Sams Genealogy - VA, NC, TN, KY, IL

Marty and Karla Grant

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Welcome to my Sams genealogy pages. I am interested in the Sams families primarily of North Carolina. They originated in Virginia and also lived in Tennessee as well as other states.

Sams was not among the 1000 most common surnames in the United States in either 2000 or 2010, thus meaning it’s an uncommon surname.

My most recent Sams ancestor is my five times great grandmother, Lavina Sams, born 1786 in Washington Co., NC (now TN). She married Jesse Carter in 1805 in Buncombe Co., NC where they remained until the 1820s when they moved to Rabun Co., GA. She died there in 1856, he in 1871. Lavina is a likely child of:

William Sams, born ca 1752, possibly in Halifax Co., VA, now Henry Co., VA. He married Martha Edwards before ca 1778 in that same general part of south-central Virginia, perhaps in Pittsylvania County, which was formed from Halifax or in Henry. William and Martha moved from Virginia to Washington Co., NC (now TN) in the 1780s. They moved from there to Burke (later Buncombe) Co., NC by 1792. They remained there perhaps a decade then moved to Kentucky. Their final move was to Union Co., IL where both died, she in 1824, he sometime after 1828.

William Sams is likely the son of an older William Sams (1717-c1779) and wife Mary. They lived in Essex and Spotsylvania Co., VA and moved to Lunenburg by 1749 in the section that became Halifax in 1752, then became Pittsylvania in 1767, then finally Henry in 1776.

William Sams is a proven son of James Sams (c1680s-1726) and Katherine Alden, of Essex and Spotsylvania Co., VA.

There are two good Sams books out there. One, The Sams Family of Virginia by Crawford F. Sams, Conway Cone Sams and Robert Dempsey Hackett, 1981, and two, The Sons and Daughters of Sams, by Beck Sams, 2006.

Revised: February 21, 2025

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