Sampson Darrell (d. 1777) was from Fairfax County, Va., where he served for a time as sheriff. He had also served with the rank of captain in the Fairfax County militia during the French and Indian War (see Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, Virginia's Colonial Soldiers [Baltimore, c.1988], 14).

In 1757, GW purchased from Darrell two pieces of land on Mount Vernon's northern boundary: a tract of 200 acres on Dogue Run and an adjoining tract of 300 acres on Little Hunting Creek. The total price of these two tracts was £350, which GW paid with £260 in cash and a bond for £90 due in two years, and in return he received Darrell’s bond guaranteeing him title to the land (see Ledger A, 49). The official deeds were not immediately signed and recorded in court because the property was held under right of dower by Darrell’s mother, Ann, for her lifetime; only after her death would it revert to Darrell as a surviving son. Thus, although GW owned Darrell’s rights to the land, he could not obtain the deeds until Ann died or rented the land to him. GW did not have to await her death, because on 20 Sept. 1759 he signed a lease with her and her present husband, Thomas Smith (d. 1764) of Fairfax County, agreeing thereby to pay them 1,000 pounds of tobacco and cask a year until Ann died.