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: Irish, German, Scottish, English, Welsh, distant Dutch
Sam Peckinpah was a legendary American film director and screenwriter.
Sam was the son of Fern Louise (Church) and David Edward Peckinpah.
He was said to have had Frisian and Native American ancestry. These statements appear not to be accurate.
Sam’s patrilineal line can be traced back 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 Mortimer Peckinpah (the son of Thaddius/Thaddeus Rice Peckinpah and Elizabeth Edwards). Thaddius was the son of John Peckinpaugh/Peckenpaugh and Christina/Christene Rice. Elizabeth was the daughter of Isaac Edwards and Rachel Rice. Mortimer’s parents were cousins.
Sam’s paternal grandmother was Isabelle/Isabel J. Toner (the daughter of Hugh Toner and Margaret Boyd). Isabelle was born in Pennsylvania to Irish parents, from County Down, Ulster.
Sam’s maternal grandfather was Denver Samuel Church (the son of Emory Jesse Church and Catherine/Hellen M.). Denver was a Superior Court judge and U.S. Congressman for Democratic Party, and was from Folsom, California. Emory was the son of Joshua Church, who was Scottish, and of Sophronia Shurtleff. Joshua’s brother, Moses J. Church (Sam Peckinpah’s great-uncle), was a notable engineer, who is considered the father of Fresno irrigation district.
Sam’s maternal grandmother was named Louise D. Derrick. She was born in Nevada, to a father from New York and a mother from Vermont whose surname was McGuire.
Sources: Genealogies of Sam Peckinpah – https://www.geni.com
https://www.findagrave.com