Samuel Barkley Crist was born around 1802 in New York to Henry and Jane Crist. His father was a farmer who owned $2,000 of real estate by 1850. He married Sallie Hunter, and they had at least six children: Catharine, born around 1827; Thomas, born around 1830; Nancy, born around 1832; Isabella, born around 1834; Ann, born around 1837; and Burr, born around 1839. They lived in Bethel, New York, and he worked as a farmer. By 1860, he owned $3,000 of real estate and $600 of personal property. They moved to Montgomery, New York, in the early 1860s. His wife died in the 1870s, and he died sometime after 1880.