Ezekiel Silas Sampson

Ezekiel Silas Sampson, was born in Huron County, Ohio, on the 6th of December 1831, and is the son of Ezekiel Sampson and Polly nee Merifield. He is the youngest of a family of eight children. From 1850 till 1853 he attended the high school of Professor S. S. Howe, at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. In addition to the management of his academy, the professor published a newspaper, and gave his students the privilege of learning to set type, an opportunity of which young Sampson availed himself until he became so proficient at the business that during the last two years of his stay at the academy he was able, by working Saturdays, and mornings and evenings, to pay his board and tuition fees. In the autumn of 1853 he entered the sophomore class of Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois, and passed through the year on very scanty means, working to help pay his expenses, when the work could be procured. His father died during this year, which terminated his educational privileges. In the autumn of 1854, he commenced the study of law in the office of Messrs. Enoch Eastman and S. A. Rice, then in the practice of law at Oskaloosa. In the year following he was admitted to the bar, and in the spring of 1856 moved to Sigourney (which has since been his home) and entered upon the practice of his profession. In the month of August following he was elected county prosecuting attorney, and held the position till January, 1859, carrying on a general civil practice at the same time. Immediately after the fall of Fort Sumter, in April 1861, he volunteered with a sufficient number of others from the county, to form a company, which was tendered to the governor on the first call for troops, but on account of the many earlier offers of others, more convenient of access, the company was not actually mustered into the service till the 15th of July 1861, when it became company F, 5th Iowa Infantry. Our subject served as captain of this company till September 1862, when he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the regiment, and served in that capacity until mustered out in September 1864. He participated in all the marches, fatigues, hardships and privations, and shared in the triumphs and glories achieved by his gallant command. So pleased and filled with admiration were the officers of his regiment by his courage and skill, that as a fitting expression of their sentiments with regard to his conduct while in command, that they had manufactured a magnificent and costly sword, with appropriate devices, which was presented to him with an address soon after. Among the devices on the one side of the weapon is an illustration of the regiment in battle, -the colonel's horse expiring on the field, while he on foot is issuing his commands' to the regiment; on the other side is the following inscription: Presented to Lieutenant-Colonel E. S. Sampson by the officers of the 5th regiment Iowa Infantry, in token of our appreciation of his gallant services in the fields of Jackson, Champion Hills and Vicksburg.
This well-earned and highly complimentary memento of his gallant services to his country, from his co-patriots, will be a source of just pride and gratification to his descendants to the remotest generation, and will be cherished by them as a priceless souvenir. On retiring from the army he entered again upon the practice of the law in partnership with G. D. Woodin, Esq., and soon took a leading rank at the bar. In the autumn of 1865 he was elected to represent his county in the state senate, and served in the session of 1866. In the autumn of the latter year he was elected judge of the sixth judicial district of the state, and served in that capacity till the end of 1874, being reelected in the autumn of 1869 without opposition. In this situation he won and maintained the reputation of being one of the foremost jurists in the state, receiving on his retirement the most Pattering testimonials as to his ability and impartiality from the bar of every county in the district. While yet on the bench, and after having declined to become a candidate before the convention, he was nominated to represent the sixth district of Iowa in the forty-fourth congress. He accepted the nomination with the understanding that he would serve out his term as judge, and was elected by a majority of two thousand seven hundred votes. He was reflected to congress in 1876, by a majority of four thousand votes. In appearance he is quite youthful, fair and ruddy complexion, blue eyes, and light hair unmixed, as yet, by a single thread of gray. In the year 1855 he married Miss Eunice Ellen, daughter of William McCann, formerly of Indiana, afterward of Keokuk county, Iowa. They have had a family of seven children, all living, two sons and five daughters. The sons are Lee and Edmund; the daughters are Flora, Leona, Clara, Ellen and Lavina. Flora is the wife of C. M. Brown, Esq., an attorney residing in Sigourney; the others are still at home, but preparing for lives of usefulness and honor.