In the 1830s settlers began arriving inIowa from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. Iowa became a state in 1846.
Sarah Branstiter Taylor was born on May 28, 1827 in German Township, Clark County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Daniel Branstiter and Elizabeth Baker.
She married Jacob Taylor in 1845 when she was eighteen years old. Their children and life together are described in the section on the Jacob and Sarah Taylor family.
She was left a widow when Jacob died in 1884.
Sarah appeared in the 1900 census when she was 72 years old. She was living in the East Half of Lincoln in Warren County, Iowa with her son Jacob Taylor and daughter Sarah Burgett. She was a carpet weaver. The census indicated that she had given birth to ten children, seven of whom were living. She lived next door to her granddaughter Sarah Alice (Allie) Stringfield Schooler.
At the time of the 1900 census, Sarah was living with her daughters, Louisa Long, Leathy Gilman and Sarah Jane Burgett in Lincoln Township in the Village of Summerset, Warren County, Iowa. Her cousin, Rebecca Ellen Branstiter Welty, who was her father’s brother John Branstetter’s daughter also lived in Warren County.
At the time of the 1910 census Sarah was with three of her daughters in Lincoln Township, Warren County, Iowa. The household consisted of Leathy A. Gilman age 59, Sarah Taylor age 82, Sarah Jane Burgett age 51 and Louisa Long age 61.
Sarah died at the age of 85 on November 13, 1912 in Pilot Mound, Boone County, Iowa at the home of her daughter Mary Campbell. She is buried in Pilot Mound Cemetery with Mary.
Clark County, Ohio was formed March 1, 1817, from Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties. The first settlement was in 1796. The inhabitants of German Township were German Lutherans who came from Virginia.
