Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Family Group Records C
Sarah Cessna & Jerome C. Berryman
Sarah “Sallie” Culbertson Cessna
Born: September 22, 1808 in Muhlenberg
Died: July 28, 1848
Buried: Shawnee Mission, Kansas
Father: Robert Cessna
Mother: Elizabeth Culbertson
Rev. Jerome C. Berryman
Born: February 22, 1810 Madison Co., Ky.
Married: October 6, 1831 in Muhlenberg
Father: Gerard Blackstone Berryman
Mother: Alice Quisenberry
Rev. Jerome C. Berryman was a Methodist Minister. He was a son of Gerard Blackstone Berryman and Alice Quisenberry and was born February 22, 1810 in Madison Co., Ky. He married Sarah “Sallie” Culbertson Cessna on October 6, 1831 in Muhlenberg County. Sallie was the 4th daughter of Robert Cessna and Elizabeth Culbertson of Muhlenberg and she was born September 22, 1808. Soon after the marriage, Jerome and Sallie left Kentucky to do missionary work in Kansas; Rev. Berryman was a circuit minister.
They had the following children:
- Sarah Emily, born April 14, 1834, died March 11, 1837, Kickapoo Mission, Kansas
- Gerard Quisenberry, born September 22, 1835, died August 2, 1895. Married Minerva Anderson Woods
- Emily Green, born February 10, 1838, died in 1923. Married a Giles Russell.
- John Wesley, born September 30, 1839. No further informtion.
- William Cessna, born April 3, 1842, died July 19, 1845, Shawnee Mission, Kansas
- Elizabeth Cessna, born July 21, 1844, died about 1897 and was married to a Mr. Warren.
Sarah Cessna Berryman died July 28, 1848 and is buried at Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Many years later, Rev. Berryman wrote his autobiography. Of Sallie Cessna, he wrote the following:
Sarah C. Cessna, as I have before said, was born and raised in Muhlenberg Co, Kentucky. Her early training was good in all respects. She became pious in her girlhood, and I may truthfully say devoted her whole life to the service of God. She took me for her husband when we were both young, as a traveling Methodist preacher. No act of her life was unworthy of the position she occupied. In social life she was modest and retiring, respectful and dignified; she was loved by all, but most of those who were her associates. Even the poor Indians had feelings of grateful veneration for her, for they always found in her a sympathizing friend. During the thirteen years of her missionary life her services as a true helpmeet were untiring, and rendered not only without complaint, but with never ceasing cheerfulness. Her example and advice were often my chief support under discouragements, so much so that I had many times failed without them. A thousand times have I had cause to thank God for the gift of such a wife. In her personal attachment to me she was simply devoted, and one of the last things she said to me was, “Don't forget me!”. We buried her beside her own little “Willie Cessna” in the mission burying grounds.
Research comes from various sources within Muhlenberg County and the Autobiography of Rev. Jerome C. Berryman from the Kansas Historical Collections, Volk XVI, 1923-1925.
Contributed by Cheryl Cessna
Updated July 23, 2017