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Children tell Sarah Washburn’s story

Sarah Washburn died at her home in Otego Township on a Sunday morning, Feb. 9, 1896, in the 63rd year of her life.
An obituary, published in The Vandalia Union newspaper, told that she was born in the state of Virginia on Sept. 12, 1833, and came to this county as a young woman. She was three times left a widow, was the mother of six children and stepmother to as many more.
This tribute, written by one of her children, told that “with little more than a stout heart and willing hands to aid her” she cared for her small, helpless children who were dependent on her.
To this end, she labored both in and out of doors, gathering the flax and cotton, carding, spinning and weaving the same into cloth from which she clothed herself and children.
“Sometimes, in order to provide a frugal meal, she and the children took turns grating corn on a coarse tin punctured with holes, leaving a rough surface and this tacked to a board,  thereby making a coarse meal from which she would knead into unleavened bread.”
The pioneer woman had it rough, and the story of Sarah Washburn is representative of the lives of so many nameless women who labored sunup to sundown, with willing hands and stout hearts to provide for their families.
Sarah’s obituary took up four columns in the newspaper, and was sprinkled liberally with the flowery language of yesteryear.
All of this made me want to know more about this woman, so I conducted a search.
I found that Sarah Ann Lawrence was born on Sept. 12, 1833, in Virginia. She married for the first time on July 22, 1853, in Fayette County, to Leander L. Cole, who died on Feb. 20, 1856, leaving her with an unborn daughter, Abigail, and his 4-year-old daughter, Cordelia.
On July 28, 1859, Sarah married John Scott and blended her family with his four children, James, Elizabeth, Mary and William H. Scott. John was a member of Co. C., 35th Illinois Infantry, and died on Feb. 1, 1862, with burial in Pilcher Cemetery. Probate records point to the children receiving a pension of $10 monthly. John and Sarah Ann were parents of two sons, David and John Scott.
Her third marriage was to a wealthy widower, Ezra Washburn, on March 19, 1863, as his third wife. Ezra was a native of Erie County, Pa., and was 10 years older than Sarah. Ezra brought several children to the marriage, including Narcissa and Harry Washburn.
Their family grew, as three children (Ezra, Mary and Elizabeth Ann Washburn) were added to the brood. Elizabeth Ann, who died in April 1893 at the age of 17 years, is the only child to precede her mother in death.
 Although I did not uncover the names of Sarah’s parents, it appears that her early life was spent in Kaskaskia Township, where other Lawrence families lived in 1860. When her first husband, Leander Cole, died, Benjamin Franklin Lee was appointed administrator.
When her second husband, John Scott,  died in 1862, they were living in Otego Township, and Dr. John F. Morey was paid for doctoring John Scott in his last illness.
Sarah Ann Lawrence Cole Scott Washburn rests with her third husband, Ezra Washburn, in Griffith Cemetery, east of Brownstown in Otego Township. Her story lives on through the tribute offered by her children, the ones who knew her best.

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