Sarah Cockram French was born in 1863 to William Henry Cochran and Nancy Bathsheba Hylton. You will notice for the purpose of this story; I spell the family surname differently. I am writing the name just as I find it in census records, death records, etc.
Sarah was the oldest daughter of William Henry and Nancy Bathsheba Hylton Cochran of the Mountain View community. Henry was her older brother, and younger siblings were Nancy, born in 1871; Larkin, born in 1873; Susannah, born in 1875; George Edward, born in 1883; and John P., born in 1887.
Sarah was named for her paternal grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Newberry Cockram, wife of Peter Cockram of Franklin County. Sarah’s maternal grandparents were Moses and Elizabeth Cruise Hylton of the Lone Ivy community.
Sarah married Isaac French on the 16th of December 1885 in Russell County, Virginia. In the 1900 census, the couple was living in the Smith River district of Patrick County with their four children, Alice Virginia, age 11; John, age 9; Lucinda, age 7; and Daniel Joseph, age 10 months.
Sarah and Isaac made their home in what is known as the “Dark Hollow” in the Mountain View section of Patrick County. The tiny log cabin was located along the “River Road,” down the side of the mountain below Conner’s View Primitive Baptist Church.
By the 1910 census, Sarah’s daughter, Lucinda had married Thomas Green Branch from Patrick County, and they were living in Coalwood Camp #6 in McDowell County, West Virginia. Sarah’s son, John, was also living with the couple and working as a coal miner too. Sadly, John was killed by a train shortly after arriving in West Virginia. By the time of the 1920 census, Sarah’s son Daniel Joseph had moved out to West Virginia and was living with his sister, Lucinda and working in the coal mines too.
Isaac passed away in 1923 and this left Sarah and daughter Alice alone in the Dark Hollow. Alice was born with what we would probably describe today as nonverbal autism. According to my cousin Ivalien, although Alice couldn’t speak, she was still able to do many things. Ivalien wrote the following memories, “Miz Sarah could show Alice a poke salad leaf, and Alice could go pick the poke greens for a meal. The one thing that stands out in my mind is Alice’s bark baskets. She would peel the bark off of trees and weave baskets. They were real sturdy and useful. Alice would roam the mountainside picking wild strawberries in her bark baskets.”
Ivalien also loved cherry picking time in Sarah’s orchard, “What I always loved most was in the summer, about June, going cherry picking down at Miz Sarah’s. I’d grab my little Karo Syrup bucket and head down that winding path with Dad. You had to hold to bushes and vines to keep from rolling down the mountainside.”
In late March of 1949, no one had seen Sarah or Alice for a couple of days. Folks found Alice sitting beside her mother in the cold, dark cabin. Sarah had suffered a stroke; she was taken to Mount Airy hospital where she passed away. Alice was sent to the Southwestern State Hospital in Marion where she lived for 8 years, 3 months, and 28 days before passing away.
Sarah and Alice were both laid to rest at Mountain View Methodist Church cemetery. The photo with this article was taken at the home of Dollie Hylton of Mountain View and shows Sarah on her horse, “Old Mae,” and her daughter, Alice, standing by the porch.
Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626. Thank you to all the supportive messages and phone calls I have gotten about Patrick Pioneers. I will try my best to respond to each of them over Thanksgiving break.
