Sarah DYER ¹

   Another name for Sarah was Sallie.²

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Census: 1860, Grainger County, Tennessee. ³

Household of James Majors: Sarah, 19, F, TN, Illiterate

2. Census: 1880, Grainger County, Tennessee. ⁴

Household of Sarah Majors:
309/310
Majors, Sarah, W, F, 37, Widowed, Keeping House, Illiterate, TN, TN, TN
, Samuel, W, M, 18, Son, Single, Laborer, TN, TN, TN
, James P., W, M, 16, Son, Single, Laborer, Illiterate, TN, TN, TN
, Laura, W, F, 13, Daughter, Illiterate, TN, TN, TN
, Mary J., W, F, 7, Daughter, TN, TN, TN
, Catherine, W, F, 1, Daughter, TN, TN, TN

[In the William Malicoat household at 319/320, there lived a Mary Majors, W, F, 18, Servant, Single, Can't Write, TN, TN, TN. Might she be a daughter of James and Sarah? The problem is that there is already a younger child named Mary. Still, given the propensity to use middle names and the Majors/Malicoat connections, this seems possible. Note that in the 1900 census, Sarah stated she had given birth to 7 children. The only other possibilities seem even more unlikely. First, there was an unidentified Thomas Majors family in the 1880 census at 1/1, but that family also had a daughter named Mary in the household. Second, Phebe M(ary?) Majors, daughter of Daniel Absalom and Sarah Branson, was also 18, but that would mean she was enumerated twice.]

3. Census: 1900, Grainger County, Tennessee. ⁵

Dwelling 79, Family 83, District 11

Dire, Sally, head, white, female, born May 1840, age 60, widowed, mother of 5 children, all still living, born in Tenn, father and mother born in Tenn, farmer, cannot read or write, speaks English

Dire, Kate, daughter, white, female, born Mar 1879, age 21, widowed, no children, born in Tenn, father and mother born in Tenn, reads, writes and speaks English

[Query why Sarah reverted to her maiden name in this census.]

4. Census: 1910, Grainger County, Tennessee. ⁶

Dwelling 88, Family 88, Civil District 4
Household of John H. and Catherine Harrell:
Majors, Sarah, mother-in-law, female, white, age 69, widowed, 7 children 4 still living, born in Tennessee, father and mother born in Tennessee, cannot read or write

5. Census: 1920, Grainger County, Tennessee. ⁷

Dwelling 20, Family 20, Civil District 4
Household of John H. and Kate Harrell:
Majors, Sarah, mother-in-law, female, white, age 80, widowed, born in Tennessee, father and mother born in Tennessee, speaks English

Sarah married James MAJORS, son of Thomas MAJORS and Phebe LEFFEW, on 1 Jan 1857 in Grainger County, Tennessee.¹ (James MAJORS was born about 1835 in Grainger County, Tennessee ⁸ and died before 1880 in Grainger County, Tennessee ⁴.)

  Marriage Notes:

Marriage records also show a marriage license was issued to James P. Majors and Mary Ann Nash on 27 Aug 1856, but there is no return. I have been informed by others that other transcriptions show James Preston Majors to Mariah Nash on 18 Aug 1856 (Byron Sistler and Associates, "Early East Tennessee Marriage Records") and James Roeston Majors to Marian Nash on 18 Aug 1856 (Mickey Morris and Debi Shortridge, "1850-1859 Grainger Co. TN Marriage Records #6). This marriage seems too close to the marriage to Sarah Dyer to be an earlier marriage of James of the 1850 Thomas Majors household, yet no other James Majors is known to have existed. (There was a household in the 1860 census headed by an unidentified Jas and Levina Majors, ages 41 and 37, who seem a bit young to have had a son who married in 1856. This Jas Majors has not been connected to Thomas, although it is noteworthy that at 1665/1665 he lived very close to John and Mary "Polly" (Majors) Bowers at 1667/1667.) Further complicating matters is the fact that there was a Preston Majors who married Polly Jones, either on 4 May 1856 or 26 Feb 1858, depending on the transcription (Sistler, 1856; Morris and Shortridge, 1858). ⁹