Alexander Campbell. Origin: Old Family Name.

There are several Alexander Campbells listed in Loyalists of the Southern Campaign. One was listed as a captain with the South Carolina Royalists, another was a lieutenant in the Royal North Carolina Regiment. An Alexander Campbell was granted 40 acres, which included the White Sound Cay in the New Found Harbour area of Long Island on 17 June 1790.

The combination of given and surname is one of the most common Scottish names we found, so it is difficult to determine which Alexander Campbell this was—but we initially considered it probable that he was related to Archibald Campbell, another Long Island grantee. An Alexander Campbell also received land in Nova Scotia, along with several other Loyalists who later settled on Long Island. These Loyalists found the land they were given in Nova Scotia was not to their liking. While we know that they departed Nova Scotia for the Bahamas on the vessel Beaver, we have made numerous unsuccessful attempts to locate a passenger manifest for this ship.

On the other hand, we identified an Alexander Campbell present in the 1734 Fitzwilliam Census and a record of an Alexander Campbell living on Eleuthera with one negro in 1740. Because this grant was only 40 acres (which was equal to just one head of household and no slaves or family), we ultimately decided that it was unlikely that an officer in the British military would have received only 40 acres on a small cay whose land was almost certainly not productive. Therefore, we determined that this Alexander Campbell was most likely an Old Family Name.

References: HB App E., LSC, NLI5.