Later it annexed portions of New Hanover County and Wayne County to arrive at its present size. Settlers began arriving in the county as early as 1740, moving up South and Black Rivers from the seacoast at Wilmington. The southern end of the county once contained large cotton plantations, but this end of the county today is largely devoted to the growing of pine trees. The dense woods has provided shelter for a large number of deer which make hunting quite good during deer season. Not far from the banks of the Black River at Ivanhoe is the Black River Presbyterian Church, whose first pastor arrived from Scotland, via Wilmington, in a boat up the river.
Tradition has it that a part of the lumber from the boat was used to build the first church there.
Services were held in Gaelic for many years and the population of the area contained many Scotch-Irish. Sampson has eight incorporated towns, of which Clinton, the county seat, is the largest and oldest, having been incorporated in 1852. Other incorporated towns are Roseboro, Autryville, Salemburg, Garland, Turkey, Newton Grove, and Harrells. The town of Lisbon, located on South River, has completely disappeared, a victim of the coming of the railroad. Clinton, near the geographical center of the county, was incorporated in 1852.