Free Will Baptist Cemetery, Marker #34

(~1848-1873)

Sarah was born about 1848. She died 1 August 1873, at the age of 25, just three months after the death of her only child Harold, age 11 months. Sarah died in Curacao in the Caribbean—her grave marker reads Curacoa, W I.

Sarah was the second of eight children of Henry and Matilda (Bennison) Goldfinch. Her parents are buried at this site and named on the same marker. Sarah’s brother Arthur, who was lost at sea, is also named. We have no idea why Sarah was in Curacao nor if that is where her son Harold died. We do not know Harold’s place of burial; nor do we know, for sure, whether Sarah’s remains were brought to this cemetery. Perhaps she is buried in Curacao and the inscription on this marker is simply a memorial to her, as it is to her brother Arthur.

Sarah’s husband, Samuel Gardner, apparently did not remarry. Was he a sea captain at the time of Sarah’s death in Curacao? He is described in some records as Capt Gardner. Samuel was still living in 1911—his occupation then was retail grocer. At the time he was a widower living on Main Street in Yarmouth with his sister, Elizabeth Goldfinch. Elizabeth was the widow of James Goldfinch. It is possible James was Samuel’s wife’s uncle, a brother of Sarah’s father Henry—both James and Henry were born in London, England.

Further information about Sarah, her parents and her family appears in the Old Stones Family Group Sheet Index.

Please leave a comment if you have any additional information about Sarah. particularly the circumstances of her son’s death and of her death in Curacao.