Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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    Jacob Sammons (1752–1815)

    BIRTH: 8 Apr 1752, Marbletown, Ulster, New York, USA
    DEATH: 4 Nov 1815, Geddes, Onondaga County, New York, USA
    FATHER: Sampson Sammons (1722–1796)
    MOTHER: Rachel Schoonmaker (1726–1822)
    SPOUSE: Eva Veeder (1761–1834)

    When Jacob Sammons was born on April 8, 1752, in Marbletown, New York, his father, Sampson, was 29 and his mother, Rachel, was 25. He married Eva Veeder on July 2, 1777, in Fonda, New York. He served in the American Revolution as a Lieutenant. They had 12 children in 23 years. He died on November 4, 1815, in Onondaga, New York, at the age of 63, and was buried in Westvale, New York.

    His story

    Jacob Sammons was born in 1752 in the Dutch‑settled Mohawk Valley of New York, a frontier region defined by its river farms, fortified churches, and tightly interwoven families. He was the son of Sampson Sammons, part of a longstanding Dutch‑American community whose daily life blended English and Dutch language, customs, and faith. Jacob grew up among the Fondas, Veeders, Putmans, Gardiniers, and Van Eps families—names that formed the social fabric of the valley long before the Revolution.

    In 1777, at twenty‑five, Jacob married Eva Janse Veeder, born in 1761 to one of the oldest and most influential Dutch families in the region. Their marriage was recorded in the Dutch Reformed Church, and that same year they baptized their first child, Simson, in Schenectady. The witnesses included members of both the Sammons and Veeder families, reflecting the deep roots and strong kinship networks that shaped their world. But 1777 was also the year the Revolutionary War reached the Mohawk Valley with full force, turning familiar landscapes into contested ground.

    As the conflict intensified, Jacob entered military service and became a lieutenant in Colonel Marinus Willett’s Regiment of New York State Levies. Willett’s men were the backbone of the valley’s defense, fighting in the Battle of Johnstown in 1781, pursuing Loyalist and Iroquois raiders, and responding to constant alarms along the frontier. Their service was harsh and personal—protecting their own farms, neighbors, and families. Jacob’s role as an officer placed him at the center of this struggle, and his service is preserved today in the records of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

    After the war, Jacob returned to civilian life and to the responsibilities of a growing family. Between 1777 and 1801, he and Eva raised twelve children: Simson, Rachel, Catrina, Elizabeth, Johannes, Frederick, Simeon, Thomas, Eva, Mary, and Benjamin. These children married into other Mohawk Valley families and, like many in their generation, later moved westward into Oneida County as New York’s interior opened to settlement. Their lives appear in county histories, church records, and DAR lineages, carrying the Sammons and Veeder names into the nineteenth century.

    Jacob lived to see the Mohawk Valley transformed from a war‑scarred frontier into a corridor of farms, roads, and new communities. He died in 1815 at the age of sixty‑three, leaving behind a large family and a legacy rooted in service, resilience, and the deep traditions of the Dutch Reformed community. Eva survived him by nearly twenty years, passing in 1834. Through their children and grandchildren, the story of Jacob Sammons became part of the broader history of the Mohawk Valley and the settlement of central New York—a story of endurance, family, and the quiet strength of those who built new lives in the aftermath of revolution.

    Military Service

    Lieutenant Jacob Sammons (1752–1815), son of Sampson Sammons of the Mohawk Valley, served as an officer in Colonel Marinus Willett’s Regiment of New York State Levies during the later years of the Revolutionary War. The Levies were short‑term state troops raised to reinforce the Continental Army and defend New York’s vulnerable frontier.

    Stationed in the Mohawk and Schoharie Valleys, Jacob took part in the defense of frontier settlements, garrison duty at key posts such as Fort Plain and Fort Rensselaer, and active field operations against Loyalist and Iroquois raiders. As a lieutenant, he would have led detachments on patrol, responded to alarms, and protected civilians during repeated incursions.

    Jacob’s regiment fought under Willett at the Battle of Johnstown on 25 October 1781, the last major engagement of the war in New York, and participated in the subsequent pursuit of Major John Ross and Walter Butler through the wilderness. These actions helped break the back of organized Loyalist resistance in the region and brought a measure of security back to the devastated Mohawk frontier.

    After the war, Jacob carried that experience into civilian life, eventually dying in Geddes, New York, in 1815. His service as a lieutenant in the New York Levies is recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and his memory was preserved in later family accounts—including the obituary of his granddaughter, Maria Louise (Sammons) Ellithorpe, who proudly recalled him as a Revolutionary patriot of the Mohawk Valley.

    Research identifying the ancestral line between Edmund Sammons and Sampson Sammons

    Research by Harold Staggs revealed that Edmund Sammons and Harriet Connor were the parents of George B. Sammons. However, he was unable to identify the ancestral line between Edmund Sammons and Sampson Sammons. My research suggests that the ancestral line is

    Sampson Sammons (1721–1796) → Jacob Sammons (1752–1815) → Frederick Sammons (1789–1847) → Edmund Sammons (1814–1885)

    A compiled lineage published by the State of Illinois, Daughters of the American Revolution, in The Vallandigham and The Sammons Families, identifies Frederick Sammons (1789–1847) as a son of Jacob Sammons (born 23 April 1752) and his wife Eva Veeder, and places Jacob as a son of Sampson Sammons (1721–1796) and Rachel Schoonmaker. This DAR‑endorsed lineage is consistent with independent evidence: Jacob and Eva are documented in Schenectady and Mohawk Valley Dutch Reformed Church records as a married couple with children baptized between 1777 and the mid‑1780s, and the naming of a son Frederick aligns with established Dutch naming customs in the Sammons family. Further, Frederick Sammons appears in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, records with his wife Sarah Hueston (1794–1872), and their son Edmund Sammons (1814–1885) is documented in census, probate, and cemetery records, consistently residing in proximity to other known descendants of Jacob and Eva. The convergence of the DAR‑compiled lineage with the geographic, naming, and cluster evidence from primary records provides a coherent and well‑supported genealogical argument that Frederick is correctly placed as a son of Jacob Sammons and Eva Veeder, and that he, in turn, is the father of Edmund Sammons, husband of Harriett C. Connor (1824–1872).

    See a more detailed explanation of the research and conclusions.

    Legacy of Frederick Sammons

    Parents

    Father: Sampson Sammons (1722–1796)

    Mother: Rachel Schoonmaker (1726–1822)

    Married

    Eva Veeder (1761–1834) married on 2 Jul 1777 in Fonda, Montgomery, New York, USA

    Children

    • Simson Sammons (1778–1778)
    • Rachel Sammons (1779–1830)
    • Catrina Sammons (1781–1845)
    • Elizabeth Sammons (1784–1877)
    • Johannes Sammons (1786–?)
    • Frederick Sammons (1789–1848)
    • Abijah Sammons (1790–?)
    • Simeon Sammons (1792–1859)
    • Thomas Sammons (1794–1876)
    • Eva Sammons (1796–?)
    • Mary Sammons (1799–1875)
    • Benjamin Sammons (1801–1890)

    Documents

    Relation of Edmund Sammons to Steven Barry Staggs: maternal 4th great-grandfather

    Page last updated April 20, 2026

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