Sarah Jane Story was born July, 1847 in Morgan County, Illinois and was the only child of Vincent Story and his second wife, Sarah Redman, who were married 5 August 1845. Her mother died by the time she was about two years old, and her father put her in the care of neighbors, George and Patience (Criswell) Nichols, who appear to not have had any children. I'm not sure what tie there was with them, but Sarah lived with them until she was married, appearing with them in the 1850 and 1860 Morgan County, Illinois Census. This was a recurring pattern with Vincent. His first group of children appear to have lived with his mother, Hannah Mary (Self) Story in Morgan County after their mother, Vincent's first wife Jane Ausman Story, died. After Sarah's mother died, Vincent married Avey Arnold on 2 December 1849. Their daughter, Rebecca, was born in 1851 and the pattern repeated. She died, and little Becky went to live with her father's younger sister Nancy Story Whitlock. Nancy died in 1858 when Becky was still very young, but instead of her own father (Vincent) taking her back, Nancy's widower, Thomas Whitlock, kept her with his own young children. Thomas remarried to Temperance Massa in 1859, and Becky remained with them until she was grown. Meanwhile, Vincent married Nancy Jane Birdsell in 1855 and had another daughter, Avy Louisa, with her. When Louisa's mother soon died Vincent sent her to live with her mother's parents, Isaac and Elizabeth Birdsell, and married for the fifth and final time.

Sarah Jane Story married William Jasper Fanning 21 March 1865 in Morgan County. They had 8 children. George M., Mary J., William J., and Alonzo, were all born in Morgan County. By the time their daughter Maude D. was born in 1877, the family was living in Kansas. The last three children: Bird, Susie and Starley J., were all born in Kansas. When the 1900 Census was taken, Sarah and William Jasper (listed as William J.) were living on a farm in Rock Creek Township, in Coffee County, Kansas. They had been married 35 years, and Sarah said she had borne 9 children, 8 of them still living. The children living with them were: Maude, Bird O., Susan F., and "Starling" J. William was a farmer and Bird a farm laborer. William died in 1916, and in the 1920 Coffey County Census, Sarah is head of the household, was living in the town of Waverly, and their daughter Susie is living with her.