My Genealogy Hound

MERITT F. SAMPSON, a highly esteemed citizen of Hatfield, Mass., a successful agriculturist, is a native of Vermont, having been born in the town of Stamford of that State, June 25, 1846. He is a son of Chester and Rhoda A. (Nash) Sampson, and a grandson of Calvin and Polly (Millard) Sampson.

The Sampson family are of English origin, their first representatives in America having been among the early Plymouth colonists. Henry Sampson came over in the “Mayflower” in 1620. His brother Abraham, ancestor of the branch now being considered, is recorded as living in Duxbury, Mass., in 1643. Isaac, a descendant, who was born in Plympton and who served in the French and Indian War, settled in Middleboro, Mass., where his son Jacob was born in 1760. At twenty years of age Jacob Sampson went to New Salem, Mass., but later removed to Stamford, Vt., and there purchased a large tract of wild land. He died in 1842, eighty-two years of age. Calvin Sampson, son of Jacob, was born in New Salem on May 31, 1783. He went with his parents to Vermont, where his life was spent in farming. When twenty-two years of age he was united in marriage with Miss Polly Millard, and they had three sons and two daughters; namely, Thankful, Chauncey, Chester, Almira, and Calvin T.

Chester Sampson, the father of Meritt F. Sampson, was born in Stamford, Vt. He was brought up on the home farm, and engaged in agricultural labors in his native State until 1848. He then removed to Williamstown, Mass., and purchased a farm on which he lived for ten years. From that place he went to North Adams, where he became interested in gardening. He died on May 29, 1878, when sixty-one years of age. His wife’s death occurred on February 16, 1885, in her sixty-fourth year. She left three children; namely, Mary, Meritt F., and Carrie. Their father was a Republican in politics, and he was a member of the Baptist church.

Meritt F. Sampson received a good practical education in the schools of Williamstown and North Adams. When a young man he went to work in a shoe factory. But as the confinement indoors proved detrimental to his health, he gave up that occupation and engaged in the more heathful vocation of farming. In 1863 he enlisted in the Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Cavalry, in which he had served two years, when he was mustered out of service in December, 1865. He then re-enlisted in Company D of the Nineteenth United States Infantry Regiment, and served in the regular army, being stationed the greater part of the time at Pine Bluffs, Ark., until honorably discharged on May 3, 1869. In 1893 he came to Hatfield, Mass., and purchased the place of M. Billings on Main Street. He has made extensive alterations in it since, and now it is one of the finest residences in the village. He also owns about twenty-two acres of choice meadow land.

Mr. Sampson was married October 22, 1878, to Miss Isadore H. Kenney, a daughter of Lorenzo and Maria Kenney, of Greenfield. Their union has been blessed by two daughters, namely: Mary A., whose birth occurred on their wedding anniversary, October 22, 1882; and Bessie S., who was born May 15, 1886. Mr. Sampson is numbered among the loyal adherents of the Republican party. He is a member of the C. L. Sanford Post, No. 79, Grand Army of the Republic, of North Adams. On religious questions he holds liberal views.

A portrait* of this representative citizen of Hampshire County will be seen on a neighboring page.

*Editor's note: Portrait was included in the original printed book.