William SAMPSON

Story

William Sampson was bapt. 1820 at Lelant Cornwall, parents Richard Sampson & Honor Richards. By 1830 his mother died and in 1840s there was widespread famine with the failure of the potato crop affecting not only Cornwall but the rest of the UK and the Continent. The British Govt. encouraged emigration to reduce the numbers out of work at home & ease the lack of workers overseas. William chose South Australia where work was assured at new copper finds, & at 27 was listed on the RAJAH arriving 1847 & he obtained work with the SA Mining Co. at Burra. In 1848 because labour was plentiful the mining company reduced wages & the miners went on a 4 month strike for enough money on which to live. However the company had the upper hand & the shareholders had no qualms in accepting their 800% dividends. (The mining company’s treatment was so shabby they even refused to look after the shepherd who made the original discovery of the rich ore in 1845 & only gave him $40 reward. Thomas Pickett died in 1851 in a vacant shepherd’s hut after falling into a fire when drunk within 3 miles of his fabulous discovery.)

In 1851 when gold was discovered interstate, the miners had no hesitation in leaving en masse, the workforce dropping from 1,000 to 60 & the mine & town closing for 3-4 years until they drifted back. William was in Burra in 1855 as he married Mary Hattam, born 1823 Kenwyn to parents Thomas Hattam & Jane Harpur. Mary & sister Agnes & family arrived in 1854 on the DAVID MALCOLM & after favourable reports the girls’ parents Thomas & Jane Hattam & siblings arrived 1855 on the AGINCOURT.

William & Mary had 5 children, 1 dying young, & by 1860 were living at Koonunga, 50 miles south, when their only daughter Jane was born, William’s occupation was ginger geer maker as his employer was a teetotaller. In 1861 copper was found at Moonta, 80 miles sw & miners flocked to this new field. In 1862 their 5th child was born & it was about this time they too went to the Moonta area as both the Kapunda & Burra mines were past their peak & where there were no thirsty miners there would be no call for the manufacture of ginger beer. William reverted to his previous occupation of a miner, working in Devon Consols, an ore crushing plant, & workers were still susceptible to lung diseases caused by long exposure to dust & foul air. He died of asthma in 1876 aged 56 & is buried in Kadina cem. Of their children –

In 1878 son William a blacksmith, married Emily Trenberth at Wallaroo & had 8 ch. (Emily, a nurse, died of TB in Boulder WA in 1902 when 45, William died in Parkside SA in 1935 when 78.)

In 1880 John, the eldest, a carpenter & builder at Kapunda, married Elizabeth Hitchens & they had 9 ch. (John died Mitcham SA in 1936 aged 81, Elizabeth in 1950 aged 87.) Later in 1880 Jane married Elisha Trenberth (Emily’s brother) & they had 10 ch. (Elisha died 1926 Kalgoorlie aged 67, Jane in 1936 in Subiaco WA. aged 76.) Edmund, the youngest & a painter, married 1897 Catherine Heaslip nee Smart, they had 3 ch. (Edmund died Enfield SA 1949 aged 87, Catherine 1951 aged 80.)

By this time Mary Sampson had been living for about 5 years next to her daughter Jane & Elisha Trenberth at Kapunda (near where Jane had been born 37 years before). Mary died in 1898 & a report said

Accident at Kapunda. Mrs Mary Sampson widow aged 78 was sitting near the fireplace one evening when a wind blew down the chimney & the fire ignited her long dress. She ran outside but her legs, arms & face were badly burnt & she died early next morning. Her grandson, living next door, had taken her tea in & lit her candle. She was sitting close to the fire warming herself, it was stormy & the wind was blowing down the chimney. He told her to keep back from the fire, & she shifted her chair back a little About 10 mins. later he heard screams, ran out & saw her in her back porch in flames. The bottom of her dress was alight & the wind was blowing it over her head, whereupon she fell down. His father Elisha put the fire out with some carpet & carried her onto a bed. The doctor saw her & knew it would be fatal. He attributed death to shock from burning.

Mary was buried at Kapunda.

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