Crittenden Lee Farmer & Sarah Ann Smith
"I James R. Patterson am acting and duly commissioned Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Yell and State of Arkansas, do hereby certify that on the 24th day of July, 1873 at the County of Yell in the State of Arkansas I did duly join in marriage Crittenden Farmer of Yell County, State of Arkansas, aged 22 years and Sarah Smith of the County of Yell, State of Arkansas, aged 25 years and then there declared them to be husband and wife.
Crittenden Lee Farmer & Sarah Ann Smith
Crittenden & Sarah's Stories
Crittenden Lee Farmer was a Farmer by occupation who owned the old Smith place at Havana, AR., north of Cedar Creek. Crit was captured at age 14 by the North during the Civil War and was separated by his family. After the War he was hired by Mathias Harrelson Smith to work for him. Mathias gave Crit a home at the age of 17. Crit fell in love with Sarah, Mathias's oldest daughter and they were married in 1873 at Havana, AR where Mathias Smith lived at Cedar Creek.
Grandma Sarah suffered a stroke in her older years about 1919-1920 and her left side was paralyzed. Her grandchildren, Melba & Hadden Farmer, would sit at her feet and rub her leg while they listened to Sarah tell tales of the Civil War.
The following stories are those she told her grandchildren
"I rode a horse to take food to my father who was hidden in a cave. A panther screamed and the horse became frightened. I barely hung onto the horse without falling off. My horse ran until it arrived at my home gate and then it stopped."
"My sister Polly, brother John and I were kidnapped on our way home from getting salt by Union soldiers. We had driven Oxen hitched up to a wagon. We were kept in a smoke house overnight. I was forced to sing for the soldiers (Grandma Sarah had a beautiful voice). They released us the next day."
"My father was too old to join the troops. So, to prevent him from being killed (hung) as they did all older people, I took food to him in the forests near Cedar Creek. I was just a young girl and to wander through the woods at night with the wild animals lurking in my path was a harrowing experience, so I took my dog with me."
Grandma Sarah died about 6 P.M. of Pneumonia and Flu. Grandpa Crittenden died the next morning as the sun was coming up of the same thing. They were buried together in the Smith Family Cemetery on the same day.
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