Sarah Anna (Barnes) Taylor (1859 - 1939)

Born 14 Jun 1859 in Hamilton County, Indiana

Ancestors

Wife of William H Singer — married 2 Mar 1879 in Whitley County, Indiana

Wife of Burtney Taylor — married 27 Mar 1923 in Whitley County, Indiana

Died 1 Dec 1939 at age 80 in Whitley County, Indiana

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Charles Barnes [send private message]

Biography

The best source for the birth of Sarah Anna Barnes is the file of Civil War pension papers[2] of her father, which includes multiple affidavits stating her date of birth as June 14 (4 times) or June 15 (5 times), 1859. The same document states that she was born in Hamilton County, Indiana.

The 1860 census of Hamilton County, taken in early July, shows the Barnes family, but without any 1 year-old- child. There is a "Sarah Barnes" shown in the census, but of an age (8 years old) that would fit her sister Necie; and Necie is not named. Thus it appears the census takers missed one of the six children, and confused Necie and Sarah.

The following year, the Barnes family moved to an 80-acre farm in Whitley County. Sarah's father enlisted as a private in Company K of the 88th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was killed in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Jan 3, 1863. So Sarah barely knew her father. While her mother remarried in 1869, her "new" father must have seemed more like a grandfather to Sarah, being 58 years older than she was.

The 1870 census of Whitley County[4] Indiana shows Sarah, age 10, along with her three sisters and three brothers on the family farm.

At age 19, Sarah married William H Singer in Whitley County on March 2, 1879.[5] The evidence that this is the correct Sarah Barnes is a legal document dated May, 1888, transferring the deed to the Barnes property. In this document Sarah A and William H Singer are included with all the other Barnes children and their spouses as grantors. William Singer, having grown up on a farm near the Barnes property, could well have been a childhood friend of Sarah's.[6] The 1880 census shows William and Anna Singer shows them living in Coesse, Whitley County, Indiana.[7]

Sometime between 1888 and 1893 Sarah and William split up, as Sarah married Alverro Hatfield in 1893.[8] While a date for William's death has not been found, a record has been found showing that he was appointed postmaster of Poneto, Indiana in December 1893, thus indicating that he did not die prior to Sarah's marriage to Alverro Hatfield. The 1900 census, showing that Anna Hatfield was born in Indiana and both her parents in North Carolina, is evidence that this Anna is Sarah Anna Barnes, Reuben and Jane's daughter, as opposed to a different person. The same census indicates her date of birth as June, 1860, which, although a year off, is consistent with some other records for Sarah Barnes, such as the year of her birth shown on her tombstone.[9]

Alverro Hatfield died in 1917.[10] Thus in the 1920 census of Columbia City, Whitley County, Indiana, Anna Hatfield is shown as a widow.[11] Anna occupation is given as a domestic servant, working in the household of Elisha McLallen, who is a bank director.[11]

Obituraries of two of Anna's brothers, Noah and Zachariah, and one sister, Justina, all mention their sister "Anna Taylor" living in Columbia City. All three of these obituaries are dated 1931 or 1932. Thus the record of a marriage in Whitley County of Anna Hatfield to Burtney Taylor[12] on March 27, 1923 confirms that Sarah Anna Barnes entered into a third marriage. However Burtney Taylor died in 1925,[13] leaving Anna a widow again. The 1930 census of Columbia City shows Anna Taylor again working as housekeeper and now 70 years old (although shown as 67 in the census). In 1930 she worked for and lived with Frank and Lusette Raber, Frank being the County Auditor and Lusette working as a deputy auditor.

Sarah Anna died on December 1, 1939 in Columbia City.[9,14] Her gravestone shows her name as Anna Hatfield Taylor, and she is buried with her second husband, Alverro Hatfield.

Notes and sources

1. Researching the life of Sarah A Barnes has been complicated by finding at least 4 people of very similar age with the same name living in the same time period in Whitley County, Indiana - (1) Sarah Anna Barnes, the daughter of Reuben and Jane Barnes, (2) Sarah Ann Barnes, the wife of Zachariah Barnes, born Sarah Ann Connelly, then married to Thomas Fox who died when this Sarah was 24, then married to Zack Barnes, then divorced, then remarried to Zach, then either separated or divorced again, (3) Sarah Barnes who married Asa Bills and (4) Sarah Barnes, the wife of Daniel Barnes; this Sarah was born in 1859 and died in 1947. While the first two are related as sisters-in-law, the other two are not related in any way to Reuben Barnes. I have done my best to separate facts found for "Sarah Barnes," to the correct one ,making sure there is sufficient evidence to tie anything shown in her bio above to being the daughter of Reuben Barnes. Any comments or corrections are welcome.

2. Documents contained in the Civil War Pension file of Reuben Barnes.

3. US Census, White River Township, Hamilton County, Indiana, July 5, 1860.

4. US Census, Union, Whitley, Indiana, 1870.

5. Whitley County Indiana Marriages, 1838-1910, http://whitleycountyin.org/marriages1/brides/bb.htm; BARNES, Sarah A to William H SINGER on March 2, 1879 - Book 3:182; also Whitley County (Indiana) Marriages, 1860-May 11, 1884; Copied by Nellie M Raber, 1973, p. 16.

6. US Census, Union, Whitley, Indiana, 1860 (see family of Jacob and Catherine Singer, William is age 4.).

7. US Census, Coesse, Whitley, Indiana, 1860 (William and Anna Singer).

8. US Census, Richland, Whitley, Indiana, 1900 (Alvera and Anna Hatfield).

9. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=TAYL&GSfn=A&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=17&GScntry=4&GSsr=441&GRid=31872657&

10. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=HAT&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=17&GScntry=4&GSsr=641&GRid=30966478&

11. US Census, Columbia City, Whitley, Indiana, 1910 (Anna Hatfield).

12. Whitley County Marriage Records, 1811-2007, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27VL-2WT

13. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=30200533&ref=acom

14. Ancestry.com. Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.