Green-Wood volunteers restore monument for 117-year-old mother of 22
A group of young volunteers visited Green-Wood Cemetery on Wednesday to restore and archive a monument to a 117-year-old mother of 22 children who died in 1854.
Sarah W. Kairns was born in 1737 and lived until 1854 when she died at the age of 117 years, three months and sixteen days. According to the inscription on the tombstone, she “gave birth to twenty-two children and retained her sprightliness to the last.” It marks the final resting place for Kairns and her four sisters, all of whom lived to be over 100-years-old.
“In 1866, Sarah Kairns was a part of one of the first tours that Green-Wood’s historian created,” said Chelsea Dowell, Green-Wood’s manager of programs and membership. “She was 117 years old when she died, so she’s one of Green-Wood’s oldest burials.”