Introduction

Biography

Sarah was the daugh­ter of Pax­son and Ann T. Vick­ers, and wife of John Ob­er­holt­zer.

She lived at va­ri­ous times near Cam­bria Sta­tion, Ches­ter Coun­ty, Penn­syl­van­ia, and in Nor­ris­town, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Her fa­mi­ly were ar­dent abo­li­tion­ists. Be­sides hun­dreds of slaves they helped on their way to Ca­na­da, their home en­tert­ained such guests as John Green­leaf Whit­ti­er, Lu­cre­tia Mott, Will­iam Lloyd Gar­ri­son, and Bay­ard Taylor.

Sarah was edu­cat­ed at Tho­mas’ Friends Board­ing School and the Mil­lers­ville State Nor­mal School.

She be­gan to write for news­pa­pers and ma­ga­zines at age 18. A num­ber of her po­ems were set to mu­sic by dif­fer­ent com­pos­ers. Among the best known are The Bay­ard Tay­lor Bu­ri­al Ode, sung as Penn­syl­van­ia’s trib­ute to her dead po­et at his fu­ner­al ser­vice in Long­wood, March 15, 1889, and Un­der the Flow­ers, a De­co­ra­tion ode.

She served as World Su­per­in­ten­dent of School Sa­vings Banks de­part­ment of the Wo­men’s Chris­tian Tem­per­ance Un­ion.

Works

• Violet Lee, and Oth­er Po­ems (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. B. Lip­pin­cott, 1873)
• Come for Ar­bu­tus and Oth­er Wild Bloom (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1882)
• Hope’s Heart Bells (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1883)
• Daisies of Verse (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. B. Lip­pin­cott, 1886)
• Souvenirs of Oc­ca­sions (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: J. B. Lip­pin­cott, 1892)