The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 571 WILLIAM SAMPLE. William Sample, postmaster of Roslyn, was born in England, March 2, 1862, a son of William and Thomasine (Dickinson) Sample. The father went to the gold fields in the Cariboo during the period of pioneer development and mining excitement there and about the year 1864 became a resident of Illinois, to which state he took his family in 1869. He operated a coal mine at Streator, Illinois, and later became mine manager for Colonel Plumb of California. His wife died in Illinois, and after residing for a time in California, Mr. Sample returned to the former state, where his last days were spent. He was a mining man of wide experience, prominently known in that connection in various sections of the country. William Sample is indebted to the public school system of Illinois for the educational opportunities which he enjoyed. In 1884 he went to Utah, where he worked in the mines, and later he was employed in the mines of Wyoming. In 1887 he made his way to California, where he spent a year as a mine worker, and for two years he was a resident of Wyoming. He next removed to Utah and in 1892 took up his abode in Roslyn, Washington, where he followed mining until March, 1916, when he was appointed to the position of postmaster, in which office he has served since, making a creditable record by the systematic and thorough manner in which he discharges the duties of the position. In 1889 Mr. Sample was married to Miss Ellen McDonald, a native of Pennsylvania and of English parentage. She is a daughter of James and Susan (Iles) McDonald and by her marriage she has become the mother of seven children: Robert, deceased; Earl, a newspaper editor residing in Montana; William, a member of the United States army; Mary, the wife of Gerald Beck, who is now, with the United State navy, while his wife is at home with her parents; Joseph, James and Sarah, who are also under the parental roof. In his political views Mr. Sample was a republican until President Cleveland's first administration and has since been a democrat. He has served on the board of examiners for mine inspectors but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. In his present position, however, he is making a creditable record. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and in the latter has filled all of the chairs. He enjoys the respect and good will of his brethren of these fraternities, and in Roslyn, where he has now long made his home, he has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance. ******************************** Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.