MARGARET COV CAMPBELL
& THOMAS PATON
In the Campbell household, in Edinburgh, Canongate, Midlothian, Scotland, arrived a wee Scot lass, named Margaret. It was August 18, 1812. Her parents were Thomas and Christian (Macintosh) Campbell. In the years to come, this girl was to keep the record of her life in her Cottage Bible, and in a second Family Bible, which records the great moments of her life and those of her family, the births, the marriages and the deaths. Being born in the capital of Scotland, with the great stone castle overlooking the city and its bay, she was raised in a family of Scotch Presbyterian background, going to school learning the proper way for a Scots girl to speak, to write, and to read.
Looking up historic Canongate Street, below the junction with New Street
A young man, Thomas Paton came into her life (born Jan 7, 1811) and in 1831, on Dec 30, they were married. She was 19 and he was 20. His home was in Perthshire, Scotland. Their first child, James, was horn in Glasgow, June 13, 1833. King James may have been the inspiration for their son's name. Margaret's baby, James, died when he was only three years old.

The family moved to Lancashire, England, where Christian was born on Oct. 23, 1835, but he lived only two years. So Margaret and Thomas buried their second son, too. Thomas Jr. came to their home next, Oct. 26, 1837. They had moved to Milnegavie, Scotland, by now. Four years later William was born. The family had moved again to Glasgow. Here, April 5, 1841, William joined his parents and big brother Thomas. The first baby daughter was named for her mother, Margaret. It was a cold February day in Glasgow, 1843, the 26th. She was lovely, the first daughter, with dark eyes and dark hair, the joy of her parents and brothers Tom and Will.

Margaret and Thomas began to dream of life for their family in the New World and the (family) crossed the Atlantic with Thomas, William, and Margaret. In the States, Margaret and Thomas' family grew with five more children: John Paton, born September 23, 1844, and Anna Hellen (Ellen) May 31, 1847, in Taunton, Rhode Island. Walter James Paton came to the family at Providence, R. I., Feb. 20, l849, and the family was in Belleville, N. J. When Jane (Jean) Janet came, Dec. 14, 1850, but again, Margaret was to bury two children: Jane, Oct. 25, 1854, and Robert Campbell, who lived only a short while: Nov. 8, 1852-April 20, 1854, both born in Belleville, N.J. and both died at Globe Village, Rhode Island. Margaret had buried two children in Scotland, and two in the States. Anna Helen was in Logan Co., Illinois, at Emden, when she died, Nov. 18, 1903, at 56.

Sorrow met the family when the father, Thomas Paton, died in Fall River, Massachusetts, January 15, 1861 "½ past 2 o'clock p.m." The New World gave of its earth for a resting place for the Scotsman, and Margaret faced a world as a widow, with children for whom she was responsible.

Margaret Cov Paton had become naturalized in April the 13th, 1880 and at 68, she homesteaded land near Galva, Kansas. She paid $4 for the Final Receipt, and official papers are recorded in the Court House in McPherson, on, Kansas, of the deed of land made to her and signed with the facsimile of James A. Garfield. On Dec. 21, 1880, she sold the land to "Margaret Armstrong and husband," for $800, and they in turn also sold the 160 acres for $1,000. The land is plotted and recorded: R. 2, T. 19, SW4 of Section 17.

Margaret (Paton) (Platt) and Wm. D. Armstrong lived on the ranch where he was later to build a hotel and Livery stable. He later bought a farm, part of the Crane Ranch when it was sold.

Margaret Cov Paton lived to be 80 years and eleven months old. Her burial is in McPherson, Kansas. Her grandson, Charles C. Platt, wrote about her:

DIED:
At her home in Galva, Kansas, July 23, 1893, Mrs. Margaret Paton aged eighty years and eleven months. She was a moved member of the Presbyterian Church of Glava. Mother Paton was of Scottish birth and inherited (in) a large degree the solidity of the Scottish race and especially in her religious views, a constant Bible reader, a wise counselor in all that pertained to the advancement of the kingdom of her Lord and Master in the community in which she lived. When I look around I can but say, alas, who will be able amongst us to take up Mother Paton's mantel and take her place in the church circle, that death hath broken by taking her from us.

She was so gentle yet strong, so tender and loving that the entire community bowed in sorrow around her silent tomb in sympathy with her three sons and two daughters that were present to perform this last sad rite to one so dear. God grant that the entire family may have grace continually given them to walk before God as she walked.

Her death Certificate indicates she "died of Congestion of Lungs after 4 days".

"Following poem was written on August 15, 1893, in memory of my dear old Grandma Margaret Paton, born at Edinburgh, Scotland, August 18, 1812. She died at Galva, Kansas on July 24, 1893." Charles. C. Platt