Cambria County, Part 5 of 8: Sarah Ann Fullard

The Birchall household must have looked like an island of misfit toys in 1920. Both James and Delila had lost their previous spouses to the influenza pandemic. Their oldest daughter, Jennie, had been adopted from Delila’s deceased former spouse’s half-brother. And then there was James’ 72 year-old mother-in-law: Sarah Ann Mansell. In those days it was fairly common for a mother-in-law to live with one of her adult children, but Sarah Ann was not Delila’s mother – she was James’ first wife’s mother.

Sarah Ann Fullard was born in 1847 in Nottinghamshire, England. She married Joseph Dukes in 1867 and had six children before they came to the United States. The first, James Fullard Dukes, was born in 1869; the last was Delila Dukes in 1883. Sadly, two of their six (including *this* Delila) would die in childhood before they left Britain.

Joseph and James probably came over first. Barnesboro was a “company town” for Barnes & Tucker Company, which was started by fellow English immigrant Thomas Barnes. I suspect Joseph had lined things up before he’d even left England. Sarah Ann and her other three children (Arthur, Anne, and Faith) boarded the SS British Prince out of Liverpool in December 1887. It took an eleven-day voyage to reach Philadelphia, so they arrived on 28 December. With the family all together and established in Barnesboro, Joseph and Sarah Ann Dukes had their last child together – Mary Ann – in March 1889. Immigrant children in Cambria County, c1900

Unfortunately, Joseph died three months later, forcing Sarah Ann and her three daughters – the youngest a newborn – to rely on her 21 year-old son James and 16 year-old son Arthur for support.

In April 1891, though, Sarah Ann (née Fullard) married the also-recently-widowed Henry William Mansell, Senior. Their household together consisted of her five children plus his two sons – at least until Henry’s younger son Thomas died in August of that year.

At the age of 45, Sarah Ann gave birth to their last child, Leonard, in 1893. Soon after, her children started to have families of their own. Arthur got married in 1895, followed by Joseph in 1896 (to James Birchall's older sister), then both Henry (to my Lizzie Smith) and Faith in 1901, and finally Anne in 1904.

By the time Henry passed away from appendicitis in March 1916, Sarah’s children had blessed her with 24 grandchildren who were still living; Henry’s children added 22 more. (Their son Leonard contributed another to both their ledgers.) With Henry gone, Sarah Ann moved in with her daughter Mary Ann. When Mary Ann died in October 1918 from the influenza pandemic, Sarah Ann must have been invaluable to her son-in-law James Birchall by taking care of her grandchildren.

James Birchall remarried by the time of the 1920 census, but Sarah Ann still lived with him. Apparently, he felt a continued obligation toward her, and she might have felt a greater sense of purpose there than with her natural children.

Nevertheless, at some point before 1930, Sarah Ann moved in with her son Arthur, where she lived out her remaining years. Sarah Ann Mansell’s time came on October 21st, 1939. At 92 years old, she had outlived four of her eight children – two who died in childhood, her daughter Mary Ann (1918), and her son James (1932). She also outlived at least seven of her grandchildren. Roman philosopher Herodotus said that in peace sons bury their father, while in war fathers bury their sons.

That may be, but mothers carry their lost children in their hearts forever. Sarah Ann is buried near Mary Ann in the North Barnesboro cemetery, just down the street from where Mary Ann had lived.