Sarah May Barnes was born May 1, 1827, of French Acadian stock — the family name was originally Baronette, and her mother was first cousin to Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence. She married William Lucas Plaskett in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1845, and from that day the family’s story is equally hers.
She crossed Panama in 1852 carried over the Chagres on a porter’s back, her boys out of sight on the jungle trail ahead. At the Cherokee mining camp she became the diggings’ bank — miners who trusted no one trusted Sarah with their sacks of gold — while she cooked and washed for most of them besides. Alone at the homestead she faced down a war party come for her son Reason, hiding him in the attic and disarming their anger with gentleness, baby clothes, sugar, and nerve.
She bore twelve children and raised them across five Californias — camp, meadow, valley, and coast. In 1915 she was honored among the pioneer mothers at the Panama-Pacific Exposition; her 95th birthday fell on Mother’s Day, 1922, which the family found exactly right. She died in 1923, at ninety-six — the iron center of the family for seventy-eight years.
Parents: James A. Barnes · Elizabeth Barnett
Married: William Lucas Plaskett
Children: Byron Gianavil Plaskett · Leonidas Hamlin Plaskett · Persey Plaskett · Reason Alpha Plaskett · Francis Marion Plaskett · Mendocina May Plaskett Mansfield · Laura F. Plaskett · Olive Flavilla Plaskett McLean · Mary Josephine Plaskett Patterson · Robert Lucas Cleveland Plaskett · William E. Plaskett · James Samuel Plaskett
Brothers & sisters: Matilda Barnes · Hiram B Barnes · Barnett Abraham Barnes · Reason Barnes · Albert Barnes · Harriet Barnes · Mary Elizabeth Barnes · James Alexander Barnes · John Barnes
Parents: James A. Barnes · Elizabeth Barnett
Grandparents: Thomas Barnett · Nancy Price · Ann (Nancy) Price Barnes · Sarah Barrett · Leonard Barnes
Great-grandparents: Thomas E. Barnett · Mordecai Price · Arthur Barrett
2× great-grandparents: John Price · Rebecca MERRYMAN · Thomas Barrett, Quaker · Hannah Oldham
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The Baronettes: An Acadian Origin, and a Signer Who Was Not Ours
The family says Sarah Barnes came of French Acadians expelled in 1755, and that her mother was first cousin to a signer of the Declaration. One of those is likely; the other does not survive checking.
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Before Big Sur: The Mendocino Years
Fifteen years before Pacific Valley, William Lucas Plaskett rehearsed his dream in Anderson Valley — where the family named a daughter Mendocina, left their name on a mountain meadow that still carries it, and stopped twelve feet short of a different life.
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Mother Saves Reason from the Indians
Warpaint at the door, her son hidden in the attic — and Sarah met a war party with gentleness, baby clothes, sugar, and nerve.
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The Panama Crossing
Crocodiles in the Chagres, fever in the air, two boys lost from sight all day on the jungle trail — the family's 1852 shortcut to California.
mabel article
Plasketts Among Early Coast Settlers
How the valley was settled: William Lucas Plaskett's family clearing lilac 'grown to the dimension of small trees' — her classic account of the family's beginning.
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Sarah Plaskett - Banker for the Miners
Miners who trusted no one trusted Sarah Plaskett, who kept their gold under her roof and fed them at her table.
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R.A. Plaskett First White Child Born in Cherokee
The miners of Cherokee camp celebrated their first native son: Reason Alpha Plaskett, born December 1852.
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Sarah Plasketts 96th Birthday on Mothers Day
Sarah Plaskett's 95th birthday fell on Mother's Day, 1922 — fitting, for a mother of twelve who outlived the century she was born in.
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The Ancestry of Sarah Barnes Plaskett
Acadian exiles, a cousin who signed the Declaration, and a Mayflower speculation — the deep roots of the family's iron matriarch.
- birth 1827-05-01 — Born, of Acadian Baronette stock
- birth 1827-05-14 · Ohio — Born in Ohio to James Barnes and Betsy Baronette Barnes
- marriage 1845 — Married William Lucas Plaskett in Iowa
- residence 1850 · New Orleans — Crossed Isthmus of Panama - Sarah carried across Chagres River by porter; boys Byron and Leonidas rode mule led by Indian guide
- residence 1852 · Cherokee — Lived at Cherokee mining camp - made wedding gown for wealthy Sacramento lady; served as trusted "safety bank" for miners gold
- occupation 1852 · Cherokee — Cooked and washed for miners at Cherokee camp; served as trusted keeper of miners gold
- residence 1869-09 · Pacific Valley — Home in Pacific Valley
- death 1922 — Died at age 95
- death 1923 · King City — Died at ninety-six
- burial · Salinas
born life events land died