990.
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