Misc. Notes
Spouses
Birth17 Apr 1759, Preston, New London Co, CT
Death15 Apr 1816, Bellefonte, Center Co, PA
Misc. Notes
Samuel lived in Preston for three years after his marriage. In June, 1789, he purchased a large tract of land in Wayne Co, Penn., and became the first actual settler in Mt. Pleasant township of said county (for a time called Stantonville). He had previously done some surveying in that section for Mr. William Cooper of Cooperstown, NY. His purchase was 322 acres, for which he paid £322 to Thomas Rogers of Philadelphia, for whom Copper acted as agent. The next day, June 30, 1789, he bought nearly 3,000 acres of William Cooper, who in that sale acted as agent for Thomas Franklin, William and Andrew Craig and others. In June of 1790, he began to work the land, and he brought his family there April 10, 1791. His daughter was the first girl born in the settlement on 26 Aug 1791. The next winter he and his whole family nearly perished through starvation and sickness, but relief came at last in the person of a hunter, Mr. Frederick Coates, whose dogs chased a deer near Samuel's cabin. When, in after years, Samuel kept a tavern in Belmont, the horns of that deer where nailed to the top of his sign-post. In physical aspect Samuel Stanton was tall, broad-shouldered, heavy, but not corpulent. He had a light complexion, soft blue eyes, very light-brown hair and whiskers verging a little to the sandy shade. In temperament he was sanguine, his imagination was lively and his intellect well developed. His powers of ocncentration were almost too well developed, for if absorbed in a book he became oblivious to all the rest of the world. He was said to have read over 2,000 volumes, ocncerning the contents of which he could converse intelligently. Socially he was free, affable, entertaining, and serious rather than jovial; he was very inquisitive, desiring to learn all he could, and he always had a great variety of anecdotes to tell. In 1796 he was appointed justice of the peace, his home then being in Northampton Co.; in 1798 Wayne Co. was organized and he was one of the commissioners to locate the seat of justice and build the court-house. In Oct. 1814, he was appointed associate county judge, and held that office until he moved away. Mr. Stanton had some aspirations towards poetry, and he wrote more than fifty hymns, some of which had a place in the hymn books used by the Free Communion Baptists, of whom he was one. Near the close of his life he moved to the western part of Pennsylvania. He had been appointed commissioner of a State road in that section; this office gave him some business in Harrisburg. Taking his family he went to the west branch of the Susquehanna; left them to proceed on their way while he went to Harrisburg, expecting to meet them later. He stopped in Bellefonte, Center Co., to visit his friend Judge Burnside, and there suddenly died, April 15, 1816.
Marriage3 Dec 1786, Preston, New London Co, CT