Sample, Samuel C.

Samuel C. Sample, born at Richmond in Holmes County, Mississippi, on October 17, 1877, became an energetic and progressive grain-farmer in California. The son of Alexander Dulaney Sample, he grew up on his father plantation and attended Millsap College at Jackson for two years before moving to Fresno County in July 1907. He was later joined by his parents and siblings, though his mother subsequently passed away at Rolinda in 1914. In his personal life, Samuel married Miss Leora Schaeffer, a native of Fresno County, on October 23, 1916, who tragically passed away in December 1917.

Gaining his initial California farming experience at Rolinda, Samuel successfully bought, improved, and sold several tracts of land, retaining forty acres split between alfalfa and fruit. In 1917, he purchased 240 acres in the Helm district and expanded his operations by renting three additional sections of land. For the 1919 season, he managed 1,000 acres of wheat, 100 acres of barley, and summer-fallowed 800 acres using his seventy-five horsepower Holt tractor and twenty-foot Holt combined harvester and thresher. As a Democrat in national politics, he supported local uplift movements and established himself as a highly enterprising citizen dedicated to the prosperity of Fresno County.