Sarah [DS.2] was the second child of Denis Curran [D] and Sarah McKinley [S]. She emigrated to the United States with her parents and siblings, George, Ellen, Daniel, Douglas, and William. The census enumerator was told in 1910 that Sarah had arrived in the United States in 1850.

Sarah [DS.2] was named after her mother [S]. Yet, given the pride that Denis [D] expressed in being related to John Philpot Curran, I suspect that the choice of a name for Sarah [DS.2] was made easier by the popular romantic image of Robert Emmett, the Irish patriot who was captured and killed by the English because he stopped to say a last good-bye to his Sarah Curran (the daughter of John Philpot Curran).

[Stamped] 369

Filed and Recorded Aug 8th 1876

State of Missouri
County of St. Louis

I hereby certify that on the twenty sixth (26th) day of June AD 1876, I united in the holy bonds of Matrimony Mr John Drennan of St. Louis,
State of Mo. and Miss Sarah Curran of St. Louis State of Missouri

Witness    In Testimony whereof I hereto set my hand this twenty sixth (26th) day of June 1876.

John M. Young

Justice of the Peace   D H MacAdam Recorder

Filed & Recorded Aug. 8th 1876.

Although some of the information in the census record of 1870 is inconsistent with other documents, the identification is fairly convincing when considered in context. Since the census information was most likely provided by Caroline Burgoyne, I would expect some errors. Caroline would have known that Mary was born in the United States and assumed incorrectly that the birth had been in Missouri. Caroline would also have known that Sarah was born outside the United States but might not have been interested enough to distinguish between Ireland and Scotland. Like many women of her era, Caroline probably understated her own age and did the same for Sarah. The age stated for Mary is about correct.

The Mary Curtis listed in 1870 was probably a former slave. It must have been an interesting experience for Mary and Sarah to work with her.

War Service

Every Presbyterian church with which Sarah had been associated during the first 21 years of her life has been opposed to slavery. Her brother George had enlisted in the 23rd Illinois Infantry immediately upon the start of the war and fought against the Confederate Army of Missouri. Nevertheless, Sarah [DS.2] volunteered as a nurse with the Confederate Army in Missouri. In that capacity, she assisted in the escape of a wounded Union captain who had been placed in her care. Sarah narrowly escaped being shot as a traitor.¹⁰

George William Curran [DS.8.3] told me that Sarah [DS.2] married the captain after the war. However, Sarah married John Drennan (born in Scotland circa 1840) on 26 June 1876, eleven years after the end of the war. Given the long interval of time, it seems uncertain that Sarah married the man that she helped to escape. I wonder whether Sarah [DS.2] was actually a Union agent who feigned a romantic involvement in order to get clemency. I also wonder whether Denis's loud support of the Confederacy was sincere or simply a cover for his daughter Sarah.

If Sarah was a Union agent, then she most likely worked in the network of Allan Pinkerton or General Grenville Dodge. The Pinkerton records were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871.²³ Even after the war had ended, General Dodge never publicized the names of any of his agents.²³