Sampson Head ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13}

  General Notes:

Sampson moved to north Alabama in about 1822. At the time of the 1830 census he was in Blount County, Alabama, with his wife and daughter.

Sampson Head received Land Patent Certificates in Blount County, Alabama: Certificate No. 6698, dated October 16, 1835, for 40.4 acres in Blount County, Alabama filed with the Land Office in Huntsville, Alabama.

At the time of the 1840 census, Sampson was in Eastern Division, Blount County, Alabama, with his wife, daughter, and 4 sons. He was listed beside his father in law, James Blakely.

At the time of the 1850 census he was listed as a farmer in Blount County, Alabama. He had $350 value in real estate.

Sampson Head received Land Patent Certificates in Blount County, Alabama: Certificates No. 20847 and 20848, dated March 1, 1858, for 239.65 acres in Blount County, Alabama filed with the Land Office in Huntsville, Alabama.

By the time of the 1860 census he had moved the family to Leon County, Texas. He was listed as a brick mason. He had $1350 in personal assets. At the time of the 1870 census he was a farmer in Johnson County, Texas. He had $700 in real estate and $435 in personal assets. He was still farming in Johnson County, Texas, at the time of the 1880 census. He reported that his father was born in Georgia and his mother in Alabama. A 20 year old Sarah E. Head, noted as niece, was living with the family. The record indicated that she was born in Alabama, and both parents born in Alabama. (On further research, this turned out to be his granddaughter. She was the daughter of deceased son Eli McCloud Head and Mary Catherine Gravlee. It is likely that son Columbus was providing the census taker with the information.)

The 1880 agriculture census schedule showed that Sampson had 60 acres tilled and 20 acres in woodland. His farm was valued at $1200, his farm implements and machinery at $80, his livestock at $370. His farm production for the previous year was $200. He had 1 horse and 2 mules.

Excerpt from "Johnson County History":

In 1857 a train of home-made covered wagons, drawn by oxen and accompanied by men on horseback, driving various domestic animals, arrived here from Alabama. In this group were the Frosts, the Newbys, the Wm. T. Murphrees and the Sampson Heads. Sampson Head brought his wife, two daughters and eight sons. They bought the John C. Quick farm and soon built a log house. There was only a dirt floor, no windows and one crude door. The roof was made of hewn logs weighted down by large rocks. The North Fork of Chambers Creek ran to the south of the house and there was a good spring for drinking water. Later a better house was built. The youngest son, Roy, and his family inherited this part of the property. I visited here last Sunday with Roy Head's daughter, Mrs. Willie Kennedy of Dallas, and took her picture beside an old tree, to the back of the house, where she used to swing as a girl.

(The reference to the Newby family proves to be incorrect. The Samuel Faust Newby family that became associated with the Heads was recorded in Cass County, Texas, on the 1850 census and in Dallas County, Texas, on the 1860 census. Also, census evidence showed Sampson and his family in Leon County in 1860. They were in Johnson County by 1870. The 1857 date might describe when the family arrived in Texas, not in Johnson County, however, Sampson bought land in Alabama on 1 Mar 1858.) Sampson's farm was in an area later known as Fairview Community.

News clipping from Alvarado Bulletin:
Died. At his residence three and a half miles northwest of Alvarado on Dec. 26, 1887, Mr. Sampson Head aged 80 years, 5 months and 1 day, after a week's illness.

For the past 27 years the deceased was a citizen of Johnson County, and a more upright, honorable, and worthy man never lived. The past 40 years he was a consistent member of the Methodist Church and in all that length of time he never doubted the religion of the Bible.

He leaves a large family of grown-up children who mourn the loss. Some of them are old and silver-haired, but they reverenced the aged father and loved him as only dutiful children can love a father. The Bulletin in common with out citizens tenders its sympathies to the bereaved relatives. ¹²

  Additional Information:

• Descendant Narrative Report: here.

• FindAGrave: Memorial# 33096995.

Sampson married Betty Ann Blakely, daughter of James Blakely and Elizabeth Anna Box, on 13 Jan 1828 in , Blount County, Alabama, United States.¹ (Betty Ann Blakely was born on 11 Nov 1810 in Clinton, Laurens County, South Carolina,¹⁴ died on 13 Nov 1897 in Alvarado, Johnson County, Texas ¹⁴ and was buried in Buel Cemetery, Alvarado, Johnson County, Texas ¹⁶.)

  Marriage Notes:

The marriage between Betty and Sampson Head was performed by John H. Box, Justice of the Peace.