Sarah
Elizabeth Freed
(1880-1977)
Sarah
Elizabeth Freed was born on Oct. 10, 1880 in or near Dickerson Run, Fayette
County, PA, the daughter of Christian
S. and Esther (Barnhouse) Freed. She never married.
Little is known of Sarah's life, except a few tidbits.
In October 1888, the Connellsville Keystone Courier reported that eight-year-old Sarah and her mother were "visiting friends at Scottdale" in nearby Westmoreland County.
She is thought to have been a kindly aunt to her nephews and nieces. Once, when young nephew Tilghman "Tim" Thorpe was sent to bed without dinner, Sarah snuck some cake and pie into his room for him to secretly enjoy.
Sarah resided in Vanderbilt in 1934, near Dickerson Run, the year her father died.
Dickerson Run, on the far bank of the Youghiogheny River
Because no official record had been kept of her birth, Sarah
had to obtain a delayed birth certificate during World War II. The document,
produced in 1943, contained affidavits from Joseph H. Stoner and Belle
Strickler, both of Dickerson Run, stating that both had known her all her life.
Circa 1946, when her sister Bertha died, Sarah was residing in Glendale, CA.
By 1973, when her sister Clara died, Sarah was in Jacksonville, FL.
Sarah died on Dec. 2, 1977, at the age of 97. Her burial site is unknown.
Copyright © 2002, 2006 Mark A. Miner