My Genealogy Hound

Samuel Jackson Steger. Among those who deservedly rank among the progressive and rising agriculturists of Lafayette County, is the above mentioned gentleman, who has resided here since 1858, and is now the owner of eighty acres of as good land as there is in the county. He is one of twelve children, and was born in Abbeville District, S. C, on July 11, 1817, being a son of Robert M. and Lucy (Burton) Steger, natives of Virginia, the former born in 1782, of Irish parentage. The father was a farmer and mechanic by occupation, and moved to South Carolina shortly after his marriage, which took place in his native State. In 1826 he moved to Georgia, choosing a location in Pike County, where he made his home until death removed him in 1863. In addition to his other pursuits, he was engaged in preaching the gospel, being a minister of the Methodist Episcopal persuasion, and in all his various occupations he was very successful, and had accumulated considerable property before the war, owning some 300 or 400 acres of land and about thirty slaves. The mother was a daughter of David Burton, of Virginia, a physician and a man of considerable wealth. She was a devoted member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and departed this life in 1873, having borne twelve children, three of whom only survive: Elizabeth Alvine (now Mrs. Allen, a resident of Georgia), Samuel, and Susan (widow of Dr. Jordan, of Marion County Ga.). Samuel Steger was brought to Georgia by his parents in his ninth year, and there he grew to manhood. He came to Arkansas in 1848, and the first year located in Saline County, but afterward moved to Pike, and later to Hempstead County. He was engaged in overseeing a large plantation in this latter county for a number of years, and in 1858 moved to this county. In 1862 he enlisted with Crawford’s regiment of Confederate cavalry, in which he served until the close of the war, participating in a great many engagements, the principal ones being Poison Springs, all the battles fought on Price’s raid through Missouri, Pilot Knob, and three days skirmishing about Kansas City, and in December, 1804, he returned home, and resumed his farming operations. He also took part in the Florida and Indian War of 1836, enlisting when a boy of nineteen years, and serving until the close of the war, some five or six months in all. In 1838 he was married to Miss Harriet McKemsey, who was born on April 4, 1820, in Tattnall County, Ga., being a daughter of Daniel and Alphric (White) McKemsey, natives of South Carolina and Georgia, respectively. Her paternal grandfather was born in Scotland, and emigrated to this country before the Revolutionary War. Mr. Steger and wife were the parents of one child, Matilda C., who died in 1861 in her sixteenth year. They are both worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and are earnest workers for the cause of Christianity. Mr. Steger has taken the Chapter degree in the Masonic order, and belongs to the County Wheel and the Farmers’ Alliance. He was formerly an old line Whig in politics, but now votes the Democratic ticket.