Photo # 12: Sarah Gardiner Schofield

Sarah Gardiner Schofield, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

 Photo # 12: My 2nd great grandmother

Sarah Frances Gardiner, wife of Joseph Scholfield, was my 2nd great grandmother. What a thrill it was to see her still living at age ninety-four in the 1940 census. I have spent a lot of time researching her line. I've met others researching her siblings and this is one of those lines where my gravestones have enticed others to contact me. My family called her "Gramma Schofield" and because she died only a few years before I was born, I have a some great stories about her. My notes say "Everyone loved her."

This is the last known photo of her taken in 1935 in Westerly, RI. It was taken on the same day as a four generation photo. There are several shots with each person who was there having a turn to be in the photo. I have three generations of four generation photos. It's a blessing.

Sarah lived to be ninety-eight years old. Since her maiden name was Gardiner (often spelled Gardner), I was anxious to try to prove her lineage to George Gardiner of Rhode Island. It isn't perfect, but I am on the right track. Her grandfather, James Gardiner, Jr. married Dorcas Mason of North Carolina. Dates and places are not lining up correctly but that's a problem for another day. I am sure of her parents however and I have a list of her siblings which I work on all of the time.  The 1850 census for her family helped out a great deal.

I wish my mother had named me Sarah. I like to read as she did and I had only one child, as did she. However, she was a great cook and I'm not. The day before she died, she was making pies. My mother took the rolling pin out of her hands and told her that she should lie down for a while. The next day, she was gone. Let it be known here that I will not be making pies when I am near death.

One Memorial Day, I expressed an interest in finding my 2nd great grandparent's graves. My mother vaguely gestured over to the far side of the cemetery. I was disappointed not to be driven over there. I wish I'd insisted. I was an adult before I located the stone. Photographing it is a story for another day.

For the next few blog posts, I will be telling you, dear readers, about my Barber and Schofield families. I have new information which always makes research more fun, don't you think?

By the way, Grandma Schofield's granddaughter, my grandmother also died at 98. If there's a pattern here, then, I am going to be here a while.

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