Sam Peckinpah

Birth Name: David Samuel Peckinpah

Date of Birth: February 21, 1925

Place of Birth: Fresno, California, United States

Date of Death: December 28, 1984

Place of Death: Inglewood, California, U.S.

Ethnicity: Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, German, Scottish, English, Welsh, distant Dutch, possibly French

Sam Peckinpah was a legendary American film director and screenwriter.

Sam was the son of Fern Louise (Church) and David Edward Peckinpah. He was married to Mexican actress Begoña Palacios, until his death. He had three children with his former wife, actress Marie Selland, and a daughter with Begoña.

Sam was said to have had Frisian and Native American ancestry. This does not appear to be accurate.

Sam’s patrilineal line can be traced to Georg Peter Beckenbach, a German emigrant, who was born, c. 1738, in Hesse, and to his wife Catherine Tullis.

Sam’s paternal grandfather was Charles Mortimer Peckinpah (the son of Thaddius/Thaddeus Rice Peckinpah and Elizabeth Edwards). Charles was born in Illinois. Thaddius was the son of John Peckinpaugh/Peckenpaugh and Christina/Christene Rice. Elizabeth was the daughter of Isaac Edwards and Rachel Rice. Charles’s parents were cousins.

Sam’s paternal grandmother was Isabelle/Isabella/Isabel J. Toner (the daughter of Hugh Toner and Margaret Boyd). Isabelle was born in Pennsylvania, to Northern Irish parents, from County Down, Ulster.

Sam’s maternal grandfather was Denver S. Church (Denver Samuel Church, the son of Emory Jesse Church and Catherine/Hellen M. Rutan). Denver was born in Folsom, California, and was a Superior Court judge and a Democratic U.S. Congressman from California, from March 4, 1913 to March 3, 1919, and again from March 4, 1933 to January 3, 1935. Emory was the son of Joshua Church, who was Scottish, and of Sophronia Shurtleff. Sam’s great-great-grandfather Joshua’s brother, Sam’s great-great-great-uncle Moses J. Church, was a notable engineer, who is considered the father of the Fresno irrigation district.

Sam’s maternal grandmother was Louise/Louisa/Lutie/Liddie/Loulie D./J. Derrick (the daughter of Anthony Derrick and Anne J. McGuire). Louise was born in California and raised in Washoe, Nevada, to a father from Germany and/or France, and to a mother from Vermont.

Sources: Genealogies of Sam Peckinpah – https://www.geni.com
https://www.findagrave.com

Sam’s maternal grandmother, Louise/Louisa/Lutie/Liddie/Loulie D./J. Derrick, on the 1870 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Louise/Louisa/Lutie/Liddie/Loulie D./J. Derrick on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org