Born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, Campbell received a Bachelor of Science degree from Northern Indiana Normal School (now Valparaiso University, of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, in Valparaiso, Indiana) in 1891, an Artium Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Arts) academic degree from the same institution the following year, and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Kansas School of Law (of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas) in 1894.

[3] Frank Frantz, the last Republican Territorial governor was an old friend of Theodore Roosevelt from the San Juan Hill campaign in the Spanish-American War.

Formally nominated to the same position by President Roosevelt on December 3, 1907, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 13, 1908, and received his commission the same day.

[3] Following his resignation from the federal bench, Campbell resumed private practice with the law firm of Cosden and Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1918 to 1921.

[3] In his book, The Federal Courts of the Tenth Circuit: A History, author James K. Logan states that Judge Campbell killed himself by a gunshot in his office on a Sunday morning.