Elmer D. Samson

ELMER D. SAMSON, present representative of Gove County in the State Legislature, is a prominent young business man of Quinter, and has spent nearly all his life in that section of the Sunflower State.

Mr. Samson is a son of R. H. Samson, who for a quarter of a century was identified with banking at Quinter as a pioneer in that business and is still living there. R. H. Samson was born in Lincolnshire, England, September 20, 1851. His father, Robert Samson, was born in the same shire of England, grew up and married there, followed farming and in the spring of 1852 brought his family to the United States, lived in New York four years and then located at Plattville in Grant County, Wisconsin. He continued farming there five years, later lived near Darlington in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, and finally moved to a farm at Shullsburg, Wisconsin, where he died. After coming to America he voted with the republican party and was always a member of the Church of England. Robert Samson married Ann Marshall, who was born in Lincolnshire, England, and died in Shullsburg, Wisconsin. They had the following children: Emma, who married Joseph Colbeck, a farmer at Shullsburg, Wisconsin, and both are now deceased; R. H. Samson; Minnie, wife of Mr. Richards, a merchant at Shullsburg, Wisconsin; Annie, wife of William Wurm, a retired farmer living in Shullsburg; Rebecca, wife of Charles Worm, a farmer in Minnesota; Sarah, wife of Henry Wurm, a retired farmer at Shullsburg; Marshall, a carpenter living at Ocalla, Florida.

R. H. Samson was brought to America in early infancy and received his education in public and private schools at Shullsburg, Wisconsin. He lived on his father's farm to the age of twenty-five, and in 1877 came to Kansas and was a farmer in Marshall County for a year or two. He removed in 1879 to Pawnee County, Nebraska, and in 1881 engaged in general merchandising at Liberty, Nebraska.

On moving to Quinter in 1887 the senior Mr. Samson took an active part in the pioneer business activities of that town, establishing the Bank of Quinter as a private institution. He owned an interest in that bank until 1911. In the meantime it was reorganized as the State Bank of Quinter, and he continued as cashier until 1911. He owns 4,000 acres of land, has been an extensive cattle man, but is now practically retired. He served as county surveyor two years and in politics is a republican.

At Shullsburg, Wisconsin, R. H. Samson married Miss Louisa H. Wurm, daughter of August and Henrietta (Just) Wurm, both now deceased. Her father was a farmer at Shullsburg. R. H. Samson and wife have two children, Elmer D. and Henry E. The latter is an electrical engineer at Amarilla,[sic] Texas.

Elmer D. Samson was born at Liberty, Nebraska, September 27, 1884, and came to Quinter when about three years old. He attended public schools there and completed the junior year in the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan. He left college in 1905 and while there became affiliated with the Sigma Nu fraternity. In 1906 he entered the lumber and implement business and has built up large and important connections in those lines at Quinter and over a large surrounding territory. He is a director in the First National Bank at Quinter and owns two farms, one of 160 acres north of Quinter and one of 480 acres south of the town.

Mr. Samson has always taken an active interest in local affairs. For several terms he was a member of the Quinter City Council. He was elected to represent his district in the State Legislature in 1914, serving through the session of 1915, was re-elected for the session of 1917, and again in 1918. He made a thorough study of all the measures before these important sessions, and was the author of the Grasshopper Law, a bill which passed both Houses and provides for the extermination of the grasshopper, one of the ancient pests of Kansas. He is a republican, a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is past master of Quinter Lodge of Masons and is also affiliated with Ellis Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Hays Commandery of Knights Templar, and Isis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Salina. Other fraternal connections are with Quinter lodges of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America and Ancient Order of United Workmen.

In 1908, at Manhattan, Kansas, Mr. Samson married Miss Rees Washington, daughter of George and Annie (Inskeep) Washington. Her parents still live at Manhattan, her father being a retired stockman. Mr. and Mrs. Samson have one daughter, Virginia C., born September 2, 1912.

Pages 2207-2208.