The settlement dates from 1805, when a group of Griquas settled here.  After migrating to the area from Namaqualand, Cornelis Kok (1778-1858), a peace-loving man, was declared Captain of Campbell in 1816. The village was first known as Groote Fontein or Knoffel Valley, but was renamed after Rev John Campbell in 1813.

 

Adam Balie was the first lay preacher. The Balies were a notable Griqua  family, of Khoi descent.

 

After the establishment of Philippolis in the Free State during the late 1820s, under Adam Kok II, the village of Campbell declined in importance.

            

The remains of Cornelis Kok II were threatened by agricultural encroachment, and were exhumed on 19 April 1961. The descendant of Cornelis Kok, Adam Kok IV, presided over the disinterment by Prof Phillip Tobias of Wits and Dr GJ Fock, following three years of community consultation. Subsequently 34 other Griqua dead were re-interred alongside the mission church on 23 September 2007.