William Campbell’s grave marker is considered to be Mount Bethel Cemetery’s oldest legible stone. Certainly, it marks one of the earliest inhabitants of Wright’s Ferry (before it was named Columbia) to be buried there. William was, most likely, a trapper. That, in itself isn’t particularly unique, but the story of how the stone was carved certainly is.

The story which has followed this stone marker from the late 18th century may be completely accurate, OR the story may have been embellished over the years:

William Campbell’s canine companion was surely a loyal assistant and a comfort as William trapped the lands around and up and down the Susquehanna River. Sadly, William discovered that the poor creature had contracted an infection (rabies?). Uncharacteristically, the dog bit William. Not many days later, William developed a fever which soon was followed by confusion and agitation.

William Campbell was obviously a practical and pragmatic man and very soon understood that his trapping days might soon come to an end, along with everything else. He realized there was no time to waste. After dispatching his poor, suffering companion with his knife, he realized, next, what had to be done.

With one bandaged hand—getting more painful with each passing hour—he found a piece of slate his roughly shaped, he set about carving the basic facts of his life. Additionally, he augmented those facts with a rough illustration of what transpired. Dog laying on its side, a glove-covered hand holding a knife pointing toward the dead beast. To the contemporary mind, it’s quite a mystery how he could have possessed the will, tenacity, and the strength to carve letters and images into a slab of slate. Because of that dubious belief, some have suggested he got only so far when someone else must have helped him finish his goal.  Considering, too, the feat to dig a hole deep enough for William, the dog, and the slate slab—all the while fighting a fever—it seems rather likely that someone at some point assisted him. For sure, he carved the stone (or, most of it). Men and women at that time and in such a place were built of harder stock. This story only supports that premise.

Nineteenth century Columbia historian, Francis X. Reuss, offered an alternate assessment of the story and, thus, what is carved into the stone. Mr. Reuss posits that the ‘dog’ and ‘hand holding knife’ might suggest imagery. Instead of dog lying dead, he suggests it represents a nod to clan heraldry and is a ‘lion rampant’ (on hind legs). There are certainly numerous crests in the United Kingdom which used such symbology. The hand with knife, Mr. Reuss suggested, is a ‘dexter (right) mailed hand’ holding a sword. He thoroughly researched his theory but could not come away with firm evidence. Still, it’s a viable option to consider.

As you may have discovered—if you’ve recently visited the Mount Bethel Cemetery—William’s stone doesn’t exist where it had been placed many years ago. Weather has taken its toll. In the early part of 2026, the marker was removed from his resting place of 268 years and lovingly relocated inside the cemetery cottage.

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A note about William’s spelling and dated word forms:

During this time, what looks like a lowercase ‘f’, when used at the beginning or middle of a word, is pronounced like an ‘s.’  Known as a ‘long S’ or ‘medial S’ it is an archaic letterform which pretty much ended at the beginning of the 19th century. Interestingly, William used it at the end of words. Either the usage changed after  the move to the Colonies, or he was simply in error. 

After ‘May,’ Willian appears to have chosen ‘ye.’ Initially, the letter used on the other side of the Atlantic looked like a fancy lowercase ‘p,’ with a bit of a curled flourish at the top of the P’s vertical stem. It was known as the letter ‘thorn.’ When that letter fell out of favor with the popularity of print, it was replaced by a ‘Y,’ with a lowercase ‘e’ appearing right above or at the upper right of the Y. As we’ve all seen in old English, it became ‘Ye.’ which simply meant ‘the.’ In William’s usage, he seems to have used it as a shorthand version meaning “in the year” as it precedes 1758. 

There are a few alternative sources which suggest the death date reads: ‘May ye 4th 1758.’ If this notation was made previous to a section of the stone which crumbled away, it’s reasonable to believe that, on the next line, “4th” could have existed before the year. No existing photographs demonstrate this, but those images we’ve seen only go back as far as the 1930s. And, IF the day of his death is mentioned, it’s very unlikely William did, at least, that portion of the carving.”

We’ve used the word “parted” as in “…parted this life.” However, because it’s quite possible that some letters may have broken away (slate being a layered stone), we should consider the possibility that he actually carved “Departed.” In either case, the meaning similar.