Sample, Charles W.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Charles W. Sample has been a business man at Kingman nearly forty years and had been closely identified with the commercial affairs of that city, as a land owner, banker and in real estate and loans.

Mr. Sample was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, October 29, 1851. His ancestors came out of Ireland and settled in Virginia in colonial days. His grandfather, Andrew Sample, was a pioneer farmer in Indiana and died in Jefferson County in that state in 1854. George W. Sample, father of Charles W., was born in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1815, a date which indicates the early settlement of the family in that state. Indiana was not admitted to the union until 1816. George W. Sample spent his life as a farmer, and in 1853 removed to Tipton County, Indiana, where he spent his last years and where he died in 1872. He was a democrat and an active member and on the official board of the Baptist Church. He married in Jefferson County, Indiana, Adaline McKay, who was born in that county in 1820 and died in Tipton County in 1896. They were the parents of seven children, Charles W. being the fifth in age and the only one now living. Henrietta, who died in Clinton County, Indiana, was the wife of Isaac Houghman, a farmer also deceased. The other children were named Berdelia, Catherine, Sarah, America and John.

Charles W. Sample grew up on a farm, attended the public schools of Tipton County, Indiana, and the National Normal School at Lebanon, Ohio. Some of his earlier years were spent as a teacher. He taught four terms in Indiana and on September 20, 1878, came to Kansas and first located at Sterling. In the spring of 1879 he moved to Kingman and taught a term of school near that city. He also pre-empted a claim of 160 acres and made his home on a farm until 1886. His homestead was subsequently sold, but he had bought and sold a number of tracts of land in this part of Kansas. Even now many of his interests connect him with the soil, since he owned 920 acres in Kingman County.

Mr. Sample entered the real estate and loan business at Kingman in 1884 and had been a resident of the city since 1886. He had developed one of the large and important concerns handling loans in this section of Kansas, and for over twenty-five years his offices have been located in the Courier Block. He is also a well known banker, being president of the State Bank of Kingman and of the Spivey State Bank. He had considerable local property, including his own home on Avenue E, West.

Mr. Sample is a democrat in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which he served for a number of years as trustee. He is a past noble grand of Kingman Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of Kingman Camp, Modern Woodmen of America, Kingman Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and belongs to the Knights and Ladies of Security.

On October 1, 1874, in Indiana, Mr. Sample married Miss Laura Wolldridge. She died at Kingman August 20, 1880, the mother of two children. The older is Rev. Orlando L., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church now located at Trenton, Missouri. The younger son, Willard, is practicing dentistry at El Paso, Texas. On April 11, 1885, at Kingman, Mr. Sample married Miss Clova Moore, a native of Iowa. They have two children, Walter, assistant cashier of the State Bank of Kingman; and Hazel, wife of L. L. Kabler, cashier of the Spivey State Bank.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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