Sams Graveyard – Estill County, Kentucky

A Small Cemetery Preserved by Records

Sams Graveyard was described in a 1980 cemetery reading as lying above Hargett-Parvin Road near the railroad underpass, on land then owned by Mark Hounchell and close to the former Sams Post Office. The readers also noted several unmarked graves.

No cemetery photograph is currently known to this project. Its story survives instead through the 1980 transcription, Kentucky death records, newspaper notices, and the old maps that preserve the name of the surrounding Sams community.

View the 1980 cemetery reading Explore Sams on the interactive map

Recorded locationAbove Hargett-Parvin Road near the railroad underpass

Cemetery copied11 September 1980

Documented burialsSeven in the 1980 transcription, plus one identified by death record

Unmarked gravesSeveral were reported in 1980

Burial Records

Seven names and dates were copied by Tracy R. Patrick and David Allen on 11 September 1980. An eighth burial is identified by a 1917 Kentucky death certificate that specifically names Sams Graveyard. Record links are included where supporting material has been located.

Surname	Given name	Born	Died	Notes	Evidence
Allen	Noama E.	28 Nov 1889*	26 Oct 1918	Wife of William A. Allen; daughter of John Sams and Amanda Abner.	Death record
Allen	Grant	13 Jun 1903	4 Jan 1904	Infant son of Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Allen in the cemetery transcription.	Newspaper notice
Hall	Nannie B.	20 Jul 1862	31 May 1895	—	—
Sams	A. E.	20 Apr 1835	27 May 1878	The 1878 county death register supports the recorded death date but does not name the burial place.	Death register
Sams	John	28 Dec 1833	16 Oct 1897	A Masonic emblem was noted during the 1980 reading.	Newspaper report
Sams	Leroy	8 May 1807	27 Feb 1883	—	—
Sams	Naomi J.	20 May 1810	3 May 1882	Wife of Leroy Sams.	—
Sams	Unnamed stillborn son	1917	1917	Son of Robert R. Sams and Bessie Stone. This burial is documented by a death certificate but was not included among the seven names copied in 1980; it may represent one of the graves then described as unmarked, although that cannot be proven.	Death record

*Date discrepancy: The 1980 cemetery reading gives Noama E. Allen's birth year as 1889. Her Kentucky death certificate records 28 November 1890. Both readings are retained here so future researchers can evaluate the original evidence.

A Story Preserved in the Newspaper

Newspapers sometimes preserve details that cannot be found on a gravestone or in a cemetery transcription. One report records the unusual circumstances surrounding John Sams's death in 1897.

John Sams: A Death Remembered in the Newspaper

The Spout Spring Times reported that John Sams became mysteriously ill and died on 16 October 1897. Two people were arrested and later discharged. After an inquest, the jury concluded that he died from poison taken from an unknown source, and organs were sent to Lexington for further analysis.

Read the 1897 report

Sources and Research Notes

Tracy R. Patrick, James Crowe, Ellen Rogers, Diane Rogers, and others, More Cemeteries of Estill County, Kentucky (Irvine, Kentucky: Powell Press, 1981), “Sams Cemetery.” The cemetery was copied by Tracy R. Patrick and David Allen on 11 September 1980.
Rand McNally, Kentucky map, 1905; used here to identify the historical Sams community and surrounding places.
Kentucky death certificate for Noama Allen, 1918; records burial at “Sams Graveyard.”
Kentucky death certificate for the stillborn child of Robert R. Sams and Bessie Stone, 1917; records burial at Sams Graveyard.
Estill County death register for A. E. Sams, 1878.
“Died from Poisoning,” The Spout Spring Times, 23 October 1897, page 2.
Infant death notice for the child of Mr. and Mrs. Harg Allen, The Clay City Times, 7 January 1904, page 2.