Samuel Samson / Sampson (ca 1670-1744) of Duxbury and Middleborough, Mass. and His Wife Hazadiah Eddy

Samuel Samson/Sampson was born Duxbury, Plymouth Colony, about 1670, the son of Samuel and Esther (Delano) Sampson.

Samuel married Hazadiah Eddy at Duxbury on 29 May 1695 (Mayflower Descendant 26:37). Hazadiah was born Plymouth 10 April 1672, the daughter of Obadiah and Bennett (Ellis) Eddy (Mayflower Descendant 18:70). Her name is spelled in a variety of ways in records, including Assadiah in her marriage record. Samuel and Hazadiah are my 9th great grandparents on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. They are descendants of important early settlers of Plymouth Colony: Philip Delano, Abraham Samson, Samuel Eddy, Edmond Freeman, John Ellis, and Samuel Nash. 

Samuel settled in Middleborough in Plymouth Colony where he was a member of the First Church. In March 1717 he was one of the original 50 purchasers of the First Parish Burying Ground, now called Cemetery at the Green. 

Hazadiah and Samuel’s children, order uncertain, all mentioned in their father’s will:

Mary born about 1700

Esther born about 1706, m. Abraham Borden, removed to Connecticut 

Obadiah, born Middleborough 29 Jan 1709/10, m. Mary Soule 

Gershom m. Bethiah Clark 

Ichabod m. Mercy Savory 

Samuel

I descend from Mary. I wrote about her here. Her husband Benjamin Fuller was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Samuel Fuller, Francis Eaton (and his wife Sarah and son Samuel), John Billington (and his wife Elinor and son Francis). 

Obadiah and his brother Ichabod received all of their great-grandfather Lt. Samuel Nash's housing in his 2 June 1681 will (The American Genealogist, vol 15).

Samuel Samson of Duxburough deeded land for 24 pounds to Joseph Waterman of Marshfield: half part of meadow and marsh ground totaling 16 acres that formerly belonged to Lt Samuel Nash of Duxburough, given to Samuel and his brother Ichabod in equal halves. Samuel signed with his mark. (The Mayflower Descendant, “Plymouth County Record of Deeds,” vol 54, p 77-78, 2005)

A deed from Joseph Waterman of Marshfield acknowledged mortgage of 22 pounds paid by Samuel Samson of Duxborough on 16 March 1701/02.  (Mayflower Descendant 54:78)

Common Pleas Court, December 1718, Robert Gates by atty Josiah Bumpus (Plainfield) v Samuel Samson. Debt, on bond for 25 funds. Default by deft. Bond chanced. Judgment for 13 pounds and 3 pounds 4 shillings 4 s, 6 d costs. (Plymouth Court Records 5: 57)

In March 1736/7, Samuel Samson of Middleborough served on a grand jury; uncertain if it is Samuel Senior or Junior (Plymouth Colony Court records vol 2; 130-31). 

Hazadiah Samson is mentioned in her father Obadiah Eddy's 18 May 1722 will (Plymouth County Probate no. 7086) giving her and her four siblings full part and portion “which I intend them of my estate.” There is an insert mark next to Hazadiah’s name with the word “deceased” added. Obadiah wrote a codicil to his will on the 17th day of December 1726, naming his son Samuel Eddy sole executor of the estate as previously named executor Jacob Tomson had died.  Some researchers use this date to indicate the latest day that Hazadiah died, although her death is not mentioned in the codicil.

Torrey gives Samuel a second wife named Mercy. Vinton and Cutter give his only wife as Mercy, daughter of Obadiah Eddy (see Sources below). It seems probable he married again as Hassadiah died in her early 50s. Samuel does not mention a wife in his 1744 will, although on the same page of the Middleborough vital records where Samuel’s death is written is this entry: Mercy Samson wife to Samuel Samson deceased February the 15th 1742/3 in the 77th year of her age. 

Samuel wrote his will 31 August 1744 and it was proved 20 September1744. He mentions sons Obadiah, Gershom, Samuel, and Ichabod; daughters Esther Burden and Mary Fuller; and Ruth daughter of his son Obadiah (Plymouth Probate 9:338).

Samuel Sampson died Middleborough on 10 September 1744 (Middleborough Vital Records, 1:76). He was 74 years old. He is likely buried at the Cemetery at the Green without a surviving headstone. 

Sources Not Mentioned Above:

Stacy B.C. Wood Jr, “Descendants of Abraham Sampson ca 1614-aft 1685,” unpublished ms 2008

John Adams Vinton, The Sampson Family, 1864, p 11-12

Thomas Weston, History of Middleborough, 1906, p 651

Torrey's New England Marriages

Clarence A. Torrey, The American Genealogist, “A Nash-Sampson-Delano-Howland Problem,” vol 15 (1938)

The American Genealogist, “The Early Sampsons,” section on The Abraham Sampson Family, vol 28 (1952)

William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 3