Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Sams, John W. 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


JOHN W. SAMS, who has an untarnished record for service in 
the Civil War, is a prominent citizen of East providence, 
Bedford County, Pa., where he has held various township 
offices, discharging the duties thereof with faithfulness 
and efficiency.  A son of Andrew and Mary (Welch) Sams, he 
was born March 18, 1821, in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, 
where his grandfather Sams, who emigrated from Germany to 
Pennsylvania when a young man, was one of the earliest 
settlers.
  Andrew Sams lived in Fulton County until 1826, when he 
came with his wife and children to Bedford County, and 
settled in Monroe, where he remained five years.  In 1831 he 
took up land in East Providence, and by dint of persistent 
toil partly cleared the farm now owned and occupied by his 
son, John W. Sams.  He married Mary Welch, whose father, 
Francis Welch, an Irishman by birth and breeding, emigrated 
to this country at an early day, and for fifty-two years 
prior to his death was a Justice of the Peace in Fulton 
County, Pennsylvania.  She died on the home farm March 25, 
1856, and he survived her but little more than three years, 
passing away July 2, 1859.
  John W. Sams has lived in East Providence township since a 
boy of ten years, and was here educated.  He attended first 
a subscription school, which was held in a rudely 
constructed log cabin, having slab seats resting upon wooden 
pegs ranged around the sides of the room, boards fastened to 
the rough-hewn logs by wooden hinges furnishing desks for 
the children to write upon.  He was afterward a pupil in one 
of the first public schools organized in this section of the 
State.  He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits from 
his earliest youth, and, having succeeded to the ownership 
of the parental homestead, has a well-appointed farm of 
eighty acres, on which he has inaugurated the more valuable 
improvements.  On August 28, 1864, he enlisted in Company K, 
Two Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in 
which he served as a Corporal.  With the Army of the James 
he participated in many engagements, including among others 
the battle at Fort Steadman, on March 25, 1865.  A few days 
later, on April 2, in the works before Petersburg, he was 
under fire sixteen hours, bravely returning shot after shot. 
That a ball sped from his rifle killed the Confederate 
General, A. P. Hill, is a fact substantiated by an eye 
witness, the Captain of Company E, Two Hundred and Eighth 
Pennsylvania.  On June 1, 1865, he was mustered out of 
service, and has since resided on his homestead.  He is a 
straight Republican in politics.  The office of School 
Director he held for many terms, that of clerk of the 
township election board for fifteen consecutive years, for a 
similar period serving as Justice of the Peace.  Since 1843 
he has been identified with the Christian church.
  On November 25, 1851, Mr. Sams married Miss Rachel Myers, 
a daughter of George and Catherine (Enslow) Myers, late of 
East Providence.  She was a woman of many Christian virtues 
and a consistent member of the Lutheran church.  She died 
July 22, 1895, in the seventy-second year of her age, 
leaving two children, namely: Harriet V., wife of Augustus 
Foor, of East Providence township; and Martha M. C., who has 
charge of her father's household.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa