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The Town & the City: Lowell Before The Civil War

Sarah G. Bagley

Sarah Bagley's biography or biographies contain many holes, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies. Her contributions to the labor movement are of course the most important part of her story; however, here I want to try to clear up a few of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

 

 

Sarah Bagley died in Philadelphia at 81 years of age.. She was buried in Lloyd Bowers Hoppin Family Lot in Laurel Hill Cemetery (PA) under her married name - Sarah B(agley) Durno. 
Some references state that her place of burial is unknown. This is likely because she is buried under her married name, but not in the same cemetery as her husband James Durno.
Sarah and James married when Sarah was 45 years old and had no children.
The last time Sarah's name appeared in the Brooklyn City Directory was 1883. So she may have moved to Philadelphia around this time, living there for the last three years of her life.
While her date of death is often listed as January 15, 1887, her gravestone has 1888 as the year of her death.

This is not a painting of Sarah Bagley

Internet searches for images of Sarah Bagley return the picture below; however, this is not Sarah Bagley.

There is no known likeness of Sarah Bagley

Mrs. Frances Elizabeth Newbury Bagley

 

Mrs. James Durno, Physician

Some biographies state that Sarah and her husband were homeopathic physicians; however, I couldn't find any primary source documents to verify this.
It appears that James Durno manufactured patent medicines and that he and Sarah treated people with these. However, they were not homeopathic preparations.