Our Unique Stories

sarah windham curry

1865-1928

Life Story

Matriarch of a Blended Family in Newton County

Early Life in Post-Emancipation Mississippi

Sarah Windham was born around 1865 in Mississippi, during one of the most transformative periods in American history. She entered the world as the Civil War drew to a close and emancipation brought freedom to formerly enslaved African Americans throughout the South.

She was the daughter of Sandy Windham and Hannah Walker Windham. The 1870 Federal Census places five-year-old Sarah in Beat 2 of Scott County, Mississippi, living with her parents and younger brother, Billy. The family received its mail through the post office at Lake, Mississippi. Like many African American families during the Reconstruction era, the Windhams were building a new life amid changing social and economic conditions.

In the 1870 census, Sarah and her family were identified as “mulatto,” a racial classification commonly used by census enumerators during the nineteenth century. Such designations reflected the racial attitudes and record-keeping practices of the era rather than how individuals necessarily identified themselves.

Growing up in rural Mississippi, Sarah experienced firsthand the challenges faced by African American families in the decades following emancipation. Though educational opportunities were limited, she learned the skills necessary to manage a household, contribute to agricultural work, and help sustain a family.

Marriage to Jake Curry

On March 20, 1884, Sarah married Jacob “Jake” Curry in Scott County, Mississippi.

Jake, who was approximately fifteen years older than Sarah, had previously been married to Sallie Logan. Evidence from family records and death certificates indicates that Jake and Sallie were the parents of:

  • Sylvia Curry
  • Virge Curry
  • Betsy Curry
  • Samuel Curry
  • Arthur Curry

Following her marriage to Jake, Sarah became stepmother to these children while helping build a new chapter of the Curry family.

The couple soon settled in neighboring Newton County, establishing their home in Beat 4 near the Lawrence community. There they began raising a large family together while working the land that would support them for decades.

Building a Large Family

Sarah’s adult life revolved around family, farming, and household management.

Over the next two decades, she gave birth to numerous children and became the center of a large and active household. Census records indicate that she was the mother of twelve children, nine of whom were still living by 1910.

Children born to Sarah and Jake included:

Together with Jake’s older children from his first marriage, Sarah helped nurture one of the larger family networks in the Lawrence community.

Like many women of her generation, much of Sarah’s work went undocumented. Yet the survival of the household depended upon her labor. She cooked meals, cared for children, maintained the home, preserved food, tended livestock, and often worked alongside family members in agricultural tasks.

Although census records consistently noted that Sarah could neither read nor write, her contributions were measured not in formal education but in the family she helped raise and sustain.

Life on the Farm

The Curry family spent much of their lives farming in Beat 4 of Newton County.

Federal census records from 1900, 1910, and 1920 consistently show Sarah and Jake connected to agricultural work. Farming was demanding and often uncertain. Families depended on favorable weather, crop yields, and fluctuating market prices to survive.

Despite these challenges, Jake and Sarah gradually improved their circumstances. By 1910, Jake owned his farm, although the property carried a mortgage.

For African American families living under Jim Crow, landownership represented both opportunity and risk. Land provided independence and stability, but maintaining ownership often required navigating debt, limited access to credit, and discriminatory economic systems.

Sarah stood beside Jake throughout those struggles.

Financial Hardships and the Threat of Foreclosure

Like many farming families, the Currys experienced financial difficulties.

On March 28, 1911, Jake and Sarah executed a deed of trust to Ruby S. Tatum to secure an indebtedness of $357.15. The debt was secured by approximately thirty-four acres of land located in Section 26, Township 6, Range 10 East in Newton County.

Several years later, a legal notice published in The Newton Record announced that the property would be offered for sale at public auction to satisfy the debt.

The notice, published on June 21, 1917, scheduled a trustee’s sale for June 30, 1917, in front of the Lawrence Mercantile Company store.

Such financial setbacks were not uncommon. Throughout the South, many African American farmers struggled against unfavorable lending arrangements, crop failures, fluctuating agricultural markets, and systemic barriers to economic advancement.

Yet despite these hardships, the Curry family endured.

The 1920 census shows Sarah and Jake still living in Newton County, surrounded by children and grandchildren and continuing to maintain a strong family household.

Widowhood and Final Years

Jake Curry died on February 5, 1925, after decades of farming and family life in Newton County.

Following his death, Sarah entered the final chapter of her life as a widow. Having spent more than forty years helping build the Curry family, she remained in the Lawrence community among her children, grandchildren, and extended relatives.

Three years later, on March 24, 1928, Sarah Windham Curry passed away in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, at approximately sixty-one years of age.

Her death certificate records diabetes mellitus as the cause of death. The attending physician noted that he had treated her for several months before her passing.

Her son, Lee Curry, served as the informant on the death certificate, preserving important information about her parents, Sandy Windham and Hannah Walker Windham, for future generations.

Sarah was laid to rest on March 25, 1928, at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery in Lawrence.

Legacy

Sarah Windham Curry belonged to the first generation of African Americans to come of age after emancipation.

Throughout her life, she helped transform a blended household into a large and enduring family network. As wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, and homemaker, she played a central role in shaping the lives of numerous descendants whose roots remain connected to Newton County.

Although she left behind few written records, her legacy survives through the generations she nurtured and the family she helped build.

Today, Sarah is remembered not only as Jake Curry’s wife but as a matriarch in her own right—a woman whose strength, perseverance, and devotion helped sustain one of the longstanding families of the Lawrence community.

Resting Place

Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery

Photos/Albums

Sarah Windham Curry
Sarah Windham Curry, 1867-1928

Sources

  • 1870 U.S. Census, Scott County, Mississippi, Beat 2, household of Sandy and Hannah Windham; documenting five-year-old Sarah Windham living with her parents and younger brother, Billy Windham.
  • 1870 U.S. Census, Scott County, Mississippi; recording the Windham family with the racial designation “mulatto,” a term commonly used by census enumerators during the nineteenth century.
  • The designation “mulatto” reflected racial classifications employed by federal census officials and does not necessarily indicate how individuals identified themselves.
  • Scott County, Mississippi, Marriage Records, March 20, 1884; documenting the marriage of Jacob (Jake) Curry and Sarah Windham.
  • Family records, census records, and death records indicate that the children of Jake Curry and Sallie Logan included Sylvia Curry, Virge Curry, Betsy Curry, Samuel Curry, and Arthur Curry.
  • Following her marriage to Jake Curry, Sarah Windham became stepmother to Jake’s children from his first marriage while establishing a household of her own in Newton County.
  • 1880 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, household of Jake Curry; documenting the Curry family in the Lawrence community.
  • 1900 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, household of Jake Curry; documenting Sarah Curry and several of her children, including William, Carlton, Frank, Lee, Jack, and Sallie.
  • 1910 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, household of Jake Curry; documenting Sarah as the mother of twelve children, nine of whom were living at the time of enumeration.
  • Family records, census records, and descendant information identify Sarah Windham Curry’s children as William Curry, Carlton (Carleton) Curry, Frankie Curry, Lee Curry, Dock (Jack/Dack) Curry, Sallie Curry, Jake Curry Jr., May Etta Curry, and Bessie L. Curry.
  • 1900, 1910, and 1920 U.S. Census records consistently document Sarah Curry as living in a farming household and contributing to the agricultural economy of Newton County.
  • 1900 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi; recording that Sarah Curry could not read or write, reflecting limited educational opportunities available to many African Americans of her generation.
  • 1910 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi; documenting Jake Curry as a farm owner working on his own account while Sarah maintained the household and family.
  • Deed of Trust, Jake Curry and Sarah Curry to Ruby S. Tatum, March 28, 1911; securing an indebtedness of $357.15 against approximately thirty-four acres of land located in Section 26, Township 6, Range 10 East, Newton County, Mississippi.
  • The Newton Record (Newton, Mississippi), June 21, 1917, “Notice of Trustee’s Sale”; announcing a public auction of the Curry property scheduled for June 30, 1917, to satisfy the outstanding debt.
  • The Newton Record (Newton, Mississippi), June 21, 1917; identifying D. Blackburn as trustee and specifying that the sale would occur in front of the Lawrence Mercantile Company store.
  • Financial difficulties associated with mortgages, crop liens, and agricultural debt were common among Black farmers in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era and frequently threatened land ownership.
  • 1920 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, household of Jake and Sarah Curry; documenting a multi-generational household that included children and grandchildren.
  • Mississippi Death Certificate, Jake Curry, February 5, 1925; documenting the death of Sarah’s husband after more than forty years of marriage.
  • Mississippi Death Certificate, Sarah W. Curry, Certificate No. 6150, March 24, 1928; documenting her death in Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi, at approximately sixty-one years of age.
  • Mississippi Death Certificate, Sarah W. Curry; identifying diabetes mellitus as the cause of death and noting that her physician had treated her for several months.
  • Mississippi Death Certificate, Sarah W. Curry; naming Lee Curry as informant and identifying her parents as Sandy Windham and Hannah Windham.
  • Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi; burial records documenting Sarah Windham Curry’s interment on March 25, 1928.
  • Family records, census records, marriage records, death certificates, land records, newspaper notices, cemetery records, and oral histories collectively document Sarah Windham Curry’s life as wife, mother, stepmother, homemaker, and matriarch of the Curry family in Newton County, Mississippi.

Leave a Reply