Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Sample, John 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 7:59 pm

Author: History of Grundy County, 1914

Sample, John (deceased). - In reviewing the history of Grundy County the 
thoughtful observer is struck by the patience and fortitude displayed by the 
pioneers of this section, who, coming here at a time when hardships were to be 
encountered on every side, and success was entirely problematical, worked 
quietly and unceasingly, laboring better than they knew, and producing the 
Grundy County of today. One of these men who earned the right to he honored as 
a Grundy County pioneer of the best class was the late John Sample. He was a 
native of Pennsylvania, as was his wife, Mary McKenzie, she being born in 
Washington County of that State. He was a son of William Sample, born in the 
North of Ireland. Mrs. Sample was a daughter of Daniel and Isabelle (Grant) 
McKenzie, natives of Scotland. John Sample and Mary McKenzie were married in 
Ross County, Ohio, and commenced farming near South Salem in that county. He 
was one of the founders of an academy and seminary at that place, and was a 
man of prominence in his community. 

Attracted by reports of the fertility of land in Grundy County, Ill., John 
Sample joined a company in September, 1852, which reached there in October of 
the same year, and he and his wife decided upon Wauponsee Township as a 
desirable section, and settled on a farm there. There was a little frame house 
on the place, in the midst of a prairie, and in it they began housekeeping. At 
that time there were but few neighbors, but they were too busy to get lonely, 
for their farm of from 700 to 800 acres was entirely unimproved, and they were 
constantly at work. As time went on Mr. Sample brought more and more of his 
land under cultivation, and became an extensive raiser of horses, and also 
carried on general farming. Soon after his arrival in the summer of 1853, he 
started a Sunday school in a small log schoolhouse in the neighborhood, which 
was the first Sunday school ever held in that town. Although a Presbyterian, 
as there was no church of his denomination there, he became affiliated with 
the Congregational Church of Morris. While much interested in politics, he was 
not an office seeker. His death occurred in 1864, after a long and useful 
life. His widow survived him until 1883, when she passed away at the age of 
eighty-nine years. There were ten children in the family, three of whom died 
in Ohio. Five children and the parents died on the farm in Grundy County. Two 
daughters, Narcissa and Ruth, removed to Morris in 1901, and spent their 
remaining years there.

page 897

Additional Comments:
Source:  History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. 
Publishers; 1914

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