Grand-dad Samson

My Great Granddad Samson was a blacksmith. I finally got my hands on a picture of him standing behind an anvil holding a large sledge hammer.

I remembered seeing this picture when I was a child and asked my mother to get it scanned and send it to me. My sister, Leone, borrowed the picture from Mamma and scanned it for me.

We know that the man on the left with the wide brimmed hat is my great grandfather William Martin Samson, known around Haigler as Bill Samson.

He was my dad Rich Gregory's and Violett Workman's grandfather.

Does anyone recognize the other man in the picture? This picture was probably taken sometime between 1895 and 1910.

It could have been taken before the Samson's moved to Haigler, but I think it was taken in Haigler. The family moved to Haigler sometime around 1900 after migrating from Rock Bluff, Nebraska. I think they lived near Long Island, Kansas for awhile before moving to Haigler, because that is where my grandmother Mollie (Samson) met Dave Gregory. Dave followed Mollie to Haigler and they were married in 1907.

Bill Samson's wife Mary Frances (Goodin) died in Rockbluff, Nebraska in 1894 when their youngest child, Thomas (Tom) Samson was 3 years old. Soon after that, Bill moved his family westward and settled in Haigler.

-- Submitted by Sherri Gregory

My Grandmother

Dave (Samual David) and Mollie (Mary Frances Samson) Gregory were married in Haigler, Nebraska on July 4, 1907. They first lived on a farm north of Haigler that they called the Aultman Place, but later took up residency in a house on south King Avenue.

They had 5 children; Frances Matilda, MaryAnna Margaret, William Richard, David Doyle and Elsie Fern.

Frances was named for her grandmother Mary Frances (Goodin) Samson, Margaret's first name came from both grandmothers (Mary Goodin and Anna Belle (Thrasher) Gregory), Richard received the family name of Richard which was passed down to one of the sons for many generations.

Dave owned a team of horses and a dray wagon that he used to haul anything people wanted moved from one place to another.

The year of 1914 was a very hard year for this family. Doyle acquired diphtheria and died in February 1914 at the age of 1 year. In August, Dave succumbed to tuberculosis. Fern, who was born in May, 1914, lived until December and was buried beside her brother and father in the Haigler cemetery in plots owned by Bill (William Martin) Samson, who was Mollie's father.


This picture is of the house where Dave and Mollie Gregory lived in 1914. It was taken in the 1980s during a drive through Haigler with my dad when he was showing me the places he lived when he was growing up in Haigler

Bill Samson owned and operated a hotel and restaurant on the corner of Porter Avenue and Hiway 34 where the IGA Grocery stands today. In order to care for and feed her family, Mollie went to work for her father. It was while working in the restaurant that she met Horace Roach, who was in town working for the C.B&Q Railroad.

Horace and Mollie were married on November 9, 1916. They set up residence on homestead land between Anton and Yuma, Colorado. This is where Marlin Franklin and Horace Quentin were born. In 1918, Horace's job on the railroad took them to Oxford, Nebraska for a awhile. This is where Ollie May and Virginia Jewell were born. They were back in Haigler, Nebraska from 1922 to 1930. Betty Lois was born in 1929 and around the year 1930, they moved north of Laird, where Bud (Lowel Thomas) was born. They later settled in Wray, Colorado where Horace and Mollie lived until his death in 1958 and hers in 1970.


This picture is of the house in Oxford, Nebraska, where the Roach family lived from 1918 to 1922 before moving back to Haigler, Nebraska.

My dad tells a story about when they moved from Oxford to Haigler, they loaded all their posessions on a Model A Ford. Things were tied on top and hanging from the sides and bumpers of this car. He remembers moving into a house that sat on the corner of where Hiway 27 now hooks into Hiway 34, just north of the house "Buck" Ryan grew up in. The last I looked, there is still remenants of a foundation in that location.

More about the Samsons

Dallas mentioned Raymond Sampson in Haigler. (m. Ethel Tiff) He was the son of Tom Samson and younger brother of William Martin (Bill). His sister Zella (Sampson) Wolfe (later re-married) and Grace (Sampson) Stute (later married a Hudspeth).

Raymond's family lived in that building at the north end of Main Street on the east side of the street. I remember that in his later years, after his wife Edna died, Tom lived there with Raymond and Ethel.

Mother Mollie and I stopped in to see Tom Samson there . He was sitting out in the yard. He was Mollie's uncle. Having been the youngest of the Samson brothers (Wm. Martin and Lew) and younger than some of his nephews, his children grew up about the same time as his nephews.

Raymond was younger than Rich. He was a cousin of Rich's mother, Mollie. When Raymond and Ethel were married and started farming , Tom and Edna moved to town to that house across the street west of McKay's station. I remember visiting Aunt Edna there. I think that maybe Uncle Tom was out helping Raymond on the farm or something or other that day. I think that it was a club day. I remember that Erma Zuege was there.

Raymond and Ethel had two boys and twin girls . Named Marilyn and Carolyn. Several years younger than the boys.

I am trying to remember when Raymond started driving a truck. It was roughly about the time Rich did, and while his father, Tom, was still around and living with them.

During those truck driving years, we went to the lake to boat. Row boats. I don't remember whether it was Enders or Trenton. Their oldest boy took Leone for a ride in one of the boats and Rich got scared, wondering if they had life jackets on.

I don't remember that they had the twins yet at that time. I will try to remember the year that they moved to Oregon. They loaded everything in his truck and moved. They wrote to us after they got there.

--Submitted by Alice (Crabtree) Gregory
NOTE:
Mollie is Mollie (Samson) Roach, Alice's Mother-in-law;
Rich is Richard Gregory, Alice's husband;
Leone is Alice's daughter