~1762 - 1824
Virginia - North Carolina - Kentucky - Illinois
~1762 born - Halifax County, VA
~1779 married William Sams - Henry Co, VA
According to Crawford Sams in The Sams Family of Virginia, William and Martha
Edwards Sams had 8 children:
William Sams III b. 1780 Henry Co
Rice b. 1781 Henry Co
Elizabeth b. 1784 Henry Co it is likely that she was born much earlier,
possibly as early as 1778
Thomas b. 1787 Henry Co
David b. 1789 Henry Co, VA or Burke Co, NC
Wiley b. 1797 Buncombe Co, NC
Lavinia b. 1810-18 Union Co, Il
Valonel b. 1810-20 Union Co, Il
bef 1793 moved to North Carolina
1800 census
1800 census - Buncombe County, North Carolina
Sams, William 1 2 2 - 1 - 1 - 1
1 male under 10 b. 1790-1800 Wiley 1797
2m, 1f 10-16 b. 1784-1790 Thomas 1787
David 1789
Elizabeth 1784
2m 16-26 b. 1774-1784 Rice 1781
William 1780
1m, 1f 45+ b. before 1755 William 1755
Martha 1763
The children (as listed by Crawford Sams) all fit nicely into this census scheme. The problem is that Elizabeth Sams married John Deweese in 1793 (when, incidentally, she would have been 9 years old), so she should not be on this census with William at all. We have to assume that either this is a totally unknown Sams daughter, or that John Deweese had another wife before he married Elizabeth (a not-uncommon happening). [This would make us, personally, not related to the Edwardses at all through this connection, since our next Deweese ancestor was John's 2nd child b. 1796.] The Deweese researchers have opted for the first possibility, and give Elizabeth a birthdate ranging from 1778 to 1780 (so she would have been between 13 and 15 when married) - and the 1850 census does give her age as 72 - but they can't push it much further back because Martha Edwards was probably born in 1763 and would only have been 15 herself in 1778. But they don't explain who this Sams daughter is. And we "know" that Elizabeth Sams Deweese was the daughter of William and Martha, because she is mentioned in William III's will. So there it stands.
bef 1805 - moved to Kentucky
"William and his family joined the migration encouraged by the Federal Government to settle the great Northwest Territory as it was known which included all of the land east of the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains which had been the location of the barrier prior to the Revolutionary War. . . . The mass migration from Virginia and the Carolinas of which the descendants of William Sams, Sr (b 1717) were a part, occurred down the Wilderness Trail of Daniel Boone and also through Tennessee and other portions of Kentucky to Illinois." Sams Family of Virginia, p 45-6
bef 1810 - moved to Illinois
According to Crawford Sams, William and Martha settled on the Cache River, just south of what would become Jonesboro, county seat of what would become Union County. Later on, when the western part of Kentucky (previously owned by the Chickasaw Indians) was opened for settlement (in 1820), several of the Samses obtained land in Hickman County along Mayfield Creek. William, William III, David, Wiley, Thomas and "Elizabeth and Minerva, his [William's] two daughters" all went to Kentucky. William sr and Thomas returned to Illinois; Rice never left.
moved to Kentucky ~1820 (Hickman County)
moved back to Illinois
I have not been able to find Martha and William on any census after 1800. They are not in the 1810 Kentucky census - nor are they on the Illinois Territorial census of 1818 or the Illinois federal census of 1820.
According to Crawford Sams, Martha died 19 July 1824 and William died in 1825. Both of them were buried in the Sams family cemetery south of Jonesboro in Union County, Illinois on land belonging (then) to Rice Sams.
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To Children of William and Martha
To next ancestor, Elizabeth Sams
To next ancestor, David Sams
contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
page last updated 11 September 2004