Honoring Pioneer Spirit Plaque to be Placed on Noble McGary's Grave

Life couldn't have been easy for any pioneer Texas woman, but Sarah Noble McGary seemed to have a particularly rough time. She must have been a strong, courageous woman - she bore eleven children, survived three husbands and lived to be eighty-one.

Sunday afternoon, the President Houston Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas - several members are descendants - will place a sesquicentennial plaque on Sarah's grave in Ebenezer Cemetery on Highway 30 West.

Sarah Noble was born September 11, 1807, in Lawrence District, South Carolina, the daughter of Joshua Noble Jr. She met the man who was to become her first husband while visiting her sister Eady in Lawrence, Alabama. Eady kept select boarders - one was banker Richard Bankhead.

Sarah and Bankhead were married January 1, 1827. They had five children: William, James, Mary, Eady Elmina, and Mary F Bankhead.

In 1833, the couple and their children joined a Tennessee group headed west to claim Coahuila, Texas, land grants, (later to become Montgomery County, then Walker County) with Richard forming the Bankhead caravan. They were the first to cross the Bedias. It was here that Richard Bankhead stayed in the icy waters, directing the wagons to safety.

He became ill from exposure... pneumonia developed, Richard was buried in his field, where he had built a port-like cabin... His last words to Sarah were, "Have courage and tell General Houston....". He had died January 17, 1835 - six weeks after arrival. Sled, the slave, hewed a rough coffin; Sarah shaved and dressed him. Then together they dug his grave on his league of land that wasn't granted until November 1, 1838.

Before his death, Richard knew his family was in danger from Indians. He asked George Lamb, who had come with the Tennessee group, to look after them. In addition to her husband, Sarah lost two sons that year.

It was a hard life for the widow and her daughters. She had to grind the corn in a hollowed out stone and a piece of iron bent to fit it. Her daughters hand-picked the seeds from cotton, while Sarah carded, spun and wove cloth. Sarah dyed the cloth with red oak bark and black walnut tea.

Sarah married George Lamb, June 27, 1835. George, orphaned in youth, had lived with the Bankheads before they came to Texas. At the beginning of the Texas Revolution, George joined the Army and became a second lieutenant in Capt William Ware's 2nd Regiment, Texas Volunteers. As he rode off to battle, he waved and said, "Be brave Sarah, as you have always been."

George was the Texans' first casualty at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. When General Sam Houston found him dying, he said "George, it is a damn shame for so brave a man to die so young." George replied, "It's all right, Sam, look after my family." George and Sarah's only child, Susan Lamb, was born seven months after his death.

Sarah's third husband was Jonathan McGary, a Texas Revolutionary soldier who was originally from Evansville, Indiana. They were married December 17, 1837, and settled in western Walker County the following year. They built a log cabin, raised cotton, and formed an ox wagon "cotton train" to Houston. They had five children: Clarissa, Jonathan Jr, Sarah, Amanda, and Marion McGary.

McGary died November 18, 1862. Once again, Sarah was a widow. She died March 31, 1888, and was buried beside her third husband and her daughter Susan.
--Huntsville Item