Life Summary: Sarah Ann Brignall (1845 - 1930)

Sarah Ann Brignall was born on February 2, 1845 in the village of Earswick, in the parish of Huntington, near York, in Yorkshire, England. It appears that she was christened in the nearby parish of Haxby on April 20 of that year. As with Sarah’s husband, Donald Brown (1840 - 1918), there is some disagreement in the sources as to the date of her birth. The notes of Harmon Fairchild say she was born in 1845. This is corroborated by English records of her birth and christening, the British census of 1851, which gives her age as 6, the Canadian census of 1861, which gives her age as 16 and the census of 1871, which gives her age as 26. The online record of the Midland City Cemetery gives her birth date as 1843, as does the online transcript of Sarah’s Michigan death certificate. To complicate things further, Harmon Fairchild's notes say that she came to North America when she was 11. The manifest (passenger list) of the ship on which she and her parents came in May of 1855 lists her age as 9. In fact she would have been 10 in May of 1855. Perhaps her father forgot that she had had her tenth birthday? Even more puzzling is the fact that the US census for 1900 gives her date of birth as February 1847. I think the birth and christening records as well as the early census information must be correct and that she was born in 1845.

Sarah’s parents were Joseph and Harriet Brignall. Both were born in Yorkshire, England. In May of 1855 they sailed with Sarah from Liverpool to New York City on the ship, John Bright. Both are listed in the ship’s manifest as being 40 years of age. Joseph is listed as a farmer and the manifest says their ultimate destination is Canada. According to Harmon Fairchild's notes, they settled in “Whitby, Victoria County, Ontario.”  However the city of Whitby at that time was located in the county of Ontario (now replaced by the regional municipality of Durham). According to the Canadian censuses, there were Brignalls or Brignals living near Whitby, in Pickering Township. Thomas Brignall was in Canada already in 1851, and appears to have been Joseph’s brother. Probably the Joseph Brignall family came first to Whitby and then moved to Mariposa Township in Victoria County.

According to the Canadian census of 1861, Sarah A. Brignal, age 16, was living with her mother, Harriet Brignal, age 45, in Mariposa Township, Victoria County, Ontario. No husband for Harriet is listed, but Harriet is listed as married, not widowed. Joseph Brignal is listed on a separate page of the census. Sarah married Donald Brown later in that same year, on November 26. Since the names of her parents were “Joseph” and “Harriet”, one can see why her only daughter was named Harriet and her second-born son was named Joseph. For more information about the children of Donald and Sarah, see Donald Brown’s life summary.

Harmon Fairchild's notes say that when she was young, Sarah had dark hair and eyes. At the time that she was married she weighed 90 pounds. She weighed 170 pounds when she was 43. My dad adds the rather surprising information that Sarah smoked a pipe! In the picture above I think she and her daughter Harriet Brown Fairchild look formidable.

According to the 1930 census, at that time Sarah was living in Midland with her son John. She died on April 10, 1933 at the age of 88 and is buried in the Michigan City Cemetery.