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(A) Herman Rane - "County Jottings"- article in Ind. Section of Louisville Times, May 30, 1927.
Although Sarah O'Donnell is dead, Herman Rane wrote a vivid account of her life. At this time she was 107 years old. The story was written as follows:
"Sarah O'Donnell was born May 4, 1820, on the place of William Thompson, Nelson County, Kentucky, near Bardstown, where her mother, Lucy, was a slave in the family of Mr. Thompson. When Thompson died, then Sarah, a young girl, was given to Miss Nancy Thompson, daughter of the old master. She later sold her young slave to Jack Mulligan, who gave her to his daughter, Mrs. Sallie O'Donnell, near Springfield, Kentucky. While in this family, she was married, the Reverend Father Kelly, St. Rose Catholic Church reading the ceremony.
Meanwhile the slaves had been liberated by Lincoln's proclamation and the storm of the War between the States swept over the hitherto peaceful hills and valleys of the picturesque and historic section where Sarah O'Donnell lived, still in the services of the family for whose members she held a deep affection.
'I never had any education,' said the old woman, whose face showed traces of considerable beauty in earlier days -she is very light in color. 'I had to do hard work all my life, in the cornfields or wherever there was anything to do but somehow, I always had good masters until we were free and I did not quit then. Oh yes, some of the old family come over sometimes and visit me here where I am lying helpless now with my daughter, Mrs. Clemens who is taking care of me. During the last couple of years rheumatism has made me unable to stand on my feet and I have to lie in bed. Of course, it is tiresome, but I am patiently waiting the call.'
Mrs. O'Donnell has a remarkable memory but her life has been an uneventful one, a humble one naturally. When asked whether she remembered Indians in her early youth, she said she saw a few, once in awhile in Bardstown. She remembered seeing Bishop Spalding there and perhaps the greatest adventure of her life was the cooking of a meal for General Jefferson C. Davis and the company of soldiers who accompanied him and stopped at the O'Donnell estate.
'He told me to get them something to eat. They were out on a scout in that neighborhood.'
When asked whether they were Union or Confederate troops, she was not quite sure but she was certain it was General Jefferson C. Davis who was certainly in Kentucky at that time.
'I hadn't much time to look and see who all they were. They were in a hurry and hungry and you know it didn't pay to ask questions of soldiers, especially not of generals, as to who they were.
She was quite right. General Davis was a member of a Clark County pioneer family.
'My husband and I had ten children but only two of my daughters are still alive, Mrs. Susie Clemens, here and Mrs. Mattie Miller, in Anderson, Indiana.'
She is sure that the records of the Catholic Church in which she was baptized, confirmed and married and the families of her owners, can confirm her age. While her body has succumbed, at least partially, her mind is bright.
O'Hara, Cynthia Vamderburgh County, Indiana (Lauana Creel)
