Presented by the William Carroll Crawford Daughters of the Republic of Texas
May 27, 2016 - William Jasper Samford, his wife Barbara Rebecca Snider Samford and their eleven children arrived in Texas during the 1830’s. Some family accounts state that Williams’s oldest son Elkanah first walked to Texas with an uncle, Sam Samford. They returned to Alabama where the family had been living after migrating from South Carolina and gave favorable reports of land being available in Texas. William (sometimes referred to as “Little Billy”) and Barbara settled on a Provisional Land Grant in the Sandhill community of East Texas also known at various times as Graham’s Mill or Forbis.
Although the majority of settlers were farmers, Elkanah was a blacksmith, and the 1850 census reveals 71 year-old William Jasper was a hatter by trade. William Jasper and his son Snider did not fight in the Civil War because they were commissioned to make hats for the CSA soldiers. Snider’s son, also named William Jasper served with the Texas Twenty-eighth Cavalry (Randal's Regiment, First Lancers).
The Samfords (sometimes spelled Sanford) were very active Masons as the local lodges were organizing. Records of the Sam Houston Lodge in Shelbyville show Elkanah petitioned for membership in 1846. Elkanah and Sam achieved Master Mason degrees in 1848 and 1849.
Sam Samford became a charter member of Newburn Lodge #97 in 1851. Snider Samford also joined and became a Master Mason in 1853.
In 1859 the Samfords petitioned and organized the Brotherly Love Lodge that met in the Sand Hill Church building. The lodge name was soon changed to Sam Samford lodge. This lodge was re-located during 1869 to a building on the grounds of the present First Methodist Church in Center where the Samford men of several generations served in various official capacities.
Large families were common in those days and the Samfords were no exception. William Jasper and Barbara were reported to have eleven children. Elkanah was married to Mary Magdaline Weaver and they had ten children before her death in 1845. Elkanah then married Davilla Adeline Lucas and the 1860 census shows eight children including three sets of twins if the duplicate ages listed are correct. Some family accounts have Elkanah fathering over twenty children. Snider Samford married Jemima Jane Hughes and ten children are counted between the 1860 and 1870 census. Snider Samford had one child with his second wife, Dillie A. Bridges. Several of the other Samford siblings also married into the neighboring Hughes family and had large families.
Barbara and William Jasper Samford are buried in the Forbis Cemetery. Mary Magdalene Samford is buried there also. Snider Samford is buried at Sandhill Cemetery. Jemima Jane, Elkanah, and Davilla are buried at the Methodist Church cemetery in Center. Many successors of this pioneer family still live in Shelby County. Direct descendants are eligible to apply for membership in The Daughters of the Republic of Texas or The Sons of the Republic of Texas organizations. For information contact Maggie Casto at 936-248-3361.
On June 4, 2016 at 10am at the cemetery at the First Methodist Church in Center the William Carroll Crawford Daughters of the Republic of Texas will honor William Jasper, Barbara, Elkanah, Snider, Snider’s son William Jasper II and Jemima Jane Samford with a medallion ceremony recognizing them as Citizens of the Republic of Texas. Samford descendants and the public is invited.
Sources:
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=61798ECC-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A
http://www.shelbycountytexashistory.net/Shelby/Census/1870census-sa-sl.htm
http://www.shelbycountytexashistory.net/Shelby/Census/1860censussa-sc.htm
http://www.shelbycountytexashistory.net/Shelby/Census/1850censusS.htm
History of Shelby County Texas Published 1988 Vol. I by Shelby County Historical Society.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:MWVB-W6W : accessed 2016-05-19), entry for William Little Billy SAMFORD
http://www.drtinfo.org/ancestor-s
Freemasonry in Shelby County, Texas 1846-1900 Published in 1965 by J.B. Sanders Oral family history.
