Sarah Adaline Sebastian

On last Sunday afternoon June 4th, as the sun was sinking in the west, the earthly life of this good woman - this “mother in Israel” came to a peaceful end. Her labors are o’er, her toils have ceased, her trials have vanished, and her warfare is ended. Life’s battles have been fought, the last foe has been vanquished, and the victory is won. Earthly garments have been exchanged for those of heaven, and the cross for the crown. She has joined that innumerable throng which John, in resplendent vision, saw standing about the throne of God, and by the sea of glass, having harps of God.

Mrs. Sebastian was a native of Mt. Pleasant, Tennesse, having been born there, August 5, 1836, and lacked but two months of being 69 years of age. When she was 11 years old her parents moved to Arkansas, and settled in Phillips County, near the present site of Marvell. There she was married to Mr. Sebastian, and later they moved to Clarendon. From this union were born seven children, three of whom are dead, and the others - Mrs. T. M. Brown, Mrs. F. W. Jackson, Mrs. Lucy Anderson, and Mr. Wm. K. Sebastian - all living here in Clarendon.

At an early age Mrs. Sebastian joined the Methodist church, but when she came to Clarendon to live, she and her husband both united with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which Mr. Sebastian became an elder. It is believed that Mrs. Sebastian was a charter member of this church which was organized in 1857, though it cannot be definitely known now, as the early records of the Church were lost. She had lived longer in Clarendon than any person now living here, as she and her husband came here several years before the out-breaking of the Civil War. By the death of Mr. Sebastian in 1872 she was left with the care of her small children to face life’s battle as a widow, but right bravely and successfully did she meet the great responsibility resting upon her. She looked well to the ways of her household, “brought up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” and lived to see them all grow to maturity and settled about her. Her last appearance away from home was at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church on Sunday, May 23, to attend the funeral of little Minnie Green. On that same evening she was stricken with the illness which terminated in her death.

How true that: “Death rides on every passing breeze, And lurks in every flower; Each season has its own disease, Its peril every hour.”

The funeral was conducted from the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where she had so often worshipped, by her pastor, T. N. Hunt on Monday June 5 and the remains were interred in Shady Grove Cemetery. T.N. Hunt From her funeral invitation:” Died at the family residence, Sunday June 4, 1905. Mrs. Sarah Adaline Sebastian, aged 68 years, 10 months, Funeral from Cumberland Presbyterian Church Monday, June 5, 1905, 2 o’clock p.m. by Rev. T. N. Hunt. Interment at Shady Grove Cemetery.” (Printed on a white card with a black border, as was the custom) Sarah was the widow of William Holman Sebastian.