Cemetery transcription by members of the Jacksonville Area Genealogical and Historical Society


The city of Jacksonville is almost within sight of Sample Cemetery. To locate this small cemetery in relation to Jacksonville, drive across the Myrtle Street bridge over Mauvaisterre Creek. Drive one and four-tenths miles and, looking to the left, a small grove of walnut trees will be seen near the middle of a field. These trees mark the site of Sample Cemetery. An ornate iron fence once surrounded the cemetery, but it has been stolen a section at a time. Bricks are scattered along the east side of the burial ground. These bricks are believed to be remnants of a still that was supposedly once located in the adjacent field. Several tombstones are known to be missing from this graveyard. A hired man once removed several tombstones, using them as weights to make his disc or harrow heavier. They were never returned to the cemetery and their present location is unknown. Legal description of Sample Cemetery is in the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of Section 10 Township 15 N Range 10 W.

* = No Stone Found


Words in brackets [ ] or parenthesis ( )are not on stone.

Bransitter, Elizabeth Died 25 Mar 1856 Age 50 Yr 6 Mo Wife of D. Branstiter

Hamilton, Benjamin 11 May 1790 - 13 Dec 1865 Aged 75 Yr 7 Mo 2 Da

Sample, Ann Died 7 Feb 1877 Age 18 Yr 1 Mo Dau of F. & M.A. Sample

Sample, Dorothy E. 10 Mar 1839 - 22 Feb 1891 Wife of F.M. Sample

Sample, Francis M. 26 Feb 1841 -

Sample, Hettie Bell Died 23 Jan 1877 8 Yr 10 Mo 2 Da Dau of F & M.A. Sample
"It was an angel that visited the green earth And took the flower away."

Sample, John Died 19 Feb 1869 51 Yr 2 Mo 27 Da

Sample, Sallie Died 22 July 1868 58 Yr 8 Mo 2 Da Wife of John Sample

Sample, Mary Died 15 July 1863/8 Age 5 Mo 1 Da

Sample, Albert Died 8 Aug 1872 Age 8 Mo 22 Da

Sample, Susan Died 6 Jan 1863 Age 10 Mo 2 Da Dau of J. & S. Sample

* Schofield, Mrs. Dick Died in Sept. 1880
(This death taken from a Jacksonville Journal clipping. No tombstone is here.)

Footstones here are marked: M.J.W. R.D.S. E.A.S M.H. J.S. and M.A.B.S.

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