Submitted by Eliz. Peters
OBIT of 13 Mar 1889Mrs. Sarah Tilden Carson died yesterday at the residence of her son-in-law, Mr. Baltis H. Kennard, in the 97th year of her age. Mrs. Carson was born in Kent County, and was a descendant in the maternal line of the Tildens, who were among the earlier settlers of that county, and in the paternal line of the Hynsons, a family largely identified with the history of Kent.
Mrs. Carson witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and often spoke of it to her grandchildren. Her husband, whom she survived thirty-seven years, was David Carson, well known years ago as a builder, and as one of the Old Defenders in the war of 1812. Mrs. Carson was a devoted and exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for eighty years, and at time of death a member of St. Paul's Methodist Church South.
She was the mother of seven sons and two daughters. Three of the sons and one daughter she survived. Two of the sons, deceased, David Carson, Jr. and Joshua Carson were well known builders of this city. Four sons and one daughter survive, namely, Carvill H. Carson, a resident of Savannah; William McK. Carson of California; Joseph H. Carson of Washington D.C. and the Rev. Thomas R. Carson of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, now at Winchester, Va. And one daughter, Mrs. Baltis H. Kennard. There are numberous descendants. One of her grandsons is Charles L. Carson the well known architect. There are forty-six grandchildren and forty-eight great-grandchildren living.
Mrs. Carson's faculties of mind and strength of body had been preserved in a notable degree up almost to the time of her decease. For about three weeks before her death she was able to go about the house unattended, and with the exception of some impairment of vision and hearing, no marked change had occurred. Although for a few weeks preceding her death it was evident that the struggle between life and death had begun, she did not become bed-ridden, and was sitting in a chair just before she died. Even then her mind seemed to be under control, for the moment before breathing her last she requested to be assisted into bed.
This venerable and remarkable lady was a noteworthy person both as to her long life and her noble character. Her ancestral line is traceable by an unbroken chain through the Tilden family some hundreds of years back to the Sirs Marmaduke Tilden of Great Oak Manor in Kent of England. (END)