Sarah Anne (Owen) Rousseau


Sarah Anne (Owen) Rousseau (1826-1874) was born in Louisville in 1826 to Nelson Reed and Nancy (Baber) Owen. Not much is known about Sarah’s early life. Her father died when she was 12 years old. On November 7, 1844, she married Edmond Pendleton Rousseau, son of David Quincy and Catherine (Gaines) Rousseau. Edmond was the brother of General Lovell H. Rosseau, a general in the Union Army, prominent politician, and attorney. Edmond was a bricklayer with contracts with the City to build cisterns and wells. In 1845, Sarah gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son they named Pendleton Reed, but he died in infancy. Two years later, at the age of 21, Sarah gave birth to a daughter the couple named Georgiana. In 1849, Sarah gave birth to daughter, Ida, who died in infancy.

 

According to the 1850 census, Edmond, Sarah, and Georgiana were living in Louisville with six boarders: Noel Kennedy (25 years), a bricklayer; Elizbeth Kennedy (25 years); Kate Mahan (12 years); Robert Wakefield (21 years), a bricklayer; John Bullock (16 years), a bricklayer; and Edward Blanks (21 years), a bricklayer. In 1852, Sarah gave birth to Nannie Elizabeth and Lovell Quincy in 1857. By 1860, the family had moved to 1819 W. Walnut Street and Edmond was working under the title of Master Brick Mason. On February 13, 1867, while Sarah was visiting a friend in Memphis, Edmond took his own life in their home. He was buried in Section A, Range 6, Lot 38 of Eastern Cemetery. His two infant children are buried there as well. On December 2, 1874, Sarah died at the age of 48 from cancer. She was buried with her husband and two children.

 

Georgiana was a teacher for 20 years at the Madison Street School in Louisville. She remained in the family home on Walnut Street. Her sister Nannie worked as purchasing agent and split time between Louisville and Washington, DC. Lovell had married Kate Florence Staiar and soon moved to DC to work as a stock broker. By 1910, all three of the Rousseau siblings were living in DC. While the family marker also notes the names of Georgiana, Nannie, and Lovell, they are interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in DC.

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