Sarah (Sallie) Persinger

This is the Persinger home that the State of Virginia may save. The application process is going on right now, so I am not sure about the approval date.

Sallie was on of 10 children. She was born in 1790, and times were very different back then. The children all helped when it came time to any of the chores. Laundry was done by hand, and everyone tried to keep the clothes as clean as they could. It would be several days before things were washed.

Children were schooled by the family Bible. Learning how to read, and write, and sewing for the girls. Chicken, cows, sheep, were kept around as long as they could keep them. Chickens give eggs, cows give milk, and sheep give wool. Pigs were slaughtered once a year. They ate the leftovers, and gave meat when they were large enough. The whole pig was eaten, no left over parts. Everything was precious.

One day when Sarah was 14 it was her turn to clean out the barn. She was known to have what was referred to as the "eye", meaning that she had flashes of what the future would bring. She told everyone that she did not want to clean the barn. Crying about doing her job. Her other brothers and sisters just thought she wanted to get out of doing her work.

She somehow talked her self into going out to get the job done. She worked hard, went to go get some cool, sweet water, then back to work. She was working at making a nice bed for her favorite horse that was out running the field.

A man come to the door of the Persingers on this hot day. He asked if he could have some work to make some money. Mrs. Persinger said she would give him some food for helping to clean out the barn with their daughter. The man finds his way out to the barn.

Sarah is working hard as she hears the cicadas in the trees. The strange man enters the barn, and she barely sees him out of the corner of her eye when he is on top of her. He rapes her beating her over and over. He finally finishes his terror on this sweet young girl. She gets up out of the hay and walks to the pitch fork. She jabs him in the gut with the pitch fork over and over again. She stabs him so many times with the pitch fork that the tinges bend, she struggles to get the pitch fork out of his lifeless body. She then turns the pitch fork around and beats him in the face with the other end of the pitch fork.

She walks outside the barn dripping in the blood of the terrorist. She allows herself long blood boiling scream, as she bends her knees and falls to the ground.

The family comes running out from every direction. They check Sarah from head to toe to make sure it was not her blood. They look in the barn to find the mangled body of the horrid animal that stole the innocence from a girl. This woman now needs the comfort of her family. Sarah tells them how he defiled her, and they gather in a circle to discuss what they need to get done. Sarah is taken in the house. The boys all agree that there is no way the authorities will understand what Sarah did. The authorities will blame Sarah.

The boys go back in the barn, everyone picks up a limb. The man that came seeking food and trouble was burned in the woods. No trace has ever been found of the man.

Sarah made a recovery. Two years later her father asked her if she was ready for a courting one of the many men that asked about her. Sarah wanted something different. She took off for the woods, she was gone for three weeks.  (More next week)