Day 36. Snowdrops

Snowdrops on the grave of Sarah Salmon Silvester in Preston churchyard.

Sarah, a farmer's daughter, was born in 1835 in Tiddington. Shortly after her birth, her father Samuel inherited The Cottage in Preston, then a substantial farmstead, from his wealthy but childless uncle Richard Salmon. Samuel bestowed the names 'Richard' and 'Salmon' on several of his children.

Sarah married local farmer Giles Smith in 1861, aged 26. The couple moved to Park Farm where two sons and a daughter followed.

In 1870, now aged 35 and pregnant with her fourth child, her health began to decline. She suffered from phthisis, or tuberculosis, a disease commonly linked with drinking infected milk which claimed thousands of lives in the 19^th century. With her advancing pregnancy, her illness was too much to bear. She died in November before her child was born. Farm labourer's wife Barbara Day from No.12 was with her when she died.

Sarah was buried in Preston churchyard, next to her sister-in-law Elizabeth Wyatt, who had died in 1864 aged 31. Her grave today is a mass of snowdrops in early spring. These flowers became widely popular in the mid 19^th century, and it is a nice thought that perhaps Giles or her children  – the youngest was four years old when she died – planted the first bulbs there in her memory.

 

Possibly a portrait of Sarah.