John and Sabina Dean Stark were known for many things in Farmington, PA. John was an excellent shoemaker. They were part of the original founding group of the Sansome Methodist Chapel in town. Their farmhouse was right on the National or Cumberland Road, so all traffic passing East to West along the nation’s first highway went right by their front door. But maybe one of the most memorable things about the Stark’s were their nine beautiful daughters!
Savina Ann Dean married John Stark in Farmington, Wharton, PA in 1856. Their first daughter was born in 1857 and their last in 1880 (do the math…Savina was mostly “expecting” for 24 years). There was one son (Charles Henry in 1861), and sadly twin boys who died at birth. The rest of their 12 children were nine lovely daughters.
There’s just room enough here to introduce each of them, but first a shout out to their mother. She did everything women were expected to do in those days (cooking, baking, churning, milking, sewing, cleaning, etc. etc). She raised her children and attended church. She was a daughter, sister, wife and mother. And, if family lore is correct, she occasionally relaxed by going out to the pond behind the house and smoking her corn cob pipe. She earned it! Here’s a photo album of Savina and her beautiful daughters.
All of the nine stark girls lived until their 80’s and four into their 90’s. Sabina Ann Stark Skewis (my great grandmother) died in December of 1975 at the age of 97.
Elizabeth Jane Stark – B: 19 Apr 1857 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: 25 Jun 1943 (Wharton, Fayette, PA); Married Thomas McCollough – 20 Jul 1880
Mary Ann Stark – B: 15 Nov 1858 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: 04 Feb 1941 (Meyersdale, Somerset, PA); Married George R. McCartney – 16 Feb 1894
Margaret Stark – B: 20 Nov 1863 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: 29 Aug 1859 (Ohiopyle, Fayette, PA); Married Frank McCullough – 30 Nov 1904
Alice Matilda Stark – B: 01 Mar 1866 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: 07 Jun 1959 (Ohiopyle, Fayette, PA); Married to Henry Thomas Holt – 25 Dec 1889
Alena Florence Stark – B: 26 Dec 1868 (Farmington, Fayette, PA)D: 08 Dec 1958 (Somerset, Somerset, PA); Married to James W. Rush – 03 Oct 1888
Martha May Stark – B: 26 Dec 1870 (Farmington, Fayette, PA)D: 18 Feb 1959 (Meyersdale, Somerset, PA); Married to Frank Straw – 13 Jun 1894
Bernice Stark – B: 09 Jul 1873 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: 04 Apr 1968 (Farmington, Fayette, PA)
Sabina Ann Stark – B: 09 Jan 1878 (Farmington, Fayette, PA); D: Dec 1975 (Pittsburgh, Allegheny, PA); Married to John Hamilton Skewis – 23 Nov 1897
Cora Davis Stark – B: 17 Apr 1880 (Farmington, Fayette, PA)D 27 Dec 1961 (Meyersdale, Somerset, PA); Married to James Edward McCartney – 1908
John Stark – Skewis Family Tree – #6
Sabina Ann Stark Skewis – Skewis Family Tree – #7
Sources:
Music for Video is “The Sweet By-and-By”, a Christian hymn with lyrics by S. Fillmore Bennett and music by Joseph P. Webster that was very popular in the 19th century,