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
You asked if anyone could identify the second man? Don Harford's letter of 1920's description of a blacksmith south of the stockyards west of main street... Putting two and two together... you could assume... a name Joe Warner is mentioned as a blacksmith in Harford's letter. This could be a possibility.
ReplyDeleteDALLAS
Yes, that is a good assumption... And the fact that my great grand dad lived south of the stockyards on the same street you (Dallas) grew up on. That is a good assumption. I wonder if any of the Warner family is around to ask.
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