Sampson Strickland

Abt 1710 - Abt 1782  (72 years)

• Name	Sampson Strickland
  Birth	Abt 1710
  Gender	Male
  Death	Abt 1782
  Notes	From STRICKLAND SCENE Vol 7, No 2, Second Quarter 1986: "Sampson Strickland of Revolutionary Wake County, N.C.: A Tale of Tory Determination" Contributed by Franceine Perry Rees "A great may tragedies, and perhaps as many tales of courage and sacrifice, could be written if those of us who dig into our family's "roots" could learn the complete stories behind the written records of events in our ancestors' lives! We can only wonder about what motivated Sampson Strickland, Sr., middle-aged husband and father, solid citizen and prosperous farmer, to stand up in the Wake County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in December, 1777, and steadfastly refuse to swear the Oath of Allegience to the State of North Carolina. By his refusal, Sampson placed himself with the despised Loyalists and was therefore ordered to leave the state. In some parts of North Carolina, "Tories" were numerous and could support each other against revolutionary pressure; such was not the case in Wake County. The Oath, devised as part of the state's Treason Act of 1777, was unequivocal; "I will bear faithful and true Allegience to the State of North Carolina, and will to the utmost of my power support and maintain, and defend the independent Government thereof, against George the Third, King of Great Britain, and his Successors . . . . " Unlike other British sympathizers, Sampson Strickland was not a recent immigrant to these shores; as youngest son of Matthew Strickland, Jr. and his wife Anne Bracewell, he descended from several generations of Viriginia colonists. His nearest tie to the pro-British Anglican clergy appears to have been nor nearer than a maternal great-grandfather, Rev. Robert Bracewell, parson of the Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, whose death preceded Sampson's birth by more than fifty years. Neither was he a merchant who profited from trade with the British. For whatever cause, even in the face of overwhelming opposition, this Strickland found himself unable to renounce his loyalty to the English crown. Born in 1723 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, Sampson Strickland moved south as a young man, receiving a Granville grant patent May 24, 1756 for 275 acres of land in what was then Johnston County, North Carolina. (The Powell Creek area where he settled was divided in 1770 to create Wake County.) Court records include more than a dozen references to Sampson thereafter; he recorded deeds, witnessed others' land transactions, registered his cattle brand. In addition to his agricultural pursuits, he accepted a number of civic responsibilities, serving as juror, caretaker of an orphan, road committee member and road overseer. By the time colonial fervor for independence rose high, Sampson Strickland must have been quite thoroughly settled among his Wake County neighbors, doubtless cherishing hopes that eventual reconciliation with the mother country might be achieved. But as the strife between England and her colonies increased, it became impossible for North Carolinians to remain tacit royalists. A rather mild loyalty oath in which persons suspected of sympathizing with the crown swore not to bear arms against or otherwise oppose the rovolutionary government "during the present unhappy contest between Great Britain and America" was ultimately replaced by a much more stringent avowal; all who lived within the colony that had proclaimed itself a state were to be compelled to declare their allegiance to it. As 1777 drew to a close, Sampson Strickland may have already refused the oath in a muster of men in his militia district, or he may have been singled out and summoned to court as a suspected British symphathizer. At any rate, two other men appeared in court the same day as Sampson; they each swore the oath and were given certificates as evidence that they had "complyed with the law." Sampson Strickland, however, defied the court, the law, and popular opinion: "...being Cited to appear at this Court to take the Oath of Allegience to this State came into Court, and on said Oath being offered to him her refused taking the same, whereupon the Court Pronounced his Banishment agreeable to Law." It is probable that Sampson was banished as ordered, but where he went remains a mystery. Did he go to the West Indies or to Nova Scotia, as did other Loyalists? Did any of his family go with him? Was any of his property confiscated? The records do not offer such information. In fact, he must have died in exile, because his name does not appear in the court minutes from the time he was sentenced until after his death, when his widow Christina reported his estate inventory in July, 1781. In March of the next year, she received fromthecourt persmiisio to act as her husband's administratix, posting bond for 700 pounds. In June the court accepted an account of the estate sale from the deputy sherriff (buyers included Christina, Obediah, Abel, and Hardy Strickland, along with Sampson Strickland, Jr. In March, 1783, Christina sought guardianship of her younger children--Obediah, Abel, Mary Anne, Lot, Braswell, and Matthew, for which she was required to enter bond of 1,200 pounds. In May 1784, Obediah achieved his majority and purchased 250 acres of what had doubtless been his father's land fromthe deceased Tory's eldest son and namesake, Sampson, Jr. Christina, their mother, co-signed the deed with her mark. One of the witnesses, Joseph Strickland, may have been another older son with Sampson the elder and Christina. Lot Strickland's December, 1784, will names his mother and brothers, Braswell and Matthew, with Obediah as executor and Abel and Joseph as witnesses. It is unlikely that many of Sampson Strickland's legion descendants would agree that his refusal to support the new state was justified; history has certainly shown that the American Revolution was not only inevitable but beneficial. However, those of us who descend from this stubborn Wake County Tory should take some pride in his bravery, and hope we might have inherited a modicum of that quality in his charater which resulted in this sacrifice of home and a comfortable future for principle and loyalty. The loyalist tendencies of Sampson Strickland Sr did not descend to his namesake. The younger Sampson served two tours of active duty with the Wake County militia, according to documents in a pension claim filed by his children.
  Person ID	I1364	Strong Family Tree
  Last Modified	17 Aug 2014

  
  

  Father	Matthew Strickland, Jr.,   b. Between 1663 and 1674, England, United Kingdom d. 25 Oct 1730, Isle Of Wight County, Virginia (Age 67 years)
  Mother	Anne Bracewell,   b. Between 1667 and 1680, Isle Of Wight County, Virginia
  Marriage	Abt 1700	Isle Of Wight County, Virginia
  Family ID	F807	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Christina ???,   b. Between 1710 and 1720   d. Yes, date unknown
  Children	1. Lott Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Abt 1785 (Age 45 years)   2. Sampson Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. 16 May 1839, Franklin County, North Carolina (Age 99 years)   3. Obediah Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Abt 1842 (Age 102 years)   4. Abel Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Abt 1801 (Age 61 years)   5. Mary Ann Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Yes, date unknown   6. Braswell Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Yes, date unknown   7. Matthew Strickland,   b. Between 1740 and 1765   d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F953	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Dec 2006