Sarah Elizabeth (Milner) Ketchum

Sara Milner KetchumSarah E. Milner was born in Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1842, the eldest daughter of Attorney-at- Law, Christopher Milner,  and his wife Elizabeth Morse. She had three younger sisters Ellen, Alice, and Lucy, and one brother William (W.C. Milner). Her grandfather was Christopher Milner Sr., an Anglican minister who emigrated from England and served in the Dorchester area,1818-1836.  As a young girl, 1854-56, Sarah Milner attended Mount Allison Wesleyan Ladies’ Academy in Sackville.

On 21 August 1866, at St. Ann’s and St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Sackville, Sarah Milner married Henry George Clopper Ketchum, a promising young engineer.  They made their home at Elmcroft in Fredericton.  Over the years, several members of the Milner family made their home with Sarah and H.G.C. Ketchum. In the 1870s, Sarah’s unmarried sister, Alice Milner, lived with them until, on 5 May 1879, she married George Evans Stepford, at Christ Church Cathedral. Later Alice Milner Stepford’s daughters Ellen, Norah and Florence, were to make their home with Sarah Ketchum, as did their grandmother, Elizabeth Morse Milner who lived at Elmcroft until her death in 1904.

Widowed in 1896, Sarah Ketchum remained very active in charities and community service. She was a life member of the Red Cross and for many years the Honorary Regent of the Sir Howard Douglas branch of the I.O.D.E. in Fredericton. She was also closely identified with Christ Church Cathedral. Well known for her hospitality, Sarah Ketchum made Elmcroft  the scene of many social events in Fredericton.

When elderly, Sarah Ketchum moved to Saint John where she died at the Old Ladies Home on 7 Nov. 1930.   Her sister, Lucy, (Mrs. Irwin W. Binney), passed away one week earlier and this may have hastened Sarah’s death. She was survived by one sister Alice (Mrs. G.E. Stepford) of Halifax and her brother, W.C. Milner, of Wolfville.

Sources:
Allisonia. Vol. I, no. 4 (1904); Vol II no. 1 (1904).
Census Records: New Brunswick. Westmorland County 1851.
Census Records: New Brunswick. York County 1871 and 1901.
Johnson, D.F. Vital Statistics  from New Brunswick Newspapers, 1879.
Obituary: Daily Gleaner, Nov. 7, 1930, p.5.
Register of Marriages, 1840-1873, from St. Ann’s and St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Sackville, N.B.


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