"Lou" was named Louetta (or Luetta) at birth and called "Lulie" as a little girl. She was the youngest child of David M. Campbell Sr. and Sarah Ann Ashcraft. After her mother died, when Lulie was just two years old, her father placed her with his unmarried brother and sister, James Y. and Mary A. Campbell. Lou was baptized as "Mary Luetta" at the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, NJ, on 17 July 1868 with her uncle and aunt listed as "the adopting parents." (The name Mary was added in honor of her aunt.)
Lou's aunts, uncle, and maternal stepgrandmother helped her widowed father, who never remarried, to raise the Campbell children after their mother's death. As a teenager, Lou became a Methodist (which was her mother's heritage) and joined the Greene Street Church in Trenton. Rev. Hanlon of that church officiated at her marriage to James E. Pierson on 23 Aug. 1893 in Trenton.
Lou and Jim had seven children altogether, the first two of whom died as infants. Initially they rented an apartment at West Broad St. and So. Greenwood Ave. in Hopewell, NJ (above the pharmacy). Their first few children were born there. In 1899, they purchased Meadowdale Stock Farm off Carter Road in Rosedale (in both Hopewell and Lawrence twps.), and moved there in March 1901. They lived at Meadowdale for the next six years and enjoyed great success. To supplement Jim's livestock business, Lou raised turkeys at the farm. By 1908, however, Jim's business partner had absconded with the bankroll during a livestock-purchasing trip, which bankrupted the family, forcing the sale of the farm and a move back into Hopewell Borough.
Shortly thereafter, Jim contracted lateral sclerosis and quickly deteriorated. After he died in 1909, at age 41, Lou had to place four of her children temporarily with other relatives just as her father had been compelled to do with her as a child. In 1910, she and her infant son Joe were living with her brother David Campbell in Philadelphia. Soon afterward she moved back to Hopewell and kept house for the Methodist pastor's family at the parsonage on Blackwell Ave. Her daughter Margaret eventually lived there as well. Her children Clara and J. Everett (also "Butch") also lived on Blackwell Ave.--Clara with brother-in-law Theodore Pierson and his wife Clara (one of Lou's best friends since youth), and Everett/Butch with his grandparents Pierson and/or aunt and uncle Rachel and William Braunworth. Daughter Jeannette lived with Lou's sister Anna Furman in Trenton.
On 17 Dec. 1912, Lou remarried to Otto Von Steeg (a.k.a. Vom Steeg), a German-born bricklayer. The following year, as her father's estate in Trenton was liquidated, she was able to purchase a home and store at the corner of Railroad and North Greenwood aves., Hopewell. She bought this property, now (2021) "Aunt Chubby's" restaurant, from the heirs of Alfred S. Cook on 16 Oct. 1913. (The Gould family had rented this location from the Cooks previously, operating a confectionary there.) Lou was then able to bring her children all together in her home.
She and her second husband separated a few years later, but were never divorced. Thus she kept the surname Von Steeg until her death in 1944 (though it is not shown on her gravestone). In her later years, she lived with her daughter Jeannette (Pierson) Hall and family on Center Street in Hopewell.
Lou's aunts, uncle, and maternal stepgrandmother helped her widowed father, who never remarried, to raise the Campbell children after their mother's death. As a teenager, Lou became a Methodist (which was her mother's heritage) and joined the Greene Street Church in Trenton. Rev. Hanlon of that church officiated at her marriage to James E. Pierson on 23 Aug. 1893 in Trenton.
Lou and Jim had seven children altogether, the first two of whom died as infants. Initially they rented an apartment at West Broad St. and So. Greenwood Ave. in Hopewell, NJ (above the pharmacy). Their first few children were born there. In 1899, they purchased Meadowdale Stock Farm off Carter Road in Rosedale (in both Hopewell and Lawrence twps.), and moved there in March 1901. They lived at Meadowdale for the next six years and enjoyed great success. To supplement Jim's livestock business, Lou raised turkeys at the farm. By 1908, however, Jim's business partner had absconded with the bankroll during a livestock-purchasing trip, which bankrupted the family, forcing the sale of the farm and a move back into Hopewell Borough.
Shortly thereafter, Jim contracted lateral sclerosis and quickly deteriorated. After he died in 1909, at age 41, Lou had to place four of her children temporarily with other relatives just as her father had been compelled to do with her as a child. In 1910, she and her infant son Joe were living with her brother David Campbell in Philadelphia. Soon afterward she moved back to Hopewell and kept house for the Methodist pastor's family at the parsonage on Blackwell Ave. Her daughter Margaret eventually lived there as well. Her children Clara and J. Everett (also "Butch") also lived on Blackwell Ave.--Clara with brother-in-law Theodore Pierson and his wife Clara (one of Lou's best friends since youth), and Everett/Butch with his grandparents Pierson and/or aunt and uncle Rachel and William Braunworth. Daughter Jeannette lived with Lou's sister Anna Furman in Trenton.
On 17 Dec. 1912, Lou remarried to Otto Von Steeg (a.k.a. Vom Steeg), a German-born bricklayer. The following year, as her father's estate in Trenton was liquidated, she was able to purchase a home and store at the corner of Railroad and North Greenwood aves., Hopewell. She bought this property, now (2021) "Aunt Chubby's" restaurant, from the heirs of Alfred S. Cook on 16 Oct. 1913. (The Gould family had rented this location from the Cooks previously, operating a confectionary there.) Lou was then able to bring her children all together in her home.
She and her second husband separated a few years later, but were never divorced. Thus she kept the surname Von Steeg until her death in 1944 (though it is not shown on her gravestone). In her later years, she lived with her daughter Jeannette (Pierson) Hall and family on Center Street in Hopewell.
"Lou" was named Louetta (or Luetta) at birth and called "Lulie" as a little girl. She was the youngest child of David M. Campbell Sr. and Sarah Ann Ashcraft. After her mother died, when Lulie was just two years old, her father placed her with his unmarried brother and sister, James Y. and Mary A. Campbell. Lou was baptized as "Mary Luetta" at the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, NJ, on 17 July 1868 with her uncle and aunt listed as "the adopting parents." (The name Mary was added in honor of her aunt.)
Lou's aunts, uncle, and maternal stepgrandmother helped her widowed father, who never remarried, to raise the Campbell children after their mother's death. As a teenager, Lou became a Methodist (which was her mother's heritage) and joined the Greene Street Church in Trenton. Rev. Hanlon of that church officiated at her marriage to James E. Pierson on 23 Aug. 1893 in Trenton.
Lou and Jim had seven children altogether, the first two of whom died as infants. Initially they rented an apartment at West Broad St. and So. Greenwood Ave. in Hopewell, NJ (above the pharmacy). Their first few children were born there. In 1899, they purchased Meadowdale Stock Farm off Carter Road in Rosedale (in both Hopewell and Lawrence twps.), and moved there in March 1901. They lived at Meadowdale for the next six years and enjoyed great success. To supplement Jim's livestock business, Lou raised turkeys at the farm. By 1908, however, Jim's business partner had absconded with the bankroll during a livestock-purchasing trip, which bankrupted the family, forcing the sale of the farm and a move back into Hopewell Borough.
Shortly thereafter, Jim contracted lateral sclerosis and quickly deteriorated. After he died in 1909, at age 41, Lou had to place four of her children temporarily with other relatives just as her father had been compelled to do with her as a child. In 1910, she and her infant son Joe were living with her brother David Campbell in Philadelphia. Soon afterward she moved back to Hopewell and kept house for the Methodist pastor's family at the parsonage on Blackwell Ave. Her daughter Margaret eventually lived there as well. Her children Clara and J. Everett (also "Butch") also lived on Blackwell Ave.--Clara with brother-in-law Theodore Pierson and his wife Clara (one of Lou's best friends since youth), and Everett/Butch with his grandparents Pierson and/or aunt and uncle Rachel and William Braunworth. Daughter Jeannette lived with Lou's sister Anna Furman in Trenton.
On 17 Dec. 1912, Lou remarried to Otto Von Steeg (a.k.a. Vom Steeg), a German-born bricklayer. The following year, as her father's estate in Trenton was liquidated, she was able to purchase a home and store at the corner of Railroad and North Greenwood aves., Hopewell. She bought this property, now (2021) "Aunt Chubby's" restaurant, from the heirs of Alfred S. Cook on 16 Oct. 1913. (The Gould family had rented this location from the Cooks previously, operating a confectionary there.) Lou was then able to bring her children all together in her home.
She and her second husband separated a few years later, but were never divorced. Thus she kept the surname Von Steeg until her death in 1944 (though it is not shown on her gravestone). In her later years, she lived with her daughter Jeannette (Pierson) Hall and family on Center Street in Hopewell.
Lou's aunts, uncle, and maternal stepgrandmother helped her widowed father, who never remarried, to raise the Campbell children after their mother's death. As a teenager, Lou became a Methodist (which was her mother's heritage) and joined the Greene Street Church in Trenton. Rev. Hanlon of that church officiated at her marriage to James E. Pierson on 23 Aug. 1893 in Trenton.
Lou and Jim had seven children altogether, the first two of whom died as infants. Initially they rented an apartment at West Broad St. and So. Greenwood Ave. in Hopewell, NJ (above the pharmacy). Their first few children were born there. In 1899, they purchased Meadowdale Stock Farm off Carter Road in Rosedale (in both Hopewell and Lawrence twps.), and moved there in March 1901. They lived at Meadowdale for the next six years and enjoyed great success. To supplement Jim's livestock business, Lou raised turkeys at the farm. By 1908, however, Jim's business partner had absconded with the bankroll during a livestock-purchasing trip, which bankrupted the family, forcing the sale of the farm and a move back into Hopewell Borough.
Shortly thereafter, Jim contracted lateral sclerosis and quickly deteriorated. After he died in 1909, at age 41, Lou had to place four of her children temporarily with other relatives just as her father had been compelled to do with her as a child. In 1910, she and her infant son Joe were living with her brother David Campbell in Philadelphia. Soon afterward she moved back to Hopewell and kept house for the Methodist pastor's family at the parsonage on Blackwell Ave. Her daughter Margaret eventually lived there as well. Her children Clara and J. Everett (also "Butch") also lived on Blackwell Ave.--Clara with brother-in-law Theodore Pierson and his wife Clara (one of Lou's best friends since youth), and Everett/Butch with his grandparents Pierson and/or aunt and uncle Rachel and William Braunworth. Daughter Jeannette lived with Lou's sister Anna Furman in Trenton.
On 17 Dec. 1912, Lou remarried to Otto Von Steeg (a.k.a. Vom Steeg), a German-born bricklayer. The following year, as her father's estate in Trenton was liquidated, she was able to purchase a home and store at the corner of Railroad and North Greenwood aves., Hopewell. She bought this property, now (2021) "Aunt Chubby's" restaurant, from the heirs of Alfred S. Cook on 16 Oct. 1913. (The Gould family had rented this location from the Cooks previously, operating a confectionary there.) Lou was then able to bring her children all together in her home.
She and her second husband separated a few years later, but were never divorced. Thus she kept the surname Von Steeg until her death in 1944 (though it is not shown on her gravestone). In her later years, she lived with her daughter Jeannette (Pierson) Hall and family on Center Street in Hopewell.
Gravesite Details
Heartfelt thanks to Wayne Irons for creating this memorial, and to Wayne and cousin Bob Gantz for the photos.
Family Members
Siblings
