The first clearing in the township was
made by a widow woman, of foreign birth, name Widow Sample, and
the boys in her family of nine children - John, Martha, Betsey, James,
William, Anna, Samuel, Nancy and David. They came from Newark,
Licking county, Ohio, in the year 1816, and settled on lot thirty - six,
in the third section. The widow was a woman of very remarkable ability,
and of strong constitution. The family was very poor, and Mrs. Sample
and her boys and girls were compelled to live in a manner which many people
would consider impossible. It is related, upon the best of
authority. that boys went bare-footed all of one winter, while they were
chopping timber and extending the clearing in which their rude cabin stood.
They heated large chips by the fire, and carrying them to the place where
they were intending to fell a tree, stood upon them until they grew cold,
and then heated them again and again, until their day's work was done.
Day after day they labored under this disadvantage, which less hardy people
would regard as insurmountable. The mother of these boys was their
equal, if not superior, in energy and spirit, and was ingenious as well.
She out reaped a man in the grain field in 1817, and clothed her family
in cloth which she wove from the silk of wild nettles. Mrs. Sample
married Jacob Rush, who died soon there after. Her daughter
Martha
Sample, married Amos Harkness. The mother removed to the west,
and lived to be nearly a hundred years old.
Jane Harkness, one of the children
of Amos and Martha (Sample) Harkness, married John Parrott,
of Ripley Twp, OH. She is the only one of the descendants of the
Sample
family who lived in the vicinity.
Email Me if you have any Information on
this family: [email protected]
My personal research:
I have found no proof that this family
really came from Newark, Licking County, OH. and/or that Widow Nancy SAMPLE
moved to the west, other than what is in the History book as listed above.
Widow Nancy (?) Sample, Rush Grave site
has been found.
See the link: Widow Nancy Sample below.
Click on the link below for more Information.
| Widow Nancy Sample | John SAMPLE | Martha SAMPLE |
| Betsey SAMPLE | James SAMPLE | William SAMPLE |
| Anna SAMPLE | Samuel SAMPLE | Nancy SAMPLE |
| Nancy SAMPLE | David Sample |
Email me if anyone has Information on these
family of the SAMPLE: [email protected]