Widows – The Three Grand-Daughters - Dataw Historic Foundation

Elizabeth Fuller Sams Nash (1836 – 1919), wife of James H. Nash (1828 – 1919)

The theme this week is WIDOWS. Since June 23rd is International Widow’s Day, I decided to do some analysis on our Sams genealogy database and see what it reveals about widows in the Sams families of the 19th century [The Sams Family Tree]. Our genealogy database contains over 2500 people. That’s way too many people to sift through and find the widows. The area I’ll be focusing on is a family tree with William & Elizabeth Sams at the top. The second and third generations below them are mostly complete. Still, for about one-third of the women, we have insufficient information to determine if they lived to adulthood and married. I’m going to identify the widows who are direct descendants in these first three generations of SAMS, counting William & Elizabeth as the first generation.

First & Second Generation; No Widows

William Sams died in 1798, leaving Elizabeth Hext Sams a widow at age 52. They were married in 1761 when she was just 15 years old. But Elizabeth is a direct HEXT descendant, not a SAMS, so let’s move on to the second generation. Between 1761 and 1798, William and Elizabeth had seven sons, no daughters. One of the enduring mysteries in the Sams family is ‘the second female’.

The U.S. Federal Census in 1790 lists two females in William Sams’s household. One is identified as ‘head of house’; the other is a mystery. She most probably was a relative but could have been a daughter. No one has ever identified her further. Elizabeth Hext Sams died in 1813 in her home in Beaufort at 207 Hancock Street.

Since William and Elizabeth had no daughters, there is no possibility for widows in the second generation; at least, not direct descendants. In the next several generations (i.e., grandchildren, and great-grandchildren), we know of 64 direct descendants of William and Elizabeth. Too many for this article, so I will concentrate mainly on their grandchildren.

Third Generation; 15 become five possible widows

William and Elizabeth had 15 granddaughters by four of their sons: John, Lewis, BB, and Edward. The other three sons never married and had no children.

Of the 15 granddaughters, born between 1813 and 1841, six either never married or died young. There are four more for which we have too little information. We don’t know how long they lived or if they ever married. That leaves me with five possible widows.

I realize this is a bit hard to follow, so I’ve created two aids for you. Below is a chart that shows you the status of the eleven women, out of fifteen, in this generation that I can with certainty say were or were not widows. The chart summarizes who, by name, fits into the four categories shown. For your reference, at the end of this article is a table that shows the raw data in more detail.

Week 25 Graphic — Eleven Grand-Daughters of William Sams & Elizabeth Hext

Third Generation; five possible yields three widows

Of the five granddaughters to William and Elizabeth Sams that we know married, two died before their husbands. Evelina Edings Sams died eight years before her husband, JEL Fripp. Sarah ‘Sallie’ Stanyarne Sams died 22 years before her husband, John Hanahan Sams [Week 6]. These ladies were daughters of BB Sams; the husbands never remarried.

That brings me to the three confirmed widows in this third Generation:

Lewis Reeve’s daughter Caroline Eddings Sams was born in 1815.

BB’s daughter Adelaide Arianna Sams was born in 1832.

Lewis Reeve’s daughter Elizabeth Fuller Sams was born in 1836.

Caroline Sams (1815 – 1897) married Deacon James Edward Lawrence Fripp (1811 – 1880) – not to be confused with her cousin Evelina’s husband James Edings Lawrence Fripp (1816 – 1864)!! I mean, who could confuse Mrs. JEL Fripp with Mrs. JEL Fripp?

Caroline and Deacon Fripp were married in 1835 in Beaufort, South Carolina, and had two daughters. Mary Fripp lived to adulthood, Eugenia Fripp died young, in about 1845. This line of Sams (from Lewis Reeve Sams ) and Fripp’s (from Isaac Perry Fripp) were mostly local and Baptists. Caroline, like many others in these family lines, is buried in the Beaufort Baptist Churchyard, Beaufort, South Carolina.

Adelaide Arianna Sams (1832 – 1909) married Laurent Daniel Hallonquist (1815 – 1879) in 1865. It appears they were part of the Beaufort exodus crowd that lived in Barnwell, SC, during the war. Adelaide, like her younger sister Sarah, ended up with their respective families restarting their lives as pioneers in Merritt Island, FL circa 1877. Adelaide and Laurent had five children. In an odd twist of fate, we know more about their two daughters than we do about their three sons.

Their daughter Martha Hallonquist LaRoche lived to be 101! I find it fascinating that Martha, born in 1874, probably heard a fair amount about the Civil War from her parents. Yet when she died in 1975, most of us would have been old enough to listen to these same stories first-hand from her.

Adelaide became a widow in 1879. She never remarried though she outlived her husband by 30 years. Adelaide is buried in Saint Lukes Parish Episcopal Church Cemetery, Merritt Island, FL. Laurent died in Alabama; burial location unknown.

Elizabeth Fuller Sams (1836 – 1919) married James Hemery Nash (1828 – 1919) in 1857. She was 21, and he was 29. They had 12 children together, give or take a few. The information we have is incomplete. Based on the birth years and birthplaces of their children, they appear to have spent the war years in Greenville, SC. After the war, they moved to the Atlanta area. Both are buried in GA. She only outlived him by six months. Elizabeth was the daughter of Lewis Reeve Sams by his second wife, Frances Yonge Fuller. I showed you their photos in Week 23. Here are the mother and daughter, side-by-side.