Samuel S. Ireland was born March 11, 1820 in Tennessee to Daniel Ireland and Margaret Cohorn. The 1850 Federal Census located him as a 29 year old male living with his parents and siblings in District 5, Robertson County, Tennessee. On May 27, 1855 he married Eliza Jane Barham, daughter of Thomas N. Barham and Elizabeth Perry.
The 1860 census found Samuel, age 40 & Eliza Jane, age 37 living in the Western Division of Robertson County, TN. living nearby his parents’ home. Samuel was listed as a carpenter with a real estate value of $100 and personal estate of $200. A Federal tax assessment record from two years later in 1862 reflected their property ownership of 5 acres valued at $150.
By the time an Illinois State census was taken around the end of the Civil War in 1865 the family had relocated to Illinois and were living in Township 9, Range 2 or what is now West Marion Township. An 1868 Williamson County tax assessment schedule reflected their real estate value within the Marion School District at $30.
The 1870 federal census continued to locate the family in the same township which likely meant that they were living in Marion on the west side of the public square. The census listed Samuel as a 50 year old carpenter with Eliza Jane aged 47. Their real estate value was listed at $800 and personal estate at $40.
When Marshal Crain was found guilty of the murder of two people in 1875 at the end of the county’s Bloody Vendetta and was scheduled to be the first man in Williamson County to hang, Samuel S. Ireland was contracted to build the scaffold. He did so on Jan 18 & 19, 1876 by cutting a square hole out of the floor of the then two story county jail located on S. Madison St. creating a trap door that would allow Crain to drop through to the first floor.
When a fire broke out in 1877 just off the square in Marion, men were noted to have torn down Ireland’s carpenter shop on W. Union St. between N. Van Buren St. and what is now Print Alley (then Jackson Ave.) to create a fire break.
By the 1880 census Samuel was 60 and still working as a carpenter, Eliza Jane was 57 and the couple were still living inside Marion.
On April 27, 1885, Eliza Jane passed away and was buried in Barham cemetery. Samuel remarried again the following year on March 3, 1886 to Mrs. Mary Watson Weaver, 59 year old daughter of Ehud Watson and Susan Weakley. At the time, Samuel S., was 66 years old.
In 1886 and 1887 Ireland served as alderman to the city of Marion under Mayor James C. Jackson.
In 1892, Samuel S. Ireland died on November 8th and was buried next to his first wife Eliza Jane in Barham Cemetery. Ireland was a member of the local Masonic Lodge #89.
In 1907, Samuel’s widow, Mary, was living at 310 N. Madison St. She passed away at the home of her nephew, George Watson, near Hudgens, south of Marion in November 1914 at the age of 83 and a half. Her burial location was not found.
(Sources: Marion Evening Post, Marion Monitor, Marion city directories, FindaGrave.com, The Barham Connection book, WC Marriage records, Williamson County and Federal Tax records, Federal Census records. Compiled by Sam Lattuca 8/11/2023)