Mrs. Sarah Jackson Gage

Submitted by Carl Gage

Obituary published in the Syracuse Journal October 17, 1884

DEATH OF ONE OF THE PIONEERS, The Late Mrs. Judah Gage - A Connecting Link with the Early Settlers - Reminiscences of the Revolutionary Times.

The death of Mrs. Sarah Jackson Gage of this city, removed one of the oldest residents, whose life connected the present generation with the early settlement of the country. Mrs Gage was of good old Revolutionary stock, her grandfather Jackson having been a Colonel in the French and Indian War. His was the first military funeral ever held in this county, and was a notable gathering for that day. Her father, Jeremiah Jackson, served as Captain through the seven years of the Revolutionary War. He was in the battles of Bunker Hill and Ticonderoga. At the latter it was said that soldiers drank powder in their whiskey to render them more courageous. Mrs. Gage's mother, Sarah Lamphere, also passed through many eventful scenes of that early day. The indians at one time attacked her fathers house, driving off the cattle. The family prepared for the seige by hanging feather beds before the doors and windows to deaden the bullets, and themselves aimed at the savages through convenient loop holes so necessary in the dwellings of that period. The Indians, finding they were making no headway, fired the house, but the family, by strategy, escaped and reaching the Susquehanna, took a canoe down the river, shielding themselves from the lurking foe by a bulwark of bedding. After Miss Lamphere's marriage to Captain Jackson she bore well her part in the revolutionary struggle. Women of the household met at this period to sew for the army, frequently sending the clothing thus made by some courageous woman. This mission at one time, fell upon the young wife, Mrs. Jackson, who upon her way stopped for the night at a tavern, where the boisterous revelry of an assembled company, filled her with alarm, the more so, a tales of dark deeds were rife in regard to this vicinity. An officer of her aquaintance, on his return from a furlough, went with her to the supper table from whence arose odors of a stew very appetising to the hungry travelers. But before Mrs. Jackson had taken a mouthful, the officer secured her attention, covertly showing her a human fingerbone in the food upon his plate. Terrified for their own lives, they concealed their discovery, the officer assuring Mrs. Jackson he would secure rooms near her own, and protect her with his life. The night passed with no sleep to our heroine's eyes; but aside from the sounds of carousal, nothing occurred to disturb her, and her husband's camp was finally reached in safety. But such was that period of dangers that her homeward journey was attended by another terrifying adventure, but scarcely distinct enough in the mind of the oldest decendant to be related here. Mrs. Jackson was also present at the Wyoming Massacre, but with the good fortune that verily seemed to attend her, she, with her young children, escaped to the woods. Captain and Mrs. Jackson moved from Connecticut to New York, ultimately settling in Onondaga county, where both Colonel and Captain Jackson now lie buried. From such ancestry came to Sarah Jackson, an inheritance of fortitude, courage and conscience, endowing her with true nobility of character. In 1816 she married Judah Gage, with whom she lived fifty eight years, Mr. Gage dying in 1874. Of their three children, sons, Alfred, died in infancy, Harvey married Elizabeth Raymond, of this city, (now Mrs. Dr. A.T. Smith), Charles married Helen Leslie, daughter of Matilda Josln Gage. Though of the same name these families were only distantly related. Of Sarah Jackson Gage it is said, she was a good wife, a good mother, a good housekeeper, a good Christian, a good neighbor, and a lovely character. For many years she was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and as long as health permitted, was found in her place at every service. She held all her worldly goods as her Master's, only loaned to her, and for whose use she must render account, frequently saying, "Alas, master, it is borrowed." Towards the deserving poor she was eminently charitable, though judging for herself where charity was needed; she also possessed that great charity defined by Paul, that thinketh no evil of the neighbor. For the shortcoming of others she ever found palliation. After eighty years of age she had the patience to teach an ignorant servent girl, who did not even know her letters, to read the bible. Mrs. Gage was noted for mother-wit and quaintness of expression, which were not lost as long as she was able to converse. Though born in Sacandaga, Fulton County, Mrs. Gage was a resident of this county abouth ninety years, and of the town of Salina over sixty years. With her death, one of the oldest pioneers of Central New York has passed away.

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20 June 1997