The Virginia Campbells were descended from the ancient family of that name in Argyleshire, Scotland. Alexander Campbell lived at Inverary, in that shire; his son, William Campbell, married Mary Byers. They emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, in Donegal township. Ulster district, and there lived for some years, and then came with their eight children to America-the exact date is not known. The father was an honorable, upright gentlemen; the mother was a woman of remarkable intelligence, possessed of all the womanly virtues-a good wife and a good mother. There children were; David, William, Elizabeth, Martha, Alexander, Robert, Jane, and Mary.

David, was called "Black David" because of his dark hair and complexion, and to distinguish him from his distant cousin, "White David" who was fair, with yellow hair and blue eyes. These two married half sisters. Black David, who was born in 1710 married Jane Cunnyngham. They came from Ireland with their parents and settled in Virginia, it is thought first in Culpepper County; later they removed to Augusta County, which at this time was extreme frontier. They had four children; William, Mary, Martha, and David.

William Campbell, the eldest son of David, married Mary Ellison. He inherited the whole of his father's property, which left the other children to take care of themselves. His youngest brother, Captain David Campbell, who was born in 1753, married his cousin Margaret Campbell, daughter of White David and his wife, Mary Hamilton. On July 29, 1799, Captain David Campbell lost his wife, by whom he had eight children, four of whom died in childbirth. Jane married Colonel Wright, of the United States army. They left no issue. Mary married her cousin, David Campbell, afterwards Governor of Virginia. They had no children. John entered the regular army and served until the close of the War of 1812, when he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He left no children. The youngest son, David, was born on March 4, 1781. He married Catherine Bowen, daughter of Captain William Bowen and granddaughter of General William Russell. Captain David Campbell, after the death of his wife, Margaret, married a second time, and by this wife had one child, Margaret Lavinia, who married Rev. Rev. John Kelly. In 1823 Captain David Campbell removed to Middle Tennessee and lived fro a time in Sumner County; then bought a farm in Wilson County, where he died August 18, 1832. It was at their old homestead on Mansker's Creek that their eldest son, William Bowen Campbell was born.