What ever happened to the community called Sampson in northwest St. Johns County? The boundaries were never definitely defined, but the historic community was roughly within the boundaries of US 1 on the east; Racetrack Road on the north; State Road 13 on the west; and County Road 16-A on the south.
Harriet Beecher Stowe sketched a crude map during her time in Mandarin (1867-1884) of the road between Mandarin and St. Augustine. Her map shows Sampson Road as well as Sampson and Diego (Palm Valley) Road, which are currently State Roads 210 West and East respectively.
Sampson is an old community by American standards. Descendants of earlier settlers of Sampson still live in the community, although it is becoming nearly unrecognizable to these rural families.
Sampson got its name from land reserved for James Samson prior to February 12, 1783, when Joseph Peavett received a British land grant of 500 acres on “Julianton and Durbin Creek near land laid out for James Samson” (Land Grant Records of Joseph Peavett from the Florida Memory Collection). It is not certain that Samson ever even came to Florida. Although the land was laid out for him, he was never the recipient of a land grant either confirmed or non-confirmed. Nevertheless, Sampson is a corruption of his name, and it is from the land reserved for James Samson that the area got its name.
Peavett’s land grant is just a few hundred feet north of land my father bought in 1945, and is still shown on maps today.
According to an article by Susan Parker in the St. Augustine Record of Sunday, January 26, 2003, Governor Patrick Tonyn of British East Florida, who allowed the Minorcans to leave Turnbull’s plantation in New Smyrna to find refuge in St. Augustine, had property adjoining that of James Samson. Tonyn had 1,000 acres on Twelve Mile Swamp south of Joseph Peavett’s 500 acres. Parker wrote, “Peavett received full title to his acreage next to Sampson’s property. Gov. Tonyn tried to acquire the title to his land near Sampson’s property, but was unsuccessful. James Sampson apparently left Florida and made no formal attempt to claim title . . . .”
Parker found it ironic that the better-known Tonyn and Peavett (husband of Eugenia Price’s title heroine Maria) were ignored while Samson left his name on the community.
From the description of the location of Tonyn’s property, the 40 acres my father bought in 1945, south of the Peavett grant, was once part of Governor Tonyn’s 1,000 acre plantation. I now live on part of that property, as does my sister and several of our children and grandchildren.
One of the earliest residents of Sampson was Francis Pass. According to record MC31-62, on file at the St. Augustine Historical Society Library, Francis P. Ferriera was the administrator of the estate of Francis Pass. He stated Pass’s residence was “at Samson, about 20 miles northwest of St. Augustine during 1812. He cultivated the land and raised cattle. Inventory of his losses (during the Patriot Wars) amounted to $9,085.00. Witnesses for this claim were Martin Canova and Joseph Papy. They described the way the Patriots and the United States troops took over the land and stole, butchered and burned the crops and the cattle.” [Jose Papy was my great-great grandfather.]
During the so-called Patriot Wars, America ran illegal campaigns against the Spanish citizens in the colonies of East and West Florida. President James Madison denied authorizing the war when it failed. American “patriots” from Georgia joined by some Spanish citizens of the Floridas attempted to seize the Floridas from Spain. During the Patriot War, on September 12, 1812, the Battle of Twelve Mile Swamp occurred. Twelve Mile Swamp is partially in Sampson. Letters from some of the invaders written to Americans were captured by the Spanish who won this skirmish and were sent to the Spanish Archives in Spain. (Florida Historical Quarterly, “Letters of the Invaders of East Florida, 1812”, Rembert W. Patrick, Vol. 28/1, pp. 53-65, July, 1949)
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