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About Samuel Mason Eiland:

1930 United States Federal Census about Sam Eiland
Home in 1930: Dothan, Houston, Alabama
Sam Eiland 40
Pearl Eiland 30
Mary Elizabeth Eiland 17
Richard Culver 27

1940 United States Federal Census about Sam Eiland
Home in 1940: Dothan, Houston, Alabama
Street: S Oat Street
House Number: 508
Residence in 1935: Montgomery, Montgomery, Alabama
Sam Eiland 50
Bertha Pearl Eiland 45

Name: Sam Mason Eiland
Death date: 13 Mar 1972
Death place: Dothan, Houston County, Alabama
Gender: Male
Age at death: 82y
Estimated birth year: 1890
Spouse name: Pearl Culver Eiland
Father name: Zack Eiland
Mother name: Elizabeth Culpepper

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Name: Sam Mason Eiland
City: Mtn Creek
County: Chilton
State: Alabama
Birthplace: Alabama;United States of America
Birth Date: 5 Nov 1891
Race: Caucasian (White)
Age:26
Occupation: Plumber, R L Duffee, Mtn Creek Al
Nearest Relative:
Height/Build: Tall/Med
Color of Eyes/Hair:Brown, Brown
Comment: Left Leg off below knee

November 16, 1947, ?The Dotham Eagle (Dothan, Alabama)
SAM EILAND GOES FOR POLITICS BUT SHUNS TOO MUCH TALK
By Clarence Streetman
Very few men can turn off a political argument at their desire. Sam Eiland can. Mr. Sam is a keen fan of politics but says you can't talk too much about it if you're in business.
He comes from Shelton County, a Republican territory, although he says he is from a little Democratic corner of the county. Still, the mere mention of his birthplace is enough to stall off any arguments concerning politics, he says. "I just tell them where I'm from, and they leave me alone." Eiland has been in Dothan continuously since 1925, when he came here with the Alabama Machinery and Supply Company. He "Inherited" the job as manager in 1927 and has held it since then.
Ginning ruefully, he says of his manager's job. "It sure did spoil a lot of good fishing for me." It was a job he didn't exactly want in the first place. Sam has been a traveling man most of his life, since he left the Shelton County farm, and likes that kind of work. In fact, it was as travelin man that he got his first look at Dothan, although at that time he wasn't selling anything. He was riding as a free passenger on "84," a freight train. "They pulled me off the train here, and that's how I first got to know about Dothan," he laughs.
That was in 1916. They not only pulled him off the train, but put him to work. He helped a girl named Minnie with a soft drink route here in town. At that time, deliveries to the retailers were made by wagon. Minnie pulled the wagon around the streets, stopping at each of the delivery points, while Sam took shortcuts through alleys and waited for her.
"That Minnie was the smartest mule I ever saw," Eiland says. "Monroe Page, now a Negro undertaker, had a little place of business, and he used to follow Minnie around the street to the next stop just to see if she actually would stop. I would cut through and wait for her. Monroe still laughts about Minnie. He says nobody could ever drive her off, after she found out about me." Minnie lived to be a ripe old age in retirement. Her owner kept her until she died.
In acquiring his first working capital when starting out with his soft-drink route he pulled a stunt that many will swear is still being continued commercially. "I didn't think my employer, G. M. Lewis, Sr. (manager and part owner of the bottled drink company here at that time) gave me quite enough money to start off with. I bet him five dollars I could take one bag of peanuts, make five bags out of it and sell them for a nickel apiece." Mr. Lewis called him, and Sam worked it. He put a few peanuts in each bag and inflated the bags with air, to make them look full. "I couldn't pitch any of them to customers," he grins. "I had to hand them."
Being a busy man, he also had another job while running the wagon. He sold carnations on the streets on Minnie's days off, Saturdays and Sundays. He left Dothan after nearly a year, and shortly afterward, went to work with another Sam Uncle, that is at Ft. Sheridan supply depot during World War I.
In 1920, he joined the Alabama Machinery and Supply Company and came to Dothan to stay in 1926. "I traveled out of Tuscaloosa, and for about three years. I traveled out of Dothan, with the company. I do a lot of it now. We have a good staff, and I'm just in and out."
Mr. Eiland was born at Mountain Creek, Ala, 57 years and a few days ago. He says he was right in the middle of 12 children, eight boys and four girls. His education and schooling, he picked up after he went to work. He and his brothers had a big farm to run, not much time for school.
Not a joiner, Mr. Eiland belongs only to the Masons and the Baptist Church. He has been a Shriner for more than 20 years. "If I had time for a club, I go fishing," he says. He has seen Dothan double in size and in population since he came here. He called it the best little town in Alabama. Growth of the town has forced him to move his place of business from 115 S Foster Street to 212 W. Crawford street, due to lack of parking space. "When we opened up on Foster street, there were only two stores over there. We had plenty of parking space then, but we were gradually forces out." He looks for Dothan to continue growing. Although he loves politics, he has never actively entered that line. He just likes to look on.

Photo caption
Keen but not-participating fan of politics, Sam Eiland developed an interest in that game in his native, part-Republican, Shelton County. Eiland says the mere mention of his birthplace squelches any budding political argument with him. A transplanted farm-boy, he has headed the Alabama Machinery and Supply Company here for more than 20 years.