When Samuel Thomas VanHook was born on 4 September 1863, in Kentucky, United States, his father, John Larkin VanHook, was 33 and his mother, Mary Jane Hunter, was 21. He married Ane Margrethe Madsen Friis on 19 February 1890, in Nevada, Story, Iowa, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 daughters. He lived in Brown Township, Champaign, Illinois, United States in 1880 and Sherley Township, Ripley, Missouri, United States in 1910. He died on 3 July 1947, in Doniphan, Ripley, Missouri, United States, at the age of 83.