Sarah Fife

Sarah Fife was born in 1817 to Andrew Fife and his first wife, Sarah Henry.
We do not know the exact day of Sarah Fife's birth, but her mother died February 20, 1817, at age 21, shortly after the birth of her daughter.

Gravestone of Sarah (Henry) Fife, Round Hill Cemetery

Sarah Fife was left mother-less, with a barely-older brother William, age 1, and her father Andrew Fife.
Her father Andrew Fife re-married in 1819, and it seems the newlyweds had no interest in caring for his children, because Sarah is never again recorded living with her father or anyone in his family, nor was she left any inheritance from any of them.

Luckily for our Sarah, she was taken in by her mother's family, the Henrys.  The 1820 US Federal census shows the household of John Henry in St Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, as having a girl under age 10.   This was Sarah's grandfather, who was 70 years old in 1820, and his wife Margaret, then aged 58.
The 1830 census shows a girl aged 10-15 still living in the John Henry household, with her 80 year-old grandfather, 68 year-old grandmother, and other adults who were most likely her uncle Joseph Henry, her mother's closest brother, and her aunt Nancy Henry.

In 1838, Sarah Fife's grandfather John Henry died.  He left bequests to his wife, seven sons, three sons-in-law, but out of all his grandchildren -- and he had many -- the only grandchild he left a bequest to was his granddaughter Sarah Fife.  He wanted her provided for by his son Joseph Henry and upon her marriage, she was to receive 'one hundred dollars in furniture or things necessary for house-keeping'.  (Adjusting for inflation, this would be equivalent to $2,500 today).

By 1840, our Sarah was married to Andrew Young, and they were living in Lower St Clair Township, Allegheny County Pennsylvania.
The 1850 census shows them with four children: Annie Margaret, Robert Henry, Mary M and William.   Two more children were born after this census, Nancy E and Sarah Emma Young.  However, William had died before the 1860 census.

In 1855, Sarah Fife Young died, at age 38.  This fact was found in a court document, Allegheny County Orphan's Court Docket Vol 29, p 282, dated March 1873, in which Sarah's heirs, her children, sell her property (Andrew Young died in 1872).

I am indebted to the Fife family, for if it was not for them, I would not know that Sarah Young, my greatx3 grandmother, had been born Sarah Fife.  The Fife family held a reunion in 1890, and published a booklet detailing many of the descendents of  the Fife brothers, who had migrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania in the 1760's.  It was in this booklet that I found that Sarah Young's maiden name was Fife.

And in was in the Allegheny County Deed Books that I found evidence that Sarah Fife was part of the Henry family.  

In Volume 64, page 509, I found an entry, dated Sept 12, 1842, in which Nancy Young, daughter of John Henry, and Sarah Fife, grand-daughter of John Henry, conveyed their inheritance to Joseph Henry and his wife Elizabeth.  This agreement was signed by Nancy Henry, Sarah Young, and her husband Andrew Young.  

This entry gave me documentation that Sarah Young had been born Sarah Fife, and that her grandfather was John Henry.  

Sarah (Fife) Young's daughter Mary also died tragically young, leaving two small children, one of whom was Mabel Stewart, my great-grandmother.