James Buckley Jr. - Who Was Sam Walton?

Samuel Moore Walton was born on March 29, 1918, in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. His family owned a small farm there. Sams father, Thomas, had lived on farms his whole life.

Sam later wrote that his father had been a great trader. Thomas loved making deals with people. Thomas once traded his watch for a pig to feed his family. He even traded other farms to get the one they lived on in Kingfisher!

Before Sams mother, Nancy Lawrence, married Thomas and joined him on the farm, she had gone to college for a year. Attending college was very unusual for women at this time. As her family grew, Nancy made sure that they knew how important education was.

Even though Sam was little, he helped on the farm. The family kept chickens, and Sam often gathered their eggs with his mother. The farm had pigs, too. Sam would feed them by pouring table scraps into their pen.

In 1921, Sams brother, James, was born. From the time James was a baby, everyone called him Bud. Sam and Bud did everything together.

Together, the boys played on the farm and helped with any chores they could. Thomas sometimes helped his two young sons ride together on the familys horse, Trix.

Farming was a hard business, however. A lot of farmers struggled to earn enough money to stay on their land and keep farming. World War I had ended the year Sam was born. In the years afterward, sales of wheat, corn, and other farm crops slowed down.

During the war, American farmers and businesses had been successful, selling food and supplies to the US Army. After the war, those sales dropped dramatically. Many businesses and farms were forced to close. Thomas was having a tough time selling the crops he grew.

Thomas Walton had a big decision to make. Though he loved life on the farm, he had to make sure his family was taken care of. He was no longer making enough money from his farm.

Thomas had an uncle who ran a company that helped people buy farms. He decided to sell the family farm and take a job with his uncles company. Sam and Bud helped pack the car and the family drove to a new home in Springfield, Missouri. A year later, the family moved again, this time to the town of Marshall, Missouri.

In 1914, a terrible war broke out in Europe. It was so large and involved so many countries that it became known as the Great War. On one side were Germany and several smaller countries. On the other were France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Serbia. The two sides fought because the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand had sparked a conflict among the nations.

The two sides fought for nearly five years. Millions of soldiers, sailors, and civilians died as a result.