The Compendium of American Genealogy, Volume VII, Lineage Records, Page 662: Sarah's father was a.-d.-c. to Washington in French and Indian War
From Godfrey Ragsdale by Caroline Skelton, p 34: In 1815 Sarah, now a widow, brought a "suit of equity" in Laurens County against her son Edmond, as administrator, in behalf of her other children, claiming that the 194 acres bought by her husband in 1784, where she had lived with Edmond Ragsdale since the death of her husband, had not been divided among them. Estate records show that the acreage was sold to Edmond for $782 and that five legatees received their part of the sale. Francis Asbury and Elizabeth were not in the five listed. The suit was dropped.
She was over 100 years of age when she died.
Lebanon Methodist Church History, p 42, "From family papers ...we learn that the wives of Peter Ragsdale and Charles Sullivan (known as the "Charlton sisters") and the widow Bowman (nee Gore) were the moving spirits behind the founding of Lebanon Church. They ere women of education and piety, not satisfied in this new land without a church and a school for the children. So as soon as their houses were built, they persuaded their husbands to send back to Virginia for the Rev. Mark Moore, known to be a great preacher and a fine educator, to come to serve their community and help establish Methodism in upper Carolina. 2"
p 2, "This pole chapel was ready when Ragsdale returned with his brother-in-law, the Rev. Mark Moore."
p 6, "... obituary in an early newspaper, "The Greenville Mountaineer " (JM Lesesne's Marriage and Death Notices) in "The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine", vol. 50, p 47 'Departed this life 5 February 1830, Mrs. Sarah Ragsdale, age 100. A member of the Methodist Church 70 years This ancient lady, widow of Peter Ragsdale, and her husband were founding members of The Grove. She had been a Methodist since 1760 in Virginia (long before the official 1784 founding date, there were Methodist Societies in Colonial America)and her membership was not interrupted when the family moved here in 1785 to live on the land granted to Peter Ragsdale the year before, in May 1784. Both husband and wife were buried in the Old Cemetery and also their daughter Fannie with her husband, John Ridgeway, Jr. The Old Cemetery on Rocky Shoals Branch near Reedy River has row upon row of the graves of these pioneers, most of them marked by native "tomb rocks", the inscriptions no long legible. There were no "boughten" tombstones in this back country until later.
Marriage and Death Notices from the Up-Country of SC as taken from Greenville Newspapers 1826-1863, compiled by Brent H Holcomb, 1983, SCMAR
p 12 "Greenville Mountaineer", February 27, 1830, "Departed this life on the 5th inst., in the lower part of this district, after a few days illness, Mrs. Sarah Ragsdale in the 100th year of her age. Until her last illness she was able to walk one or two miles with considerable ease. She has been a member of the Methodist Church for the last 70 years. She was a kind mother and mistress and much respected by all who knew her."
