The Price family located on the present site of Samaria on Feb. 10, 1868. A branch of the Church fo Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized on Nov. 18, 1868, with Thomas S. Thomas as president. Irrigation water was obtained from John Thorpe's Spring. A log building erected to serve for school and church was dedicated in March 1870, with David P. Davis as teacher and Jonah Evans as bishop. Other firsts included Mary D. Davis as postmistress, John E. Price, Sr., as sawmill operator, and Heber Sparks as blacksmith.