Donna Biggers

Samuel Bass was the son of Daniel Bass (the son of John Bass Sr. and Sarah Fender) and Elizabeth Jane Sheeks (the daughter of George Sheeks & Elizabeth Canote). Elizabeth died when Sam was ten, and his father married Mrs. Margaret Newkirk, only to die himself two and a half years later. Along with his other underage siblings, Sam was put under the guardianship of his mother's brother, Uncle David L. Sheeks, who had a big family of his own. Sam was to receive one-twelfth of his parents's estate when he was twenty-one. When Sam was eighteen, afer an argument with his uncle about his wages, his gambling, etc., he left the family and travelled to Texas, working for others who could help him get there.

Karen Thompson in her book ROUND ROCK, TEXAS: FROM COWBOYS TO COMPUTERS disputes the authenticity of this picture, which was on a wanted poster, and has been seen in several other places, as being that of Sam Bass, instead claiming that the only authentic one is a group picture including Sam, John E. Gardiner, and Joe and Joel Collins, believed to have been taken in Dallas, TX in 1876, owned by Robert G. McCubbin, Jr., and is in Rick Miller's SAM BASS AND GANG, and in her book [on p. 180].