The Native American tribes of the Monacan, Iroquois, and Cherokee were the original inhabitants of the Campbell County area, but were later forced west due to the settlers' progress.

Sir William Gooch, in 1727, created a couple of "inducements" in order to lure settlers to the Campbell County area.

These inducements were that if one settled on the Staunton River "in the bounds of the newly formed County of Brunswick" then they would be freed from paying levies for ten years.

The second "inducement" was that the settler could claim 400 acres simply by building a cabin on the land and by "planting a patch of grain".

[citation needed] Throughout the 18th century, multiple Scotch-Irish families would begin settling in the area, these names included the Irvins, the Mitchells, the McCues, the McElroys, McDowells, Campbells, and others.

Afterwards, the passengers were landed at Orleans, and these future settlers of Campbell County would travel south to investigate Sir William Gooch's inducements.

[11] From its earliest days, the county relied on tobacco as the primary cash crop and basis for the economy, though it also developed early manufacturing operations.

However, the departure of manufacturing and the changing tobacco market has forced Campbell to transform from a mainly agricultural area into a mixture of suburban and rural communities.

[14] Campbell County's religious origin predominantly included Protestant Christianity, with denominations such as Quakerism and Presbyterianism strongly represented.

The Quakers later migrated from the area due to disagreements with the other Campbell County populace over issues such as slavery and the American Revolution.

This apparent refusal to aid their neighbors in their fight for independence greatly angered many and created a wedge between the Quakers and the Non-Quakers.

These actions created additional tension with their slave-holding neighbors and caused many Quakers to leave the Campbell County area and to move West.

They originally settled in Pennsylvania, but then moved to Virginia due to Governor Gooch's inducements to entice settlers to come to Campbell County.

[7] The Presbyterians and their descendants then remained in Campbell County, and others who had been with them on the trip to America soon followed after, greatly aiding in the settlement process.