Thanks for providing all those sources on the Sampson/Samson families! As a descendant of both groups who hasn't quite gotten around to fully researching them yet, I will be interested to check them out. (BTW, I'm sure everyone knows that a couple of generations down the line from both immigrants, the two families DO link up forevermore, with the 1712 marriage of Henry Samson descendant, Penelope, to Abraham Sampson descendant, Abraham...guess that's after the fact however, so it doesn't "count" in determining the relationship between the progenitors, Henry and Abraham.) Kathy In a message dated 6/20/02 10:45:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time, radiotest@juno.com writes: > > SAMPSON, Abraham (1) arrived 1629 brother of Mayflower Pilgrim > > HenrySAMPSON > > After quite a bit of reading about these two (although I have no known > descent from either) I have found nothing to convince me of a provable > relationship between Henry Samson and Abraham Sampson. (Note to those new > to these two families - the surnames of these two distinct families are > generally, but not always, spelled in records the way I spelled them > here). > > I think I can safely say that it is generally accepted that Henry was > baptized in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England on 15-Jan-1603/04. See "English > Ancestry of Seven Mayflower Passengers: Tilley, Sampson and Cooper" by > Robert Leigh Ward, The American Genealogist, v. 52, pp. 198-208. The > evidence presented there showing the origins of the Mayflower passengers > bearing those three surnames is, I believe, absolutely convincing. The > records cited in that article explain the relationship between Edward and > Ann Tilley and the "cousins" (as Bradford wrote) that they brought with > them on the Mayflower, the children Henry Samson and Humility Cooper > (Cowper). > > On 14-Aug-1614 in the nearby parish of Campton, Bedfordshire, Henry's > first cousin Abraham Samson was baptized. This was possibly the immigrant > Abraham Sampson of Duxbury. I have seen no evidence to contraindicate > that possibility, but I have seen no evidence that establishes that the > Campton Abraham was indeed the immigrant. For additional discussions of > the Bedfordshire Samsons and of Abraham and his descendants see "The > Early Sampsons" by Mrs. John E. (Rachel) Barclay, The American > Genealogist, v. 28, pp. 1-11; "Henry Sampson's Paternal Grandfather" by > Robert Leigh Ward, The American Genealogist, v. 56, pp. 141-143; and "The > Daughters of Abraham(1) Sampson (born 1614?) of Duxbury MA" by Robert S. > Wakefield, The American Genealogist, v. 63, pp. 207-210. > > As a side note, a great-great-granddaughter of Abraham was Deborah > Sampson who disguised herself as a man and fought in the Revolutionary > War as "Private Robert Shurtleff." She was aided in receiving a soldier's > pension by Paul Revere. A number of articles have been written about > Deborah. For starters I suggest "The Saga of 'Private Shurtleff': A > Mayflower Connection with a Twist" by Robert C. Thompson, The Mayflower > Quarterly, v. 65, pp. 265-268; as well as an article about her father, > "The Secret Life of Jonathan Sampson" by Barbara Lambert Merrick, The > Mayflower Quarterly, v. 48, pp. 172-177. Deborah Sampson was also a > descendant of William Bradford, Myles Standish and John Alden. > > Dale H. Cook, Chief Engineer, WWWR Roanoke VA, WCQV Moneta VA, WKBA WZZI > Vinton VA, WKPA WLNI WLVA WZZU Lynchburg VA > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I think I have a right to object to libelous statements about my dog." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt Check out my genealogy web pages! http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/e/n/K-Fenton/index.html ~AND~ http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=twigsandbranches Recycle yourself! Tell someone you want to be an organ and tissue donor!