October 2010, Issue 9
Featured Dollhouses
Page 61
Continue Magick Street dollhouses of Deb Roberts
"In my real world, Sarah Ann's story is one of strength and independence during a time when those qualities were not desirable in women. She was also a wise woman - more commonly referred to as a witch," began Deb.
"She met and married my great-grandfather in 1875 when she was 18. Less than a year later, when she was pregnant with my grandfather, the law showed up at the door. They were sent by my great-grandfather's father-in-law to bring him home to his first wife!
"Needless to say, Sarah Ann was less than impressed with finding out her husband was a bigamist. He took off for parts unknown and my great-grandmother resumed her maiden name and was left to carry on by herself. My little tribute to this event is the caged frog upstairs in the Emporium. I think it would have been a fitting end for a foolish man who dared to two-time a witch."
A two-timing husband wasn't Sarah Ann's only challenge in life.
"She was the great-granddaughter of a Blackfoot Indian shaman, being of mixed blood in that time and in that area may have been common enough, but it was not accepted.
"Sarah Ann's grandmother was the shaman's daughter and her mother, Barthena, was halfblood. Tensions ran high in society for all these women, not just because of their heritage, but because they were also wise women. It was the reason Barthena was poisoned.
"When she was murdered, the townspeople refused to allow her body to be buried in a Christian cemetery and it was stolen from the morgue. My family has searched for her grave for over a century, but we've never found where she was buried. This probably has a lot to do with why we have our own family cemetery now," she added.
And a possible reason for the tiny, well-tended, cemetery between Maharet's and Percutio's homes. Deb plans to add the Emporium to the existing street of three houses, with a little rearranging and re-landscaping to make it work. It's the same attitude the indomitable Sarah Ann exhibited purchasing the family homestead. Her great-grandmother broke almost every rule for women of that time.
Custom Dolls, Houses & Miniatures / CDHM