Samuel Stancil|
Samuel Stancil 1902
Samuel was born Sept. 5, 1863, and died May 30, 1930. He married Missouri Howell on Nov. 23, 1890.
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Samuel's children with Mary Missouri Howell |
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Freeman Elbert Stancil July 10, 1892-July 22, 1972 |
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Charlie Stancil 1893-Nov. 8, 1894 |
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Berty V. Stancil Sept. 28, 1894-Feb. 16, 1897 Buried in Howell-Stancil-Hawley Cemetery, Wilson, NC |
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Lonnie Alfred Stancil July 1, 1897-July 16, 1950 |
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Davie Stancil Nov. 15, 1900-Dec. 10, 1900 Buried in Howell-Stancil-Hawley Cemetery, Wilson, NC |
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Rose Annie
Stancil Aug. 4, 1902-Aug. 13, 1962 |
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Jessie Stancil June 23, 1906-June 23, 1906 Buried in Howell-Stancil-Hawley Cemetery, Wilson, NC |
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Erma Candis
Stancil Nov. 8, 1908-May 14, 1933 |
Samuel Stancil was born on September 5, 1863. He was the second child and second son of John Thomas and Delanie Sasser Stancil. Samuel was born during the Civil War, delivered by midwife Cynthia Barnes. As a toddler, he rode in a wooden cart with his mother and older brother Henry to the Pee Dee River in South Carolina. His father walked beside the cart, and their hound dog ‘Heck’ followed. Henry remembers their mother blocking the sun from Sam’s face with clothes hung over his cradle.
Samuel attended school near his home with other neighborhood children. School was in session during the winter months, allowing children to help with farming during the growing and harvesting seasons. Sam learned to read and write. He also learned to swim with his brothers at a swimming hole in the woods, although his sisters were not allowed to swim due to modesty.
Sam was known as the strongest of Tom’s sons, despite being the shortest. He could carry two 200-pound sacks of fertilizer at once. Barry Rose, a laborer who boarded with Tom Stancil, was heavier than Sam, but Sam could easily lift him over his head. Barry worked at a nearby sawmill owned by William and Ransom Hales, sons of Tom’s half-brother Elias Hales.
Elias had a son William Madison Hales. He had a daughter Ethel Octavia Hales. Ralph Stancil, nephew of Sam and son of George Ira, married Ethel in 1935.
Sam joined the Holly Springs Free Will Baptist Church as a young man and later joined a church in Wilson County. He was a Republican, like all of Tom’s sons. Sam often fell asleep while riding a horse due to the methodical rhythm. One day, his mother sent him to invite ladies in the neighborhood to her quilting party and cautioned him against falling asleep. His brother Harvey teased him, but Sam laughed it off.
Samuel worked as a farm laborer for Freeman Howell in Wilson County, where he met and fell in love with Freeman’s daughter, Mary Missouri.
Sam and Missouri were issued a Marriage License on Nov. 17, 1890. They were married on Nov. 23, 1890. Sam was 27 and Missouri was just 19. They were both Cross Road Township residents in Wilson County, NC. John T. Revell was the Justice of the Peace, who married them at the Freeman Howell residence on November 23, 1890. The witnesses were Josiah Stancil (Samuel's younger brother), L. L. Starrott and J. G. Council.
They lived with her parents. Sam took his bride to meet his family. Missouri's brother and his new wife also accompanied them. They all spent the night. One of Sam's younger brothers George saw both brides and recalled hoping that his brother Sam had married the prettiest one! Sam farmed with his father-in-law Freeman Howell. They joined a nearby Free Will Baptist Church. When the church needed money for a new building, Sam was the first to step forward and give.
They later moved to Johnston County, where Sam purchased a farm. They had nine children: Freeman Elbert Stancil, Charlie Stancil, Bertie, Lonnie Alfred Stancil, Davie Stancil, Rose Annie Stancil, Jessie Stancil, an unnamed infant, and Erma Candis Stancil.
Sam never acquired a tobacco habit despite being a successful tobacco farmer. He built a new house on his farm for his son Elbert when he married Flora Hinnant. Missouri inherited a farm from her father, and they moved back to Wilson County. Sam and Missouri lived out their lives on this farm, using a mule and wagon for transportation and always having at least one watchdog. Sam had a large apple orchard, and friends and family gathered each fall to make apple cider.
Their daughter Bertie died at age 3, possibly from rabies after chewing on a contaminated stick. Over the years, Sam had several tenant farmers on his Johnston County farm, including his son Elbert, Grandberry Hales, and Walter Stancil. Sam sold a farm near the John Thomas Stancil Home Place to his brother George before 1908.
Missouri and Sam attended the first family reunion, where Missouri was unhappy that Sam stood next to Jim Batey in the large group photo.
In 1912, George, Eva, and family drove their surrey, pulled by a mule, to visit Sam and Missouri. Effie, Emmette, Delanie, Ralph, and Rachel enjoyed visiting their cousins: Elbert, Lonnie, Annie, and Erma. Ralph fell off the log cart while playing at Uncle Sam's and broke his right arm just below the elbow. His father, George, pulled it back into place. Sam made wooden splints that were put around the arm until it healed.
Annie and Erma both went to Grammar School in Wilson County. Erma learned to drive; Annie never did.
Although Sam did not drive, he did buy one of the first cars in the family. It was a black Chevrolet. Elbert drove the car down to see his uncles around 1922. The highlight of the trip was Elbert driving Uncle Harvey, Uncle George, his brother Lonnie, and cousin Emmette to church at Holly Springs Free Will Baptist Church. This was the church that Elbert's Pa had joined as a young man.
Sam visited his very sick Pa frequently in the winter of 1921. One of his sons usually drove him to George's home, where Tom was staying. He often stayed overnight and sometimes for several days. Emmette, his nephew, would drive him back home to Wilson County.
When Sam got older, he stopped writing his name. Someone else wrote his name, and he just made his mark, an "X" between SAM and STANCIL, because his hand was too unsteady.
Missouri died of a stroke at home on Aug. 23, 1928. Sam went to Missouri's coffin and kissed her goodbye. She was buried beside her children Bertie (1894–1897), Davie Stancil (1900-1900) and Jesse Stancil (1906-1906) at the Howell-Stancil-Hawley Cemetery in Wilson County. The scene was very moving, and the pallbearers were overcome with sadness.
Sam's health declined steadily after Missouri's death, and he went to live with his daughter Annie until his death on Nov. 30, 1930. He was buried in the Howell-Stancil-Hawley Cemetery, beside his beloved wife Missouri.
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