Sarah Burright (1838- unknown) [Sarah Shreeve]
By Paul Ricketts
Sarah Shreeve was born to John Shreeve and Happy Harvey around 1838 near Rollesby, Norfolk, England. She was a well traveled woman who led an eventful life. Moving from a small English town in rural East Anglia, to Canada and then into America, living through the American Civil War period. She is tied to our family through the Burright lineage having married Joseph Warren Burright in 1854.
Sarah’s Early Years
The account in ‘The Sun Rides High’ rather romantically ties Sarah to a Lord Harvey of Scotland and a ‘Lord Rosebury estate’ north of London but no such estate seems to have existed. We continue to probe the link to Lord Harvey though her mother’s (Happy Harvey) line but so far have found nothing conclusive. It is most likely that ‘Rosebury estate’ is just a miss-translation of Sarah’s home town of Rollesby.
What we do know is that according to the English census records in 1841 she was living in the town of Repps with Bastwick, on the outskirts of Rollesby, Norfolk, England. She was three years old.
Sarah Migrates to Canada
‘The Sun Rides High’ says that Sarah Shreeve crossed the Atlantic at least three times in her lifetime. There do not seem to be any records of those crossings but by according to the 1851 Census of Canada we know that she was living with her family in Dunsville, Ontario.
We can make an educated guess that the family arrived in Canada between 1845 and 1847 as Sarah’s six year old brother Saul is recorded as having been born in England and her next youngest sibling, four year old Nelson was born in Canada.
Marriage and children
On 3 December 1854 Sarah married Joseph Warren Burright in Ogle County, Illinois, USA. They went on to have five children:
1. Orrin Ulysses Burright
2. Charles Colby Burright
3. Clara Bell Burright
4. John Burright
5. Joseph Wesley Burright
6. Christina Sarah Burright
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