Key Facts

Snapshot:	owned slaves; immigrated from North Carolina to Georgia; may have been my longest-lived ancestor
Parents:	2610Bedford Fagan Her mother's identity is unknown.
Born:	circa 1750 North Carolina
Died:	on or about 24 May 1851 presumably Bulloch County, Georgia
Buried:	unknown

Estimates vary somewhat, but 1305Sarah Fagan was born generally circa 17501-4 in North Carolina3 to her father 2610Bedford Fagan.5 Her mother may have been 2610Bedford's wife Mary (named in his will5), but this isn't certain.

By 12 September 1777 1305Sarah had married 1304John Everitt.5 For more details about their marriage, their lives together, etc. (including their move to Georgia), see his profile since that information won't be repeated here.

Her husband died in 1820.6 In 1830 1305Sarah was living in Bulloch County, Georgia and apparently had one son still living with her, plus 11 slaves.1

1830: 1305Sarah in Bulloch County, Georgia. Full page.1

1830: 1305Sarah's slaves. Full page.1

By 1840 she was living alone except for 17 slaves.2

1840: 1305Sarah still in Bulloch County. Full page.2

1840: 1305Sarah's 17 slaves. Full page.2

In 1850, she was reportedly 104 years old and lived alone3 except for 19 slaves.7 This census also surveyed her farm (1, 2, template).8

1850: 1305Sarah still in Bulloch County. Full page.3

1850: 1305Sarah's slaves. Full page.7

Although lacking a proper source citation, a book published in 1883 (about 32 years after 1305Sarah's death) seems to provide an eyewitness description of 1305Sarah in her latter years:

JOHN EVERETT married Sarah Fagan, daughter of John Fagan. She was born about 1746. They removed from the Great Pe Dee, North Carolina, to Bullock County, Georgia, where they died at Mill Creek. She possessed a very fair complexion, was small of stature, but very healthy and active, rising before daybreak to superintend her household affairs, and continuing her activity to an extreme old age. She was an exceedingly interesting person, and was full of sympathy for the poor. By an accident, she was made a cripple for several years before her death, having injured her hip by a fall, but she was carried about the house in her arm-chair, and rode out almost every day in her rockaway. Notwithstanding her misfortune, she lived to the great age of 104 years, outliving her husband many years, wonderfully retaining her mental faculties and still managing her affairs.9

1305Sarah didn't write a will but instead informally expressed her preferences for the division of her estate as she lay on her deathbed. The encounter is described in a court document, the first few lines of which are copied below (or see the full document).10 A transcription follows.

The first few lines of the record copy of 1305Sarah's nuncupative will. Full page.10

State of Georgia, Bulloch County } We Hannah Waters Thomas Waters Senior and Sarah Ann Brannen were present on Tuesday the 20th day of May in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and Fifty one at the residence of Sarah Everitt a widow woman before and at the time of her death, about four days before her death in perfect perssession of her mental faculties she called Sarah Ann Branner as much as twice and Sarah Ann went to her with myself and the old man meaning Thomas Waters Sen She said I want Ann meaning, Ann Brown the daughter of John Barber of said county to have all the money in the house then she said Mr Waters you have got the notes and keep them until you collect the money and make up two hundred dollars to Ann and then give Sarah Ann Brannen the balance This 31st day of May 1851

Hannah X Waters
Thomas X Waters Sen
Sarah Ann Brannen

Her nuncupative will sparked legal disputes, and ultimately her estate was divided quite differently than how she'd requested. Receipts are in Bulloch County's estate records book 8-A on pages 18-22,10 and Alvaretta Kenan Register provides a convenient summary.11

Sources Cited:

1: 1830 U.S. Federal Census. Bulloch County, Georgia. Page 199, Sarah Everitt household. NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 16. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYY-9X1?i=17&cc=1803958> et seq., accessed 28 September 2019.

2: 1840 U.S. Federal Census. Bulloch County, Georgia. Page 128, Sarah Evritt household. NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 37. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYY2-3SXR?i=24&cc=1786457> et seq., accessed 28 September 2019.

3: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Bulloch County, Georgia. Page 253, dwelling 247, family 254, Sarah Everitt household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 62. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XC3Q-VK1?i=34&cc=1401638&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZYN-MCB>.

4: NARA microfilm publication M804, roll 944, Revolutionary War pension application file by Sarah Everitt on behalf of John Everitt of North Carolina (R. 3404), image 424. Ancestry.com, accessed circa 2011. I've uploaded the full application file (from roll 944) in ZIP format. Other images are hereafter cited as "M804 roll 944, op. cit., image _."

5: Tyrrell County, North Carolina. Wills volume 1 (1744-1836), page 120. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:SQWX-8NFT-9?i=225&wc=32L2-VZQ%3A170019001%2C170223901&cc=1867501>, accessed 19 September 2019. This is 2610Bedford Fagan's will.

6: Bulloch County, Georgia. Ordinary court minutes, volume X (1815-1843), page 30. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4K-2W9L-Y?i=21&cat=152418>, accessed 14 September 2019.

7: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Bulloch County, Georgia. Page 84, slaves of Sarah Everitt. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 88. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XX8W-M8X?i=16&cc=1420440>, accessed 30 September 2019.

8: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Bulloch County, Georgia. Pages 21-22, entry 10, Sarah Everitt farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 1. The NARA provides a helpful template.

9: Bulloch County, Georgia. Court of Ordinary. Wills & misc. estate records book 5-A (1845-1854), pages 251-252. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93G-6QKR?i=442&cc=1999178> et seq. This is 1305Sarah's will.

10: Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt, Laurus Crawfurdiana: Memorials of That Branch of the Crawford Family Which Comprises the Descendants of John Crawford, of Virginia, 1660-1883; with Notices of the Allied Families (E. O. Jenkins, New York, 1883), page 80.

11: Bulloch County, Georgia. Court of Ordinary. Wills & misc. estate records book 8-A (1854-1861), pages 18-22. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93G-F9KD?i=17&wc=9SYB-168%3A267649901%2C267767801&cc=1999178> et seq., accessed 30 September 2019.

12: Alvaretta Kenan Register and David M. Foley (ed.), Everett/Everitt Family: A Genealogical History (the Estate of Alvaretta Kenan Register, Statesboro, Georgia, 1987), pages 9-10.