[3] He had nine siblings including, five brothers, Benjamin, Joseph, James, George and Nathan and four sisters, Mary, Minerva, Franconia, and Susan.

[2] James, who had both Scottish and African ancestry, was born a slave, and became a successful carpenter after being freed, establishing his family's prominence in the state.

[2] He graduated from Comer's College in Boston, Massachusetts in 1856[4] after which he taught in New York, and soon launched a newspaper, The Colored Citizen, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Colored Citizen was oriented toward black soldiers in the American Civil War, and enjoyed strong Christian support.

[5] In 1867, Sampson was nominated by the Republicans to run for the United States Congress but after several unsuccessful bids, he stopped trying.