Sarah Ann Small (1824 - 1831)

Born 31 Aug 1824 in Wayne Township, Wayne County, Indiana, United States

Ancestors

Died 30 Sep 1831 at age 7 in Wayne Township, Wayne County, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Sarah was a Friend (Quaker) whose family where members of the Chester Monthly Meeting, Wayne County, Indiana.

Sarah live on a farm.

Sarah Ann Small was born to Amos and Rachel (Hiatt) Small on the 1st of September, 1824 in Wayne County, Indiana. She died 7 years, 1 month later on the 30th of September, 1831.

Her parents had immigrated to Wayne County, Indiana in the prior decade. Amos's family moved from Guilford County in North Carolina to Mt Pleasant, Grayson County, Virginia where Amos was born. His family then moved to Ohio and ultimately from Ohio to Wayne County, Indiana. Rachel's family left Guilford, North Carolina much later than the Smalls and they moved directly to Wayne County, Indiana arriving about the same time as the Small family. Both families appear to have been accepted into the Whitewater Monthly Meeting. It is thought that they went with the Chester Monthly Meeting when it was split off of the Whitewater Monthly Meeting.

Amos and Rachel were married contrary to discipline on the 1st of January 1822. They were disowned for this and apparently they condemned their marriage as they continued to be involved in the Quaker community.

At the time of Sarah's birth the Small family consisted of two boys. Over the next four years two more boys were added to the family and then, at the age of six, Sarah received a baby sister. Within the year Sarah would be dead.

Time Line

• Sarah Ann Small was born to Amos Small and Rachel Hiatt on 31 Aug 1824 in Wayne County, Indiana. She has two older brothers, Alfred (Harris) Hiatt and Isaac Small.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}
• On 30 Sep 1826 Sarah's brother, Jabez Small, is born.^{[2][3][4][6][10][11]}
• On 17 Sep 1828 Sarah's brother, Nathan Small, was born.^{[2][3][4][6][10][11]}
• The 1830 US Census find Sarah, age 5y 9y 0d, living in Wayne Township, Wayne County, Indiana with her parents and four brothers.^[12]
• On 18 Sep 1830 Sarah's sister, Mary Small, was born.^{[2][3][4][6][10][11]}
• Sarah died on 30 Sep 1831 in Wayne County, Indiana.^{[1][2][4][5][7][8][9][11][13]}

Research Notes

1. Discrepancies in birth name, the birth and death dates and the burial location:

Discrepancies exist among the twelve sources^[14] currently known which record Sarah's life. The data is presented in the table below. The data in parenthesis are implied. The first three sources^[1][2][3] are Quaker records, the next four are indices^{[4][5][6][13]} of Quaker sources, the eighth source^[7] is the Indiana History and Genealogy Database maintained by the Marion Public Library. Sources number 9 and 10 are Find-A-Grave memorials^[8][9] and the last two sources are genealogies.^[10][11]

Of the three Quaker records, the first, the Birth and Death Records Book A of the Chester Monthly Meeting^[1], is the earliest. It is known that the family moved from Wayne County to Grant Country in the spring of 1833, two and half years after Sarah's death. At this time they leave the Chester Monthly Meeting for the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting. The second and third records are from the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, the former being the from the Birth and Death Records^[2] and the latter being the Membership Book.^[3] Moreover, a note in the former indicate that the later is a copy. Thus they are order by age, the first being the oldest and the third being the youngest.

The next four sources are from two indices. The first is Willard C. Heiss's Abstracts of the Records of the Friends Society in Indiana, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol. 7 (Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, Indiana : 1962-1977)^[5][6] and the second is William Wade Hinshaw's Index to Unpublished Quaker Records.^[13][4] The sources found in these two indices refer to the three Quaker records discussed in the previous paragraph.

The Marion Public Library's Indiana History and Genealogy Database^[7] leads us to a new source, a published inventory^[15] of the Estates of Serenity cemetery. This source, in turn, cites the records of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting.^[2][3]

The next two sources are Find-A-Grave memorials.^[8][9] The first is in the name of Sarah Ann Small and the second in the name of Sarah H. Small. It should be noted that chronologically these are the most recent sources.

And the final two sources are the two genealogies. The first of the Hiatt family^[10] and the second of the Ladd family including their cousins the Smalls.^[11]

The birth and death records of the Chester Monthly Meeting are the earliest records that we have of Sarah. They give Sarah's death date as 30 Sep 1831 and her age as 7 years 1 months blank days. The question is how to interpret the lack of an entry in the days column. Examine the death records on pages 51 - 55 (Images 41 - 45) of the Birth and death records - Book A^[1] of the Chester Monthly meeting. On page 51 there are five individuals of interest. The first is Mattilda Addington who is reported to have died at age of blank years 6 months 17 days and we interpret this as 0 years 6 months 17 days. The next is Mattilda's younger brother, David Addington who is reported to have died at age 1 year blank months and 1 day and this we interpret as 1 year 0 months 1 day. The third is John W. Thomas who died at age blank years blank months 13 days which is interpreted as 0 years 0 months 13 days. Next comes Beulah Unthank. Her age is not given. There are two ways to interpret this, first that Beulah birth date is not known and so her age could not be calculated, or that she was still born. And finally there is Amy Harrell who is reported to have died at age 70 years blank months blank years can be interpreted as having died on her 70th birthday or that her actual birth date was not known. With these five examples in mind, it is reasonable to interpret Sarah's age as 7 years, 1 month, and 0 days. It also needs be noted that this record records Sarah's name as Sarah Ann Small and does not give either a burial location, a last residence, nor any other comment.

The two record^[2][3] from the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting post-date the one from the Chester Monthly Meeting.^[1] In turn, it is known that that the data in in the Membership Book^[3] has been copied from the Birth and Death Records Vol A.^[2] There are two entries in the Birth and Death Records book for Sarah Ann Small. She is listed with the rest of her family in the Births section with a birth date of 1 Sep 1824, here she is listed as Sarah Small. A second entry exists for her in the deaths section. This record give her death date as 1 Oct 1833, and her age as 7 year 1 month 0 days. In addition she is listed as Sarah Ann Small, buried in Mississinewa Friends burial grounds and having last lived in Grant County, Indiana. Comparing with the record from the Chester Monthly Meeting, one see that while the ages are the same, the birth and death dates have shifted by a single day. This could be explain by the earlier date being the date of death and the more recent date being the date of burial. The pronouncements that Sarah was buried in Mississinewa Friends burial grounds and that her last residence was Grant County is clearly in error. It is known that her family lived in Wayne Township, Wayne County, Indiana during her lifetime. The shift in the a day in the birth and death dates and the extraneous information concerning her burial and last place of residence are the errors that for slip in to the record after the first decade.

The third record, from the Membership Book, are derivative from the Births and Deaths Records. The entry here for Sarah Ann Small gives 1 Sep 1824 as her birth date. The death date, age and other information are simply not reported.

We now come to sources which are indices. The first is William Wade Hinshaw's Index to Unpublished Quaker Records. We know from a sticker on the inside cover that data in both the Birth and Death Records and the Membership Book of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting were copied for W. W. Hinshaw by Mrs J. E. McMullon in 1933 and 1934. For the identity of the abstractor of our third source, the Chester Monthly Meeting Birth and Death Records, we turn to a note on the second card of the Chester Monthly Meeting. This note is signed Mrs McM. leading one to believe that Mrs J. E. McMullon is responsible for the abstracting of the three records that we are have been considering and that this activity occurred in the 1933-34 time frame.

As can be observed in the above table the data presented in W. W. Hinshaw's Index is in agreement with that seen in the original documents. The major difference is that the Chester Monthly Meeting records gave an age and this data has not been recorded here. However, the correct age is implied by the birth and death dates given in the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting records.

The next source is W. C. Heiss's Abstracts of the records of the Friends Society in Indiana. Two entries^[5][6] for Sarah Ann Small are found in this index. The first corresponding to the records of the Chester Monthly Meeting and the second, to those of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting. Compare this data with that which we have previously discussed, First we see that W. C. Heiss has more faithfully recorded the data from the Chester Monthly Meeting than did W. W. Hinshaw's Index. W. C. Heiss includes Sarah's age which has been dropped Hinshaw's index. The records abstracted from the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting are a different story. While the death dates are in agreement, the birth date reported by Heiss is in disagreement with all previous data. We assume that this is an error unless other evidence appears.

The Marion Public Library's Indiana History and Genealogy Database^[7] yields a single entry for Sarah H Small. The birth date given here agrees with Heiss's abstract of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, i. e., repeats Heiss's error. The death date appear to be a misreading of a Quaker date (10th month 1st day (Oct 1) if turned around becomes Jan 10). In addition to these errors the record reports Sarah's middle name as H. It should be noted that the record did get Sarah's parents correctly.

An inquiry to the Marion Public Library (together with a $2.00 contribution) yielded three sources backing up backing up the entry in their database. The first of these is an inventory burials in the Estates of Serenity.^[15] The second and third sources are the Birth and Death Records^[2] and the Membership Book^[3] of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting. The errors in the Marion Public Library's Indiana History and Genealogy Database appear to have been copied from the inventory of burials in the Estates of Serenity.^[15].

The last index to yield results was Find-A-Grave. A search of this index finds two memorials. The first is a memorial to Sarah Ann Small and is in the Chester Friends burial grounds. The data given agrees with the original record of Sarah's death. The second memorial is to Sarah H. Small and is in the Mississinewa Friends burial grounds. Repeats the errors fond in the Marion Public Library's Indiana History and Genealogy Database.

The genealogies remain to be discussed. The first of these is Johnson's genealogy of the Hiatt family. He includes a birth date Sarah which is in agreement with the records of the Mississinewa Monthly Meeting. Ladd's genealogy of the Ladd family and their cousins reports both birth and death dates. The birth date appears to be taken from Heiss's abstracts of the Mississinewa Monthly meeting records and the death date appears to be a misreading of a Quaker date. 10th month 1st day (Oct 1st) becomes Jan 10th if turned around.

Conclusions: Out of this mess I choose to use the earliest data that we have, that of the Birth and Death Records of the Chester Monthly Meeting, which gives the death date as 30 Sep 1831 and an age of 7 years, 1 month, blank days. I chose to interpret the age as 7 years, 1 month, 0 days giving a birth date of 31 Aug 1824. Three additional columns have been left blank. The first labeled where buried, the second labeled late residence and the column is labeled occasional notes.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Religious Society of Friends, Chester Monthly Meeting (Chester, Wayne County, Indiana), "Births and deaths Book A," page 54, Sarah Ann Small, Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes, Friends Collection and College Archives, Eli Lilly Library, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana; "U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935," database with images Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : 1 Nov 2019), Indiana> Wayne> Chester Monthly Meeting> Births and Deaths, Book A 20 Aug 1903-17 Sept 1919, image 44 of 56.
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, Birth and Death Records - Volume A: Family of Amos and Rachel Small
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, Membership Book: Family of Amos and Rachel Small
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7} William Wade Hinshaw's Index to Unpublished Quaker Records: Indiana, Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, Image #1114, Sarah Ann Small.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5} Heiss, W, C., Abstracts of the records of the Friends Society in Indiana: Sarah Ann Small, Part 1, page 280.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7} Heiss, W, C., Abstracts of the records of the Friends Society in Indiana: Sarah Ann Small, Part 3, page 15.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Marion Public Library, Indiana History and Genealogy Database:: Sarah H. Small
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4} Find-A-Grave: Sarah Ann Small.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4} Find-A-Grave: Sarah H. Small.
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6} Johnson, W. P.: Family ID: (2462.874.231.38.4.1), Pages 323, 491.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7} Ladd, R. K. (1974): Family ID: 1503, Views 345, 490.
12. ↑ The 1830 US Census: Record for the household of Amos Small.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3} William Wade Hinshaw's Index to Unpublished Quaker Records: Indiana, Chester Monthly Meeting, Image #412, Sarah Ann Small.
14. ↑ There is one additional record with regard to Sarah's life. This is the 1830 US Census. This record does not provide any information concerning Sarah's name, birth date, death date or burial location. What it does provide is an inventory of the family members in Amos's household, including their sex and approximate age, but not their names. This information is in agreement with all other sources. In addition to this it also provides a location, Wayne Township within Wayne County, Indiana.
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2} Rhoades, G. E., Historic Estates of Serenity

Also see:

• The 1830 US Census record for the household of Amos Small.
• Religious Society of Friends, Chester Monthly Meeting, Births and Deaths, Book A.: Family of Amos and Rachel Small.
• Religious Society of Friends, Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, Birth and Death Records: Family of Amos and Rachel Small.
• Religious Society of Friends, Mississinewa Monthly Meeting, Membership Records: Family of Amos and Rachel Small.
• Hinshaw, W. W, William Wade Hinshaw's Index to Unpublished Quaker Records: Sarah Ann Small.
• Heiss, Williard C., Abstracts of the records of the Friends Society in Indiana: Sarah Ann Small
• Find A Grave: Memorial #179518536, Sarah Ann Small, Chester Cemetery, Chester, Wayne County, Indiana, United States.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #83622098, Sarah H. Small, Mississinewa Friends Cemetery, Grant County, Indiana, United States.
• Marion Public Library, Indiana History and Genealogy Database: Sarah Ann Small
• Johnson, William Perry, Hiatt - Hiett Genealogy and Family History c1699 - 1949. (Payson, Utah, Jesse Hiatt Family Association, 1951)
• Ladd, Ruth Kline, One Ladd's Family including Cousins near and far (Naperville, Ill., Ladd, 1974).
• Marion Public Library, Indiana History and Genealogy Database
• Rhoades, G. E., Historic Estates of Serenity