Transcribed by Janette West Grimes

This Article Appeared In The Times

But Was Not Actually In Cal’s Column

April 29, 1948

Additional Data On The Sampson Family

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Some weeks ago we published an account of the Sampson family, stating then that it was very incomplete and that additional information would be welcome. We have at hand some information from Mrs. Joe Pendleton which we are publishing herewith. Mrs. Pendleton obtained the following items of information about the Sampson family from Mrs. Joan Logon Boulton. Our latest information about the family is as follows:

The earliest ancestor of the Sampson family of whom we have record is William Sampson, who came to America from England. We do not know the name of his wife, nor when and where his childen were born. William Sampson had a son named Frances Marion Sampson, but the date of his birth, name of wife and children's names and dates of birth are unknown, except that we have the name of two sons, Johns, most probably Johnson, and Stephen Sampson. Stephen Sampson married Lurania Sims, coming to Tennessee from Halifax, Virginia, after his marriage. We do not know if his wife came to Tennessee or if she died in Virginia. Their children were in order of birth as follows: Coleman Sampson, know as Coley; Stephen, called Steve for short; James, generally called Jim; Nancy, Joan, Drusilla, was born June 24, 1815, and died in 1858; and Billie.

Coleman Sampson, son of Stephen and Lurania Sims Sampson, married Polly (Mary) Skelton. The children of this marriage were: Dee, Johns, James, Colie, Pate and one that died in infancy. Dee Sampson, called by some, Stephen Sampson, married Venie Andrews. There is some idea that he was also married later to a Nance. The children of Dee Sampson and the Andrews woman were: Marion, who went to Kentucky; Stephen, Colie and Parrie Lee, who married a Nance; William, Filmore and Frank, the latter marrying Susan Snoddy.

In the March 4th issue of the Times we gave the children of Johns or Johnson Sampson. However, it should be added that one of Johns Sampson's sons or grandsons, married Edna Butler, of the Plunkett's Creek section of Smith County, later going to Texas, where he left decendents.

James Wilburn Sampson never married and died at Natchez, Miss., prior to the Civil War.

We also gave in our earlier account of the decendents of Pate and Dr. Coleman Sims Sampson and it is not necessary to repeat the account here.

Stephen Sampson, a brother of the old Coleman Sampson and the son of Stephen Sampson, married Katharine Dawson, as we published a few weeks ago. However, some additional information has been furnished by Mrs. Pendleton. It includes the following: Titus Sampson, son of Stephen and Katharine, married first an Oakley and then a Fisher. Titus was the father of Roy Sampson, a citizen of Carthage. James, son of Stephen, and a brother of Titus, married an Oakley, whose children were: Herbert, married Daisy Yeargan; Steve, a daughter, who married Charles Wood; a daughter, who married S. L. Malone; and another daughter, who married O. D. Adamson. A daughter of Stephen and Katharine, Jane, married a Fisher, with two sons born to them, J. Lofton Fisher, former County Clerk of Smith County, and one whose name is not available. We omitted in our March account the name of Drusilla Sampson from the list of children of Stephen and Katharine. Drusilla married a Nance.

In our earlier report we gave the name of Nancy Sampson, daughter of old Stephen, and the wife of William Dawson, but we left off part of their children. Those omitted were: Isaac, Harriet and Steve Dawson. We also left off part of the children of Stephen and Luranis Sims Sampson. Those omitted were: Joan, of whom we have no additional information; Billie, no data; and Drusilla. The last named married Thomas P. Ligon. She was the mother of : Lurania Jane Ligon, married John B. Clark; Joan White Ligon, married J. G. Boulton; Drusilla Ligon, married H. L. Douglas; James Watt Ligon, married Eliza Hubbard; Thomas J. Ligon, died single; Mary M. Ligon, married W. T. Tyree and later George W. Manning; Frances C. Ligon, married Richard Sands. Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Douglas and James W. Ligon have decendents who are still living.

The family is of French decent according to tradition, although this has not yet been definitely established. Stephen Sampson, the Virginia emigrant, and many of his decendents are buried in the family grave yards on the Carthage - New Middleton Road. These burial places are on the old Sampson farm, now owned by Clyde, Terry and Luke Winfrey. They are near the Bluff Creek school house, some three miles from Carthage, Tenn.