Individual Details
Sarah Creth
(Abt, 1810 - March 28, 1870)
Following is one of the many articles about Sarah Creth, sent by Debra (Mc)Sherry Powers, Flower Mound, Texas. August 2007.
"Mrs. Philip Howard, the heroine, whose maiden name was Sarah Creth, was born in Illinois, in 1810, and when but a child of 14 years was married, becoming the wife of John Sherry, because unhappy at home with a stepmother. A few years after her marriage she emigrated to Texas with her husband. Texas was then a foreign and partially unknown country. Only those possessed of an adventurous spirit came from �the States� to this land, then the home of Comanches and other warlike Indians and ruled by a government which ostensibly republican was purely despotic in operation, and its people treacherous and cruel. The experiences of this girl-wife in Texas were from the first trying and full of uncertainty and danger. After a married life of five years her husband was killed by the Indians, leaving her with one child, � Joseph Lewis Sherry, � who grew to manhood and reared a family in Texas, but is now deceased.
"After the death of John Sherry, his widow married John Hibbins, by whom she had one child. As she could neither read nor write she was unable to communicate with her friends, and consequently knew nothing of them after leaving Illinois. Five years had passed when she decided to satisfy a continued longing to visit her father and family at the old home. With her husband�s consent she undertook the journey, which was made by boat. On her arrival at her childhood home she learned that her father was dead and the family scattered, so that she was obliged to return to Texas without having seen her people except two brothers and a half-brother, who accompanied her on her return journey. They were met at the boat by Mr. Hibbins, who had already loaded up and was ready to start for the settlements. The following morning they were attacked by a party of Indians, who murdered her husband and half-brother in her presence and took her and her two children prisoners.
"The young mother with her eight month old child in her arms, was marched along guarded by her demoniacal captors, who saying she could not walk fast enough carrying her burden, tore the child from her arms and dashed its brains out against a tree before the agonized mother�s eyes and threw the body in the crotch of a tree. Every feeling of her heart, she afterward said, was concentrated into deadly hate and thirst for vengeance. Fear was gone; all thought merged into one absorbing desire to kill the murderers of her husband and child.
"On they went, testing all her powers of endurance to keep up with their hasty march. At night she was surrounded by the savage Indians, who lay nearby her on the ground with their hatchets in hand. She had acquired some understanding of the Spanish-Mexican patios [sic] in which the Indians talked, and ascertained that she was not to be kept prisoner for a ransom but would be killed, while her little boy would be retained by them and reared by the tribe.
"Fortunately, the second night they encamped on the bank of a stream. After midnight she arose and slipped out from among them, picked up a tomahawk with the intention of killing two of the savages, but thinking she would thus awaken the rest, who would then kill her and keep the child, she started away, leaving the little boy. Wading down the creek for a distance to hide her tracks, she found a dense thicket, where she concealed herself. For a few hours she lay concealed there, and could hear the voice of her four year old boy crying for her. After making an unsuccessful search for her, the Indians started away taking the opposite direction. After going some distance she heard the lowing of a cow, and saw one going over the hill, evidently to her calf, which assured her that habitation was not far away. Leaving the stream she followed the animal and came to a settler�s house. Providentially, it appeared, there was a company of rangers there, eating their breakfast while on their way in pursuit of the Indians. Rapidly the escaped captive told her tale of woe, and quick as thought those brave men were in the saddle in hot pursuit of the savages.
"Taking the direction indicated by Mrs. Hibbins, it was not long before they sighted the squad of Indians, now in rapid flight, knowing that the escape of their captive meant their own danger. Fiends as they were, they had tied Mrs. Hibbins little boy upon the back of a wild horse, which they let loose from the band. It was a desperate case, and perfect marksmen as were those brave rangers, it required all the nerve they possessed to save the little fellow thus ruthlessly doomed by the Indians to a horrible death. But a quick dash, a keen eye and a firm hand brought relief; the horse was shot and the child rescued unharmed, while the savages were routed, and a portion of them were shot.
"About a year after the events just related she married a man named Stinnett, and they had a daughter, who was drowned when two years old, after its father was killed. On his way to New Orleans to purchase goods and supplies, with a considerable sum of money with him, he was robbed and murdered, probably by two Mexicans and a white man; but no trace of [them] was ever discovered, though his horse returned and his saddle and saddle-bags were afterward found.
"Thus within a few years this brave young woman, having as it were no childhood, experienced trouble, sorrow and suffering which would have killed an ordinary woman.
"In 1839 she married Colonel Philip Howard, and through all the troublous period that followed in Texas history proved to be a noble woman and a helpmeet indeed in every emergency. She and her family were obliged to abandon their homes several times on account of the hostile Comanches, for whom naturally she cherished a deadly hate.
"Such were the experiences of the early settlers of Texas, whose courage and perseverance in the face of trials and dangers helped to found this great Republic and gave its people the bravery to achieve such success, � first, as a republic and later as a noble accession to our beloved Union. The heroine who had passed through such terrible experiences in her younger days, lived to see her children grown and married, and in more peaceful times spent years of domestic happiness beloved by all for her cheerful and kindly spirits, as well as for her courage and bravery in situations that would have caused even the strongest man to shrink appalled under such experiences as hers.
"After a busy and remarkably eventful life this grand woman died March 28, 1870, a matron of sixty years, whose departure was mourned by a large circle of friends besides the members of her immediate family."
"Mrs. Philip Howard, the heroine, whose maiden name was Sarah Creth, was born in Illinois, in 1810, and when but a child of 14 years was married, becoming the wife of John Sherry, because unhappy at home with a stepmother. A few years after her marriage she emigrated to Texas with her husband. Texas was then a foreign and partially unknown country. Only those possessed of an adventurous spirit came from �the States� to this land, then the home of Comanches and other warlike Indians and ruled by a government which ostensibly republican was purely despotic in operation, and its people treacherous and cruel. The experiences of this girl-wife in Texas were from the first trying and full of uncertainty and danger. After a married life of five years her husband was killed by the Indians, leaving her with one child, � Joseph Lewis Sherry, � who grew to manhood and reared a family in Texas, but is now deceased.
"After the death of John Sherry, his widow married John Hibbins, by whom she had one child. As she could neither read nor write she was unable to communicate with her friends, and consequently knew nothing of them after leaving Illinois. Five years had passed when she decided to satisfy a continued longing to visit her father and family at the old home. With her husband�s consent she undertook the journey, which was made by boat. On her arrival at her childhood home she learned that her father was dead and the family scattered, so that she was obliged to return to Texas without having seen her people except two brothers and a half-brother, who accompanied her on her return journey. They were met at the boat by Mr. Hibbins, who had already loaded up and was ready to start for the settlements. The following morning they were attacked by a party of Indians, who murdered her husband and half-brother in her presence and took her and her two children prisoners.
"The young mother with her eight month old child in her arms, was marched along guarded by her demoniacal captors, who saying she could not walk fast enough carrying her burden, tore the child from her arms and dashed its brains out against a tree before the agonized mother�s eyes and threw the body in the crotch of a tree. Every feeling of her heart, she afterward said, was concentrated into deadly hate and thirst for vengeance. Fear was gone; all thought merged into one absorbing desire to kill the murderers of her husband and child.
"On they went, testing all her powers of endurance to keep up with their hasty march. At night she was surrounded by the savage Indians, who lay nearby her on the ground with their hatchets in hand. She had acquired some understanding of the Spanish-Mexican patios [sic] in which the Indians talked, and ascertained that she was not to be kept prisoner for a ransom but would be killed, while her little boy would be retained by them and reared by the tribe.
"Fortunately, the second night they encamped on the bank of a stream. After midnight she arose and slipped out from among them, picked up a tomahawk with the intention of killing two of the savages, but thinking she would thus awaken the rest, who would then kill her and keep the child, she started away, leaving the little boy. Wading down the creek for a distance to hide her tracks, she found a dense thicket, where she concealed herself. For a few hours she lay concealed there, and could hear the voice of her four year old boy crying for her. After making an unsuccessful search for her, the Indians started away taking the opposite direction. After going some distance she heard the lowing of a cow, and saw one going over the hill, evidently to her calf, which assured her that habitation was not far away. Leaving the stream she followed the animal and came to a settler�s house. Providentially, it appeared, there was a company of rangers there, eating their breakfast while on their way in pursuit of the Indians. Rapidly the escaped captive told her tale of woe, and quick as thought those brave men were in the saddle in hot pursuit of the savages.
"Taking the direction indicated by Mrs. Hibbins, it was not long before they sighted the squad of Indians, now in rapid flight, knowing that the escape of their captive meant their own danger. Fiends as they were, they had tied Mrs. Hibbins little boy upon the back of a wild horse, which they let loose from the band. It was a desperate case, and perfect marksmen as were those brave rangers, it required all the nerve they possessed to save the little fellow thus ruthlessly doomed by the Indians to a horrible death. But a quick dash, a keen eye and a firm hand brought relief; the horse was shot and the child rescued unharmed, while the savages were routed, and a portion of them were shot.
"About a year after the events just related she married a man named Stinnett, and they had a daughter, who was drowned when two years old, after its father was killed. On his way to New Orleans to purchase goods and supplies, with a considerable sum of money with him, he was robbed and murdered, probably by two Mexicans and a white man; but no trace of [them] was ever discovered, though his horse returned and his saddle and saddle-bags were afterward found.
"Thus within a few years this brave young woman, having as it were no childhood, experienced trouble, sorrow and suffering which would have killed an ordinary woman.
"In 1839 she married Colonel Philip Howard, and through all the troublous period that followed in Texas history proved to be a noble woman and a helpmeet indeed in every emergency. She and her family were obliged to abandon their homes several times on account of the hostile Comanches, for whom naturally she cherished a deadly hate.
"Such were the experiences of the early settlers of Texas, whose courage and perseverance in the face of trials and dangers helped to found this great Republic and gave its people the bravery to achieve such success, � first, as a republic and later as a noble accession to our beloved Union. The heroine who had passed through such terrible experiences in her younger days, lived to see her children grown and married, and in more peaceful times spent years of domestic happiness beloved by all for her cheerful and kindly spirits, as well as for her courage and bravery in situations that would have caused even the strongest man to shrink appalled under such experiences as hers.
"After a busy and remarkably eventful life this grand woman died March 28, 1870, a matron of sixty years, whose departure was mourned by a large circle of friends besides the members of her immediate family."
Events
| Birth | Abt, 1810 | Illinois | |||
| Marriage | Abt, 1824 | Illinois - John Sherry | |||
| Marriage | Abt, 1835 | Texas - John Hibbins | |||
| Marriage | Abt, 1839 | Texas - Colonel Philip Howard | |||
| Death | March 28, 1870 |
Families
| Spouse | Colonel Philip Howard ( - ) |
| Child | Martha "Minty" "Minta" Howard (1842 - 1923) |
| Spouse | John Sherry ( - 1829) |
| Spouse | John Hibbins ( - ) |