Photo sent by frequent visitor to this web site:Mother and I were taking a walk along the river when I was quite small. The bridge broke with people on it. Mother screamed for Uncle John (John Yerkees Campbell - born 1900), When he saw what was happening, he took off running for the river - shedding clothes and shoes as he ran. He saved people. I don't know how many. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to take off his watch. Watches were not waterproof then like they are now and the watch was ruined. One of the women he saved had broken up a "happy home." She had taken up with a man who left his wife for her. He also left behind a house full of children with no means of support. Uncle John said later that he should have saved the watch and let her drown. Don't know how true the story was but it was told to me by my mother.
Uncle John had a falling out with his father and left home about 1946 or '47. My cousin Darrell said that his mom told him Uncle John said he was going to New York. He planned on getting a job and paying back every penny his father spent on his education. I adored him and have always regretted that I'll never know what happened to him. Eva McCleland