Samuel served during the War of 1812. The 1850 census shows him as born in New York and his wife born in Pennsylvania. Mary E. Barnum, aged 4, born in Virginia was living with them at that time; no relationship is given. He was coal miner, who had his own coal mine in New Geneva, Pennsylvania and delivered coal to his customers in a horse-drawn wagon. His granddaughter, Nellie Huhn, recalled having heard from relatives who knew him that Samuel was a big man, tall and "strong as an ox," with a large frame and big hands and feet. He and his wife, Rosanna, were first buried in the Old Stone Churchyard at New Geneva, but were later reburied in the new Cedar Grove Cemetery. In 1999 his great-great-granddaughter and family still owned some of the property in New Geneva that had originally belonged to Samuel.