Entrikin, Samuel J., 1862-1942

Samuel J. Entrikin was born September 26, 1862 to Thomas and Sarah Jane Cloud Entrikin in Juniata County, Pennsylvania. When his mother died around 1865, a young Entrikin was sent to live with Sarah Entrikin—his aunt and notable West Chester physician. Schooled in West Chester, Samuel was a printer by trade, yet he pursued many other interests—among them, teaching, mining, farming, and inventing. However, Entrikin is best known as one of West Chester’s famous Artic explorers. As a young man, Samuel began his career under Philadelphia area printers F. Sharpless Hickman (ca. 1879-85) and Thomas S. Dando (1885-86). After six years, he abandoned the trade to take up teaching in Aiken South Carolina at the Schofield Normal Industrial School for “colored people”. By the fall of 1891, Entrikin had moved to pursue a Science and Engineering education at Swarthmore College. After studying for just a year, Entrikin then joined the Peary relief expedition of 1892 and ventured to the Artic. In the coming years, Entrikin traveled to the Artic twice more—first, as second in command of the Peary Northern Greenland expedition (1893-94) and later as a member of a government-appointed party assigned to measure the height of Mt. St. Elias and other mountain peaks of Alaska (1896-97). On returning from Mt. St. Elias, Entrikin came across the small Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skaguay, from which originated the famous Dyea and White Pass Trails, respectively. Curious to learn these routes, which led to the Yukon gold fields, Entrikin, with the aid of native Hingit packers, trekked both. For the next four years, Entrikin spent his days between the Alaskan gold country and the western United States coast, namely Seattle and San Francisco, working for the Philadelphia Exploring and Mining Company and the US government. As he was quite unsuccessful in his personal pursuit of gold, Entrikin earned his living as the captain of a steamship that ferried other prospectors. During this period, he married his first wife, San Franciscan Estelle Baker, from whom he separated soon for reasons unknown. In 1901, Entrikin returned to the Schofield school in South Carolina, only to resign in 1904 when he accepted a superintendent position at the Arizona Consolidated [copper] Mining Company, near the Mexican border. In 1908, he married widow Sara Scott Buffington and the couple resided in Johnson, Cochise County, Arizona. Entrikin returned to the Schofield school for a short year in 1910, citing that the Arizona climate was proving detrimental to his health. For similar reasons, the Entrikins left South Carolina for the last time and returned to Samuel’s boyhood home, Chester County, PA where they purchased the old Franklin Miller farm near Pughtown. The Entrikins farmed in Pennsylvania until Samuel procured a management position on a Florida farm. They moved to Narcossee, Florida in 1914 and there they lived out their remaining days. After intermittently suffering for some thirty years from mental illness (it is unclear exactly how severe her illness was, although at times, she was admitted to an institution), Sara Entrikin passed away of pneumonia in February 1940. Just a little over two years later, Samuel followed, having suffered from stroke-related complications. Some would classify “Sam” Entrikin as “among the famous and noted residents of West Chester.” Well known to all of Chester County, Samuel J. Entrikin led a wellrounded life. In addition to being a celebrated Artic explorer, he was a printer, teacher, gold miner, farmer, inventor, and devoted husband.