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Facts and Events
Captain Samuel Whiteside's Company of "Rangers" Mounted Riflemen (Illinois Militia)
- War of 1812 Pension Claim
- From: Veterans Administration Washington
- To: Mrs. Milo Murdock Ebert, Lake Wales, Florida
- Date: 29 Feb 1932
- Reference: John Sample – W.C. 20054
- Dear Madam:
- Reference is made to your letter of recent date, relative to John Sample, a soldier of the War of 1812.
- The data which follow are obtained from the papers on file in pension claim W. C. 20054, based upon the military service of John Sample in the War of 1812.
- John Sample enlisted in the spring of 1814, in Madison County, Illinois, and served until the spring of 1815, as a private in Captain Samuel Whitesides’ company of Illinois rangers, engaged in protecting the frontier settlements. After the expiration of this service he served two tours in Captain Samuel Whitesides’ company of Illinois volunteers, one tour of six months and the other of three months; dates of this service not given.
- In 1850 soldier was a resident of Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois, aged fifty-two years. (Note by L.S. Ebert – he was born in 1797, which would make his actual age fifty-three years – however, this would depend upon what month was taken as a basis). (John Sample – born, 22 Nov 1797).
- He died February 19, 1869, in Morgan County, Illinois. (Note by L. S. E. – this is date given in family Bible).
- Soldier married January 3, 1861, in Jacksonville, Illinois, Sarah Hewitt. (Note by L.S.E. – Sarah Hewitt was second wife; first wife was Sally Pruitt, born 20 Nov 1799 – died 22 July 1858: children – Polly, Charles, David, Sally, James, Nancy, Fields, William, Joseph, John, Martin, Patsy and Marion.
- She (Sarah Hewitt Sample) was allowed pension on her application executed 14 Aug 1878, at which time she was a resident of Jacksonville, Illinois, aged sixty-nine years.
- In 1887, one David Sample was living in Jacksonville, Illinois, relationship to soldier not shown. (Note by L.S.E. – probably his brother, David).
- In 1887, soldier’s widow, Sarah, was still living and a resident of Jacksonville, Illinois. No reference was made to children.
- Very truly yours
- (Signed) A. D. Hiller
- Assistant to Administrator
- "July 1814 - The Sample's Chase Murderer's in Scott County, Illinois - Among the members of Whiteside's company who took a part in the chase of the murderers of the Reagan and Moore families, were Wm. Moore, Abel Moore, Peter Wagoner, Samuel Beeman, John Sample, and Wm. Sample, the last of whom now resides at West Point, Iowa. Old Uncle Johnny Sample, as he was familiarly called by the people of Morgan county, died only two or three years ago upon his farm near Jacksonville. I knew him intimately, and time and again he has related to me the details which I have narrated above. Wm. Sample, brother of the above, in a recent letter, informs me that "they were regular volunteers." Charles Sample, late sheriff of Morgan county, and an estimable gentleman, is a worthy son of Old Uncle Johnny Sample. Other sons of the same old pioneer reside in Morgan county, one of whom I boarded with many years ago, while teaching school in Jacksonville. But at length the "war was over". The Indians, forsaken by the British, were at the mercy of the United States, and saw, to their sorrow, the error they had committed in taking up arms against our people. Friendship and good feeling were established. Treaties were made with them, in which they ceded their lands to our government, among which treaties we have mentioned the one above, which, although no surveyor's chain had ever been carried over them, threw open the prairies and hills of the Sangamon country to the "settler," and opened the path to the very men who had defended it, many of whom at once entered into possession as "squatters," on, in many cases, the identical spot marked out in years gone by, while "ranging," and began improvements, hoping by the time the lands came into market to be able to "enter" an eighty, or forty at least, and thus secure a home for wife and little ones."
- Complete story can be read HERE
References
- Howard I. Bowers. Light Townsend of Kentucky (Unpublished). (FTW: Bowers, Howard I., 07 Sept 2005)..
- John Sample (Person Page - 935), in Burval, Joe; Burval, Clarice. Burval Genealogy: Web Version of Our Family Genealogy. (Townsend).
Biography of John Sample:
The following biography is from Howard Bowers Light Townsend of Kentucky.S1 It is reproduced below with permission:
John Sample served as a private with his father and two brothers in the War of 1812 in Capt. Samuel Whiteside's Company of Mounted Riflemen, Illinois Rangers. Source: Military record of John Sample, War of 1812, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Here is his story excerpted from the Pike County Illinois History, 1936-1937, Chapter 64, p 191:
". . . Early in the month of July, 1814, parts of three families were murdered on Wood River, near where Alton now stands, in what was then Madison county. (Note: Present Pike county was then also a part of Madison county.) Seven were killed in all. They had been up to the fort and were returning on Sunday evening. The killed were Reagan's wife and two of his children, two of Abel Moore's boys and two of William Moore's boys. All were killed except one little girl, who escaped and gave the alarm.
Soon, the Wood River settlement was in arms. Rifles were hurriedly cleaned and bullets moulded. Capt. William Whitesides and 50 rangers took the trail, leaving old George Moore and the women and children in the fort. The Indians were on foot. They proceeded northward through what are now Jersey, Greene, and Morgan counties. Several were along who could "trail an Indian as fast as a horse could gallop." Among them were John Shaw (known among the Indians as Es-sap-pan or the raccoon because of his cunning and sagacity), Peter Waggoner (kinsman of the early Pike county Waggoners), and Samuel Beeman, another noted figure on the old military tract.
The Indians took every advantage, threading almost impenetrable thickets and wading miry swamps. At Brown's Point, near present Manchester, Waggoner shot an Indian. The Indian had hidden behind the roots of a tree. Waggoner shot him without checking his horse from a gallop. A little further on, Samuel Beeman shot another Indian. The Indian had climbed up a grape vine and hidden among the branches of a tree. It was never known for certain whether or not these Indians belonged to the Wood River band of murderers. They may have been inoffensive hunters.
The following morning, the Rangers descried in the Island Grove a spot where the Indians had camped over night; the fires were still burning. (Note: Island Grove was a large body of timber, surrounded with rich prairie, 16 miles west of present Springfield, on the road to present Jacksonville.) Everything indicated the pursuing horsemen were close onto the fleeing savages. The trail led westward, toward the Illinois river and present Pike county. Now it was a race for life; the Indians trying to reach the river, the Rangers urging their jaded steeds to overtake the band.
To Island Grove, pursued and pursuers had followed the "old Indian trail" that for centuries had been traveled by the tribes between Cahokia and Peoria. At Island Grove, the Indians, instead of crossing the Sangamon, turned west to take advantage of the high ground and brushy woods of the Mauvaisterre, which after starting from the headwaters afforded an unbroken line of shelter to the Illinois river. The high mounds on the prairie were used as posts of observation. On one of these mounds, northwest of present Alexander, the Indians rested and here they threw away everything that encumbered their flight.
Near present Jacksonville, the Rangers were so close upon the Indians that the latter ran into the swamp for safety. All the region between what is now the city of Jacksonville and Mauvaisterre Creek was then low marsh. Into this the Rangers attempted to follow on foot, a number of their horses having mired down. Here eighteen of the Rangers turned back, the remainder dividing into two parties, one to take care of the horses, the balance pursuing into the swamps on foot. The Indians at length emerged from the swamp lands at the north part of the groves, west of modern Jacksonville, and hurried west.
From here to the Illinois river the race was close. The Rangers repeatedly were in sight of the Indians.
Nearing the river, south of modern Naples and north of early Philips ferry, one of the Indians, a corpulent old fellow, gave out. He was armed with a gun and appeared ready to sell his life as dearly as possible. A rifle ball broke one of his legs and caused him to fall in the grass. Then one Ranger attracted his attention on one side, while another rose up on the opposite side and shot him. Meanwhile, the rest of the band disappeared in the thickets bordering the river. Rushing forward after dispatching the old Indian, the Rangers were just in time to see the Indians crossing the river about a mile below. Hastening down to the water's edge they discharged their guns at them as they climbed the opposite bank into present Pike county, whence they disappeared into the wilds of the McGee creek Country.
Among those participating in this race for life across the Illinois prairies were John Shaw, William Moore, Abel Moore, Peter Waggoner, Samuel Beeman, and John and William Sample, the latter of whom settled later at West Port, Iowa. William and Abel Moore had each lost two sons in the Wood River massacre.
These men who in 1824 pursued this murdering band of Indians to the eastern border of what is now Pike county did not then know it, but they were paving the way for the first settlement of this region."
John Samples household, 1820 U.S. census, Powers Twp., Bond Co., Illinois, M33, Roll 12, p 6:
1, male, 0-9 years of age
1, m, 16-25
1, m, 26-44
1, female, 0-9
1, f, 16-25
2 in agriculture
John Samples household, 1830 U.S. census, Morgan Co., Illinois, M19, Roll 24, p 72:
1, male, 0-5 years of age
1, m, 5-10
1, m, 10-15
1, m, 15-20
1, m, 30-40
1, female, 0-5
1, f, 5-10
1, f, 10-15
1, f, 20-30
John Samples household, 1840 U.S. census, Morgan Co., Illinois, M704, Roll 66, p 448:
1, male, 0-5 years of age
4, m, 5-10
1, m, 10-15
1, m, 15-20
1, m, 20-30
1, m, 40-50
1, female, 5-10
1, f, 10-15
1, f, 15-20
1, f, 40-50
1850 U.S. census, Morgan Co., Illinois, M432, Roll 122, p 213:
John Samples, age 42, male, farmer, $12,000 real estate, b. Kentucky
Sally, 48, f, Kentucky
James, 24, m, Illinois
Fields, 22, m, Illinois
William, 20, m, Illinois
Joseph, 16, m, Illinois
John, 14, m, Illinois
Martin, 12, m, Illinois
1860 U.S. census, Mauvaisterre Twp., Morgan Co., Illinois, M653, Roll 213, p 793:
Jno. Samples, age 60, male, farmer, $26,000 real estate, $2600 personal estate, b. Kentucky
Jno., Jr., 26, m, farmer, Illinois
Sarah, 19, female, England
Marion, 19, m, Illinois.
Children of John Sample and Sarah "Sally" Pruitt
• Charles Sample+ b. c 1818, d. 1890
• Mary "Polly" Sample+ b. c 1819, d. 1847
• David Sample+ b. 1 Jul 1821, d. 25 Nov 1908
• Sarah "Sally" Sample+ b. 3 Aug 1822, d. 4 Sep 1914
• James Monroe Sample+ b. 15 Dec 1824, d. Jan 1907
• Nancy Sample+ b. 26 Oct 1826, d. 31 May 1906
• Field Sample+ b. 28 Mar 1828, d. 5 May 1906
• William Sample b. 14 Nov 1830, d. 21 Aug 1878
• Joseph Sample b. c 1833
• John Sample Jr.+ b. 29 Nov 1834, d. 10 Feb 1894
• Martin Van Buren Sample b. c 1837, d. c 1855
• Martha "Patsy" Sample+ b. 17 Feb 1839, d. 25 Jan 1865
• Francis Marion Sample+ b. 26 Feb 1841, d. 5 Jun 1907
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