Samuel Rhydon Mays was born in Madison County, Florida. His exact birth year is unsure. Various records indicate that he was born in 1843, 1844 and 1845. I believe that he was born in 1843 based on the ages of his older sister and younger brother. Sam moved to Grimes County, Texas in 1858 with his family and worked with his father as a cotton planter. When the civil war came he joined the 12th Texas Infantry Regiment and served until April/May 1865 when his unit was disbanded in Hemphill County, Texas adjacent to Grimes County. His Regiment served in the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas theater. He was wounded twice during the war in separate battles. After he returned from the war he married Amanda C. Houston in Grimes County, just before the Mays family moved to Dallas in 1868. Sam was a farmer in Dallas County while all other family members were in the merchant business. He is believed to have owned a farm near the present Fair Park area near his younger brother, William A. Mays who also farmed there until 1904. In about 1884 after the Enoch Mays estate was settled and his mother died, Sam moved near Crowley, Tarrant County, Texas where he farmed until 1913 about five miles north of the town on Sycamore Creek. In 1913, at the age of 69, he retired from farming and moved to the South side of Ft. Worth where he lived the rest of his life. He applied for a confederate pension in 1917 and finally in 1921 got his pension and all back pay. His paperwork had got lost. He was active in the United Confederate Veteran organization and attended many of their events. His photo is in the Dallas Morning News in 1925 when he attended such an event. After he moved to Ft. Worth in 1913, he worked briefly as a real estate dealer. Sam lost his wife Amanda in 1921, and lived with his daughter, Bessie B. Mays Whitley for the remainder of his life. He died at 3200 College Avenue in 1930 as one of the last civil war veterans in Ft. Worth. Sam does not have a separate grave marker but shares one with his wife.