"John traveled with his parents to Illinois (present day MadisonCounty ) about 1810. John served with his father and two brothers inthe War o f 1812 in Captain Samuel Whiteside's Company of MountedRiflemen, Illin ois Militia. About 1817, John married Sarah "Sally"Pruitt, daughter of F ield Pruitt, Jr and Mary Powell of MercerCounty, Kentucky. After settl ing in Morgan County, Illinois, in 1823,John began acquiring land and b ecame the most prosperous of David'ssons. With the help of his sons, J ohn built a two-story brick house,making the bricks on his farm. John a nd Sally had thirteen children,nine sons and four daughters. They were m embers of the Indian CreekPrimitive Baptist Church and provided room a nd board for travelingpreachers who came through the area. Sally died 2 2 July 1858 and on 3Jan 1861 John married Sarah Hewitt who lived until 1 895. John andSally are buried in the Sample Cemetery on the farm that s tayed inthe family for over one hundred years."
Residences & events:
The History of Bond Co, IL says:
The first Circuit Court was held at Hill's Station, on Monday, May 30,1 817. The State being under a Territorial Government, all theoffices w ere filled by appointment, and were as follows:
The Hon. Jesse B. THOMAS, Judge; Daniel CONVERSE, Clerk; Samuel G.M ORSE, Sheriff; and Charles R. MATHENY, Satate's Attorney. Thefollowi ng persons served as grand jurors: John WHITLEY, Sr.,Foreman, Sol oman REAVIS, Fields PRUITT, Coonrod HOOSONG, SamuelDAVIDSON, Paul BE CK, William ROBINSON, John HOPTON, RobertGILLESPIE, Benjamin JAMES, C harles REAVIS, Charles STEEL, AndrewMOODY, Absalom MATHEWS, William M cLANE, John WHITLEY, Jr., PeterHUBBARD, David WHITE, Francis KIRKPAT RICK, William BURGESS, JohnSAMPLES, Elijah POWERS, Thomas WHITE.
1820 Powers Twp, Bond Co, IL. The census listed John's familyconsist ing of 1 male under the age of 10, 1 at 15-26, John at 26-45,1 female u nder 10, and 1 at 16-25. Two people were engaged inagriculture. On t he previous page of the census was William Samples.
1830 Morgan Co, IL. John was 30-40 years old at census time. Livingw ith him were 1 male under the age of 5, 2 at 5-10, 1 at 10-15, 1 was15 -20, 1 female under 5, 1 age 5-10, 1 was 10-15, and his wife was30-40 a s well. Three doors down was Wm Samples and several ofSally's family l ived in the same county.
1840 Same place. The census taker found the John Samples familylivin g 4 doors from Sally's brother David. John had a large familyconsisti ng of 1 male under 5, 4 at 5-10, 1 at 10-15, 1 was 15-20, 1at 20-30, J ohn was 40-50, 1 female age 5-10, 1 at 10-15, 1 was 15-20,and Sally at 4 0-50.
8/22/1850 Still there. John was a 52 year old farmer with realestate w orth $1200 at census time. Sally was 48 and children in thehouse were J ames, 24, Fields, 22, William, 20, Joseph, 16, John 14,and Martha, ( listed as male), 12. Two doors down was CharlesSamples, 32. A son?
