Sarah Jane Couch

Obituary of Mrs. Jane Couch: Sarah Jane, daughter of Thomas and Delia (Celia Poe) Osborne, wife of the late Milton Couch, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, August 30, 1825, and departed this life November 20, 1904, at the advanced age of 79 years, 2 months and 20 days. She had a birthright membership with the Friends, but after her marriage she and her husband were members of the Protestant Methodist church until they moved to Johnson county, Kansas in April of 1867, settling on the wild prairie where they underwent the hardships incident to a pioneer life in the Shawnee Indian reservation. Some fourteen years ago they became members of the Methodist Episcopal church here at this place. The husband was called away in 1894, since which time she had lived at the old homestead under the care of her younger son, Bartlett Couch and his wife Nellie. She always claimed to have never regretted her move to Kansas, where she had the satisfaction of seeing her children all settled in daily visiting distance of her home. Mother Couch has always been a patient and courageous woman, fighting the battle of life with Christian fortitude, holding herself in readiness to obey the summons.

Mrs. Couch leaves seven children, five daughters and two sons. They are Mrs. Oliver Cromwell Gordon (Eliza Ellen Couch), Mrs. George Leamer (Roseann Carson Couch), Mrs. Thomas A. Steed (Sarah Emeline "Emma" Couch), Mrs. John Gordon (Mary Ada Couch), Miss Betsy (Rachel Elizabeth) Couch, Bartlett Monroe Couch, and Clarkson Couch. (NOTE: Sarah Jane's oldest daughter, Luzinia Elmina Couch Scott, passed away in 1898, at the relatively young age of 52 years old, so was not mentioned in this obituary.)

Besides these children there are eighteen grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and about forty other relatives. She was a kind and loving mother, a true friend and neighbor and was highly esteemed by all who knew her.

The funeral services were held on Tuesday, November 22, at the Friends church at Prairie Center, Rev. Eusebia Couch having charge, after which the remains were laid to rest by the side of her husband in the Lexington Cemetery, 2nd addition, Lot 70.

Despite the above obituary, Find A Grave shows that she was buried in the De Soto Cemetery in De Soto, Johnson County, Kansas, not the Lexington Cemetery, however, the Lexington Cemetery name may have been changed to the De Soto Cemetery some time after Sarah Jane's death.

Sarah was my paternal second great grandmother, and sadly, she died about six years before my father was born in 1910, in Prairie Center, Johnson County, Kansas.

According to Find A Grave.com the headstone of Sarah Jane Osborne Couch reads as follows: "Dear Mother thou has left us, And thy loss we dearly feel, By this God that has borne us, He can all our sorrows heal."

Sarah married Milton Couch February 13, 1845, in Guilford County, North Carolina. Their first daughter, Luzinia Elmina Couch, (my great grandmother) was born April 4, 1846, followed by 5 more daughters and 2 sons.

Della Dale Smith-Pistelli

July 27, 2016

The following information is from public records for Sarah Jane Osborn Couch: In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census for Wilkes County, North Carolina, they were listed as follows: Milton Couch, 30, Sarah, 25, Lugena, 4, (Luzinia Elmina) and Eliza, 2 years old. Milton was working as a mechanic. Living next door was his brother, Meshack Couch, 22, and his wife, Mary, 21, and Meshack was also working as a mechanic. Milton, Sarah and Meshack were born in Guilford County, and Mary, Luzinia and Eliza were born in Wilkes County.

For some reason, I found no record of Milton and Sarah in the 1860 census in North Carolina, and we know they did not leave there for Kansas until 1867 according to Sarah's obituary above. However, I did find Sarah Jane Osborne Couch's parents in the 1860 census, Thomas Osborne, 70, and his wife, Celia Poe Osborne, 60, and their son, Allen, 42, and his wife, Sarah, 39, and their two children, Mary E., and Martha E., both 15, living in the Eastern Division of Randolph County, North Carolina, along with Allen's sister, Anne, 25. Allen was working as a carpenter, his wife Sarah as a domestic, his father Thomas as a farmer and his mother, Celia, and sister, Ann, also as domestics. Allen's real estate was valued at $700 and his personal estate at $860.

Nine years later, Sarah's father, Thomas Osborne, born March 14, 1790, passed away at the age of 79 years old on December 18, 1869, in Anderson County, Kansas, so we know he came to Kansas with his daughter Sarah and her family. Thomas Osborne had married Celia Poe on August 20, 1816, in Guilford County, North Carolina. Celia lived another 9 years and passed away in 1878 in Kansas. I'm assuming she was buried with her husband Thomas in the Sugar Valley Cemetery in Anderson County, Kansas. They had a total of six children, Allen, William D., David Madison, Sarah Jane, Matthew Emery, and Mary Ann.

David Madison Osborne and his second wife, Mary Porter Guerrant, also moved to Kansas. He died in 1877 in Anderson County, Kansas, and was also buried in the Sugar Valley Cemetery. Matthew Emery Osborne also moved to Kansas. He was married three times, to Nancy Emeline White, but she died in 1875, and then he married Mary E. Harkness. Mary died just two years later and then Matthew married Jarusha Ann Morgan in 1878.

In the 1875 census for the state of Kansas, taken March 1st, the family was listed as follows: Milton, 54, Sarah Jane, 50, Betsy, 17, Mary, 15, Clarkson, 11, and Bartlett, 7 years old. Living next door was their daughter, Sarah Emeline "Emma" Couch Steed, 20, and her husband, Thomas Steed, 28. Next door to them was their daughter, Luzinia Elmina Couch Scott, 29, and her husband, Thomas Benton Scott, 30, and their children, John C., 7, Lelia, 4, and Mattie Estella, 1 year old. A few doors down was another daughter, Roseann Carson Couch Leamer, 24, and her husband, George Leamer. Not far away was the family of William R. Hale, 28, and his wife, Martha, 22, and their two daughters, Viola, 4, and Mary Elizabeth, 3 years old. Mary Elizabeth Hale was the future wife of John C. Scott.

Also living nearby was Milton and Sarah Jane's daughter, Eliza Ellen Couch Gordon, 27, and her husband, Oliver Cromwell Gordon, 36, and their children, William, 7, Annie, 3, and Charles, 1 year old. Living with them was Oliver's brother, John, 25, who would later marry Milton and Sarah's daughter Mary Ada Couh. Not far from them were Oliver and John Gordon's parents and siblings, Jonathan, 59, Irene, 59, Jasper, 28, S. Gordon, 19, Edwin, 16, and W. Gordon, 9 years old.

Also close by was William W. Oshel, 47, and his wife, Betsy, 45, and their children, Harriet, 13, Thomas W., 13, Mary, 11, Ariadne, 9, Chase, 7, and Ida, 4. Ariadne Oshel would become the wife of Clarkson M. Couch, son of Milton and Sarah Jane Osborn Couch. William Oshel's brother, Thomas, 34, and his wife Jane, 26, and their daughters Annora, 5, and Sarah, 2, were also living nearby. So many of Sarah's family were living near her at the time. All adult male members of the family were working as farmers.

In the 1880 census, Milton, 59, and Sarah, 59, were living in Lexington, Johnson County, Kansas, with children, Elizabeth, 22, (Betsy), Clarkson, 16, and Bartlett M., 12. Milton was still farming, and still living nearby were many of the above family members.

In the March 1, 1885, Kansas State Census, Milton, 64, Sarah Jane, 57, Clarkson M., 21, and Bartlett, 17, were living in Spring Hill, Johnson County, Kansas, and next door was daughter Eliza Ellen Couch Gordon, 36, and husband, Oliver Cromwell, 45, and their children, William, 17, Annie, 13, Charles, 11, Alice, 9, Fred, 8, Katy, 4, Gretty, 2, (Lucretia Ida), and Anna, 2 months old, and Oliver's parents, Jonathan W., 69, and Irene, 69. Oliver was working as a farmer and stock grower.

Sarah Jane's brother, Allen Osborne, died May 25, 1885, in Garnett, Anderson County, Kansas. He had married Miss Sarah Allred in 1844 in North Carolina. Shortly after the commencement of the Civil War they left North Carolina and moved to Indiana where they lived for a time, and then moved to Kansas. He died at the home of his son-in-law, George Iler, in Garnett, and was buried in the Garnett Cemetery.

Allen and Sarah's daughter, Mary Elizabeth Osborne, born 1844 in Randolph, North Carolina, passed away June 27, 1887, in Garnett and was also buried in the Garnett Cemetery. Her husband, George Washington Iler lived another 26 years and died in October of 1913. He was the director of the Paola, Garnett, Burlington & Santa Fe Railroad as it came to Anderson county, and was the publisher of the Garnett Plaindealer Newspaper and mayor of Garnett. Allen's wife, Sarah Allred Osborne, died at the age of 68 years old in June of 1888 and was buried with her husband at the Garnet Cemetery.

By the March 1, 1895, Kansas State Census for Lexington, Johnson County, Sarah, 70, was living with her son Bartlett, 27, and his wife, Nellie Elizabeth, 28, and their son Glen, 6, and Sarah's spinster daughter, Betsy Couch, 40. Sarah's husband, Milton Couch, had passed away the previous year in 1894.

In the 1900 census, Sarah Jane, 74, and Rachel Elizabeth "Betsy", 44, were still living together in Lexington, and many of Sarah's descendants were also still living nearby, including her daughter, Emma Steed, 45, and husband Thomas, 53, and their twin boys, Carl and Earl, 15, and nearby was their older son Claud Steed, 24, and his wife, Dora, 23, and Milton and Sarah's daughter Roseann Leamer, 49, and her husband, George, 52, and their daughter, Mirty, 23, Sarah's grandson, John C. Scott, 32, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Hale Scott, 27, and their two children, Wyatt, 7, and Zena B., 2 years old.

John Scott was the grandson of Sarah's oldest daughter, Luzinia Elmina Couch Scott, who sadly passed away two years earlier in 1898 at the relatively young age of 52 years old. John's sister, Mattie Estella Scott Smith, and her husband, Isaac Randall Smith, were also living nearby with their 4-year old son Bertle Haze Smith. A few years after the death of Mattie's mother, Luzinia Elmina Couch Scott, Mattie's father, Thomas Benton Scott, married a second time to a woman named Sarah Nixon who was five years older than Thomas. She died in 1911 and Thomas lived another 10 years and died in 1921 in Kansas City. Not long after the death of Thomas, Mattie and her husband Isaac and their 5 children moved to Venice, California, probably about 1922, due to her husband's health. Isaac had asthma and could not tolerate the "Dust Bowl Days" of Kansas.

Sarah Jane Osborne Couch passed away in 1904. The Osborne/Couch family farm may have been one that was taken over by eminent domain when the Sunflower Ammunition Plant was built in Prairie Center, Kansas, sometime during World War II, according to an article I read about the production of the plant. Sadly after the plant was created, there was no longer a town called Prairie Center, Kansas, which is where my father, Halley Dale Smith, was born in 1910.