Sampson Fleming was a miller, blacksmith, and farmer. He was married to Martha "Patsey" Nance Nov. 28, 1816. She died around Dec. 1829- early 1830. Sampson Fleming , it is said, could predict the weather with incredible accuracy. He also carved little soapstone rocks with symbols , letters, and pictures, initialed them with "SF" and placed them on stumps and on the ground all over his community . Sampson is said to have went crazy after his wife died. Sometimes he functioned quite well, operating his mill and shop , being possessed of his faculties, and buying and selling land, and even entering into an agreement with his son Lemuel to build and operate a sawmill on his land. But sometimes he would descend into a very bad mental state, one that would require his family members to lock him in his bedroom or even tie him to his bed. Sometimes when he would go into these mental episodes he would go to his blacksmith shop and beat and bang on things. Although the rock carving begun before Patsey died, many of Sampson's eccentric antics, i.e. the weather predictions, the mental episodes, and the carving and placement of small carved stones all over the community , lead his superstitious neighbors to believe he was a witch; thus , many of his neighbors were afraid of him. The untimely deaths of Sampson's sons Littleton, who had moved out of his father's home, and his son Isaac , who died in the Civil War, may have compounded Sampson's issues. Upwards of 50 of these stones exist today in private collections, and some believe thousands may exist. These stones show that while perhaps mentally troubled, Sampson was very creative and talented and that the stones provided an artistic outlet for him. When Sampson died in 1877, he was called a Lunatic in official court estate papers. Sampson's mental health issues may have not been limited to him. His widowed daughter, Sarah Fleming Jackson, moved to Iredell County and was later institutionalized at the state hospital for the insane at Morganton in the 1890's. Sampson's grandson, John Cartwright, killed Joel Caudle in 1894 by gunshot and later died in the jail at Yadkinville awaiting trial. Sampson's exact place of burial is unknown at this time, but we would love to find out.
I have sent out requests to link known burials of Sampson's children to this memorial. The manager of the memorial for Sampson's daughter Sarah (Mem.# 25312970) had asked on Sarah's memorial for identifying family information for her, which I provided, but stated she did not link to "Unknown Burials". The main purpose of this memorial is to connect the known burials of Sampson's parents and siblings with the known burials of his children . If Sampson's grave is located, this memorial will of course be updated with that location.