Martin Wright SAMPSON

1866 - 1930

• Born	7 Sep 1866	Cincinnati, Ohio
  Gender	Male
  Died	22 Aug 1930	Latrobe, Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania
  Person ID	I6245	Johnson Hindin Tree
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2013

  
  

  Father	William S. SAMPSON, Jr.,   b. 16 May 1834,   d. 17 Jul 1900
  Mother	Virginia Ada WRIGHT,   b. 11 Aug 1836,   d. 4 Feb 1909
  Married	11 Sep 1865
  Family ID	F2535	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Julia Dauchy Pattison,   b. 20 May 1888,   d. Jan 1981
  Married	17 Dec 1910	Troy, New York
  Children	1. Stephen Hastings SAMPSON,   b. 1911, Ithaca, New York   2. Martin Wright SAMPSON,   b. 11 Jul 1914, Ithaca, New York ,   d. 6 Jun 1999, Roseville, Minnesota.   3. Margaret SAMPSON   4. Edward Coolidge SAMPSON,   b. 20 Dec 1920, Ithaca, New York ,   d. 4 Aug 2007
  Family ID	F2538	Group Sheet

  
  

• Notes

  The following obituary appeared in the Cornell Alumni News dated September 18, 1930 (vol. xxxiii, no.1): Martin Sampson Dies Head of English Department Since 1909 Organised Cornell Unit That Took Flag to Front in 1917 Martin Wright Sampson, professor of English in the College of Arts and Science since 1909, head of the English Department since then, and Goldwin Smith Professor of English Literature since 1912, died in Latrobe Hospital, Latrobe, Pa., on August 22 of a fractured skull suffered in an automobile accident the day before. He was sixty-three years of age. The accident occurred during a motor trip with his son, Stephen. They were on their way to Cincinnati, and on a steep mountain grade on the Lincoln Highway near Laughlintown, Pa., a sudden application of the brakes sent the car across the road into an embankment. Professor Sampson came to Cornell in 1908 as acting professor of English from Indiana University, and soon became one of the most prominent members of the Faculty. He was born in Cincinnati September 7, 1866, the son of William S. Sampson, Jr., and Virginia Ada (Wright) Sampson. He studied at the University of Munich and at the University of Cincinnati, where he took his A.B. and A.M. degrees. He did graduate work in Germany, France, England, and Ireland. From 1889 to 1891, he was first instructor and then assistant professor of English at the University of Iowa. During the following year he taught at Stanford. For the next thirteen years he was professor of English at Indiana. Professor Sampson made himself a part of Cornell in many ways, so much so that the Class of 1912. made him an honorary member, and he was always seen wearing the class costume at reunions. He edited a number of works in the field of English literature, notably the poems of Milton. He was well known for his original writings, including stories for children, plays, satires, and poetry. He was frequently asked to read from his own writings. A series of stories for boys and girls, in a volume entitled The Good Giant, appearing in 1928, was one of the popular juveniles of that year. Since January, he wrote for The Alumni News a column, "The Swinging Bridge.'' He was a founder of the Manuscript Club, made up of young writers, and was host to the group at his home each Saturday evening during the school year. He founded in 1909 the Sampson Fine Arts Prize, given annually to a student who showed the most intelligent appreciation of the graphic and plastic arts and of photography. In recent years, he conducted a reading course in English literature for students in the College of Engineering. This course was an innovation in the curriculum and met with great favor. During the war, Professor Sampson was instrumental in raising a fund for the Cornell unit of the American Ambulance Field Service. This group had the distinction of being the first to get to the front under the American flag. Just before his death, he completed editing Military Records of Cornell University in the World War. Professor Sampson was a joint author with E. O. Holland of a text book entitled Written and Oral Composition. He was a translator of Singer's Dresden Gallery, and editor of Milton's Lyric and Dramatic Poems, Plays of John Webster, Mrs. Gaskel's Cranford, Irving's Sketch Book, Milton's Minor Poems, Shake- speare's Two Gentlemen of Verona, Middleton's Plays, Selections from Milton, and James' Daisy Miller. He was also a contributor to literary journals, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Sigma, and Quill and Dagger. He was a trustee of Wells College. In 1910 Professor Sampson married Julia Dauchy Pattison of Troy, who sur- vives him. He also leaves four children, Stephen Hastings, Martin Wright, Margaret Virginia, and Edward Coolidge; and two brothers, Wright and William Sampson.