52 Sams in 52 Weeks

Charles Town Map of 1704, from www.carolana.com

The theme this week is LONG LINE. Many of the ‘Datha Sams’ followed a journey over the generations away from Beaufort. Some left to pursue their dreams elsewhere (e.g., Edward Sams to GA and FL), others were pushed out by the Civil War and chose not to return. A few returned after the war and stayed, creating a long line of living in Beaufort. The long line in South Carolina began before William and Elizabeth’s purchase of Datha Island in 1783. It extends back to ancestors born in the U.S. in the 17th Century.

Beaufort

I begin this story of a long line in Beaufort with Melvin Toland Sams (1889-1967). He and his wife Therese Talbird (1889-1971) raised three children in Beaufort. Ting Sams Colquhoun, a friend of DHF, is their only remaining child and still lives in Beaufort. Melvin Toland Sams’s pedigree in Beaufort goes back thru Dr. Milledge Bonum Sams (1855-1906) thru Dr. Melvin Melius Sams (1815-1900) thru ‘our’ Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams (1787-1855) to William Sams (1741-1798) and his wife Elizabeth (1746-1813). See the seven generation fan chart for Melvin Toland Sams down below.

When William and Elizabeth Sams bought Datha Island in 1783, Beaufort had a population of less than 1,800 [Rowland]. For these past 237 years, except for a few years of the Civil War, there is a long line of direct Sams’s ancestors that have lived in Beaufort, SC. Ting Sams Colquhoun likes to reply when asked how long she’s lived here, “About 300 years”. She’s modest. I’ll explain further in a moment.

The Civil War interrupted the long line of Sams living in the Beaufort area. Many never returned, or returned for a short while and then left forever. See, for example, Dr. Lewis Reeve Sams Jr.’s family described in Week 5. Below are the five Sams that I know of who returned after the war and stayed in the area:

  • From the Dr. B.B. Sams’s family, Dr. R. Randolph, Franklin Fripp, Dr. Melvin Melius, and their sister Elizabeth Exima Sams.
  • From the L.R. Sams’s family, his daughter Sarah Graham Sams returned (with her husband Dr. R. Randolph Sams – above).

In any case, the long line in Beaufort (from 2020 back to 1783) shows an impressive affinity for the Lowcountry of South Carolina. However, the Sams’s ancestors born in South Carolina go back further, to the 17th Century.

17th Century SAMS Ancestors

As I have tried to explore the Sams’s genealogy, it gets harder for several reasons. First, as you move back before our nation was founded, records become very hard to come by. Second, the Sams’s family tree is a bit gnarly. More on that in a moment.

I often hear of people trying to determine when their earliest ancestor immigrated to the U.S.  Here, I’ve identified the first Sams’s ancestors born in what would eventually become the U.S. I’ve identified three people born as early as the 17th Century.

  • Elizabeth Anne Berners, born 1684 in Charles Town, wife of ‘Tuscarora Jack’ Barnwell.
  • Francis Hext Sr., born 1687 in Charles Town, husband of Sarah (unknown maiden name).
  • John Stanyarne Jr., born 1695 at Hickory Hill Plantation on John’s Island, in what is now South Carolina, husband of Mary Whitmarsh (birth location unknown).

There may be others, because our genealogy database does not have birth locations for some people, nor do we have all the ancestors for William and Elizabeth Sams. To give you a sense of how far back I’ve gone, starting with Melvin Toland Sams (as the first generation) I went back seven generations to get to Elizabeth Anne Berners, his oldest ancestor born in the Colonies. Here are three more of his direct line born in the Charles Town area at the beginning of the 18th Century:

  • John Fripp Jr., born 1704 on St Helena Island, in what is now South Carolina, husband of Martha Jenkins (birth location unknown).
  • Capt Robert Sams, born about 1706 on Wadmalaw Island, in what is now South Carolina, husband of Bridgett Barnwell.
  • Bridget Barnwell, born about 1709 on Hilton Head Island, in what is now South Carolina, wife of Capt Robert Sams.
Charles Town Map of 1704, from www.carolana.com
Complete Description of the Province of Carolina in 3 parts, Library of Congress, circa 1711

In a period of just 25 years, 1684 – 1709, British settlers had arrived in the New World, established Charles Town, started families, and began moving south. Daring, because ‘south’ meant closer to the enemy, the Spanish. But this is a brave lot. The first set of three British ships landed in the Charles Town area in 1670. By 1680 they had re-founded the town in its current location, on the peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper rivers. At the time the six folks above were born, the population of Charles Town was about 1,000 [Lewis]. Charles Town was located in the Province of Carolina. South Carolina would not exist in its present form until 1729, and would not become a U.S. State until after the American Revolution in 1788. South Carolina was not yet a state when William Sams bought Datha Island in 1783.

Long Line

Melvin Toland Sams’s daughter, Ting Sams Colquhoun,  can trace her direct lineage back to all of these people. If you include those born in Charles Town, her lineage in South Carolina, dates back 336 years. By almost any measure, that counts as a loooong line. Ting is modest when she says about “300 years”.

Epilogue

The Sams’s family was not unique back in the 19th Century. Some marriages then involved second cousins, once removed. Large families led to skipping generations. The lineage is further complicated when brothers in one family married sisters in another. Two examples illustrate how gnarly the Sams’s family tree became.

All of us have four grandparents. For Melvin Toland Sams, three of his four grandparents were Sams descendants of William and Elizabeth.  As another example, a grandson of William and Elizabeth Sams married their great-granddaughter (i.e., Dr. R. Randolph Sams married Sarah Graham Sams).

The result is when you trace the family tree for Melvin Toland Sams back seven generations, you do not get 64, unique GGGG Grandparents. Since both his father and mother are descended from Dr. BB Sams, entire areas of his family tree are identical. Once I account for other duplications associated with Lewis Reeve Sams, Sr., Melvin Toland Sams only had 40 unique GGGG Grandparents. From the fan chart below, you can see the GGGG Grandparents missing from our genealogy information for M.T. Sams (the outer ring).  Nearly all the missing information is associated with three women: Eliza Black, Sarah Graham, and Martha Hann.

Seven Generation Fan Chart for Melvin Toland Sams (1889 - 1967)

Sources

Holden, Joel and Riski, Bill – The Sams Family Tree, Ancestry.com, accessed 27 Jul 2020.

Lewis, J.D. – Carolana, from www.carolana.com, accessed 27 July 2020.

Library of Congress, accessed 27 July 2020.

Rowland, Lawrence S., Moore, Alexander, Rogers Jr., George C. – The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, Volume I, 1514 – 1861, 1996, page 263.

Wikipedia, Topic = Charleston, SC, accessed 27 Jul 2020.

#52Sams     Week 30 – Long Line