Samuel Lander was the son of Rev. Samuel Lander, Sr. and the former Miss Eliza Ann Miller, both natives of Ireland, of Lincolnton, North Carolina. Education was an important part of his upbringing and Samuel graduated from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia in 1852.

On December 20th 1853, Samuel Lander married the former Miss Laura Ann McPherson, daughter of Angus McPherson and the former Miss Lavinia Schenck of Lincoln County, North Carolina. Samuel's father officiated at the wedding. Laura Ann and Samuel Lander had eleven children: Lily, Martha, John, William Tertius, Augustus, Nell, Kathleen, Malcolm, Frank, Christie and Ernest. All but two, William & Lily, bore the middle name McPherson.

In 1855, Samuel Lander received his Master's Degree from Trinity College (now Duke University); which also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1878.

On April 25 1861, Samuel Lander enlisted in Company K, North Carolina 1st Volunteers Infantry Regiment. During this time, Samuel was licensed as a pastor and preached on the Methodist circuit around the Carolinas. Due to lack of textbooks in southern schools during the war, Rev. Lander wrote several books about mathematics and reading. His book, "The Verbal Primer" became a leading book about learning to read.

In the mid 1860's, he returned to his native town and founded the Lincolnton Female Seminary. In 1871, Rev. Samuel Lander moved to Williamston, South Carolina, where he started Williamston Female College. In 1898 the college gained the support of the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The college was moved to Greenwood in 1904 and renamed Lander College in honor of its founder.

Rev. Samuel Lander died at the age of 71 years on 14 June 1904. He is buried with his wife, Laura Ann and several of their children in Williamston Memorial Park cemetery.