Sarah Smith

01

Sarah before the Bassham name

Sarah Smith was the mother of Martha Ann Bassham and grandmother of Mary Amby Marbut Pritchett. Her place in this family history continues through Mabel Marzelle Pritchett Birdwell, Ivana Sue, Gia and Clayton.

The supplied Ancestry narrative gives her birth as March 28, 1825, in Alabama and names her parents as John Smith and Anne Brown. Its many entries for siblings suggest a substantial family network, but the relationships remain claims from the compiled tree until checked against original records.

Sources: Levi Sampson Bassham — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026 · Sarah Smith — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026

02

A household across two states

Sarah married Levi Sampson Bassham on May 8, 1849, in Limestone County, Alabama, according to both family summaries. The children’s entries associate the early household with Giles County, Tennessee, and then Limestone County. They do not establish a precise moving date.

The supplied family histories name seven children: Joseph Calvin, Mary Jane, Martha Ann, John Wesley, James William, Bryant Smith and Phoebe Izola Bassham.

Mary Jane’s birth is listed in Giles County in January 1852, and Martha Ann’s in Limestone County on April 15, 1853. The account records John Wesley’s death in October 1861. Bryant Smith and Phoebe Izola followed in 1863 and 1866. These brief entries recover the shape of a household while leaving much of Sarah’s own daily life unknown.

Sources: Levi Sampson Bassham — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026 · Sarah Smith — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026

03

Fifteen years after Levi

Levi’s reported death date, March 28, 1893, falls on Sarah’s reported sixty-eighth birthday. That coincidence follows the dates in the supplied tree; no account of the day itself has been recovered. Her chronology later lists her in the 1900 Limestone County census.

Sarah died on May 26, 1908, in Limestone County, aged 83 according to the supplied narrative. It gives May 29 as her burial date at Hesters Chapel Cemetery. The same date appears on an entry titled “Obituary for Sarah (Smith) Bassham,” associated with Nashville, Tennessee. The newspaper title and complete obituary text have not yet been established from that entry.

Sources: Levi Sampson Bassham — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026 · Sarah Smith — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026

04

Keeping the family record open

The children’s chronology needs further checking. Both summaries give John Wesley a birth date of January 8, 1858, and James William a birth date of July 15 of the same year. Those closely spaced dates remain unresolved. Joseph Calvin’s reported birth on April 9, 1849, also precedes the reported May 8 marriage; original records are needed before drawing conclusions.

The marriage record, household census schedules, cemetery evidence and complete 1908 obituary are the strongest next sources for testing this account. Until then, this profile preserves what the supplied family history says without turning its gaps into invented memories.

Sources: Levi Sampson Bassham — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026 · Sarah Smith — supplied Ancestry LifeStory, October 17, 2026