Dr. Samuel L. Campbell
Samuel Legrand Campbell was born in the year 1766 in Rockbridge county. He was the son of Col. Charles Campbell, an officer of the Revolution, a member of the General Assembly, and for many years a Trustee of Liberty Hall. He lived between Brownsburg and Fairfield, and a sketch of him has been given in these papers.2 The house in which he resided has been standing within the last few years. When duties were resumed at Liberty Hall after the Revolution young Campbell entered as a student, and graduated in 1788, receiving the degree of A. B. His diploma is still in possession of one of his descendants.3
Soon after graduating he attended the medical college in Philadelphia with which Dr. Benjamin Rush was connected, and graduated with great distinction. He returned to Rockbridge and commenced the practice of his profession. His practice soon extended all over the county of Rockbridge and into the neighboring counties of Botetourt, Bath and Augusta. He attained great distinction as a skilful and successful physician, and secured the unbounded confidence of his patients. In early life he married Sarah, daughter of William Alexander and sister of the Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., of Princeton. He resided at Rock Castle, three miles west of Lexington. He built the stone house there which was recently burned.
He was elected a Trustee of Liberty Hall on the 23rd of October, 1793, and served faithfully and efficiently until his resignation on the 15th of January, 1799. During an interregnum in the Rectorship, which had been filled by the chief Professor or President, he was elected Rector on the 17th of October, 1798, and served until the inauguration of Dr. Baxter in 1799. The chartered rights of the Academy being assailed it was deemed prudent and wise to keep the Rectorship filled.
He was elected Treasurer on the 19th of October, 1796, and served until February 28th, 1803, when he was succeeded by Capt. William Wilson, who held the office for thirty-seven years.
Dr. Campbell was greatly interested in the cause of education, and was a staunch friend of Washington College both in its periods of prosperity and in its days of adversity. A sketch of the institution from his visit to it as a boy to a short time before his death, written in graceful style, was republished in these papers.1 He was noted for his wit and culture, and frequently contributed to the journals and magazines of the day. He wrote a graphic Memoir of the Battle of Point Pleasant, copious extracts from which are made by his nephew Charles Campbell in his History of Virginia.2
Dr. Campbell left four sons and three daughters. His sons were all educated at Washington College and received the degree of A. B. Charles Fenelon Campbell graduated in 1823, removed to Ripley, Ohio, practiced the law with success, became Probate Judge, was a useful and influential citizen, and died in 1864. William M. Campbell graduated in 1825, removed to St. Louis, Mo., where he became the Editor of the Evening Gazette, and was a prominent member of the House of Delegates, Senate, and Constitutional Convention of Missouri. He was a lawyer, writer, and statesman of ability, and died in 1850. Samuel Davies Campbell graduated in 1830. He entered the Presbyterian ministry, was Pastor of churches in Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, and died at Geneva, Ala., in 1863. John A. Campbell graduated in 1839, became a physician, and died in Platte County, Mo., in 1882. One of his daughters married Dr. Robert McCluer, another the Rev. Nathaniel C. Calhoun, both alumni of the institution; and the third John S. Wilson, Esq., a prominent citizen of Buchanan.
Dr. Campbell died at Rock Castle on the 24th day of April, 1840, and was buried in the old cemetery at Old Monmouth, long known as Hall's Meeting House. A contemporaneous notice of his death justly says that "he was a gentlemen, a scholar, and a philanthropist, and one of that rare class of men who lived through life without reproach and died without an enemy."—W. McL.
1 Historical Papers, No. 1, p. 107. 'Campbell's History of Virginia, p. 582.
In the preparation of this sketch we have been greatly aided by Dr. Thomas E. Picketf s admirable sketch of Dr. Campbell, Davidson's History of Presbyterianism in Kentucky, and Mr. Thomas Marshall Green's "Historic Families of Kentucky."
* Historical Papers, No. 2, p. 85. 3 Charles L. Wilson, of Buchanan, Va.
