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Major, Sarah Righter, 1808-84, preacher. Born Aug. 29 near Philadelphia, at age eighteen Sarah Righter was converted under the preaching of *Harriet Livermore; soon after she experienced a call to preach. She was encouraged by her father John Righter, *Israel Poulson of Amwell, NJ, and *Peter Keyser, a minister of the Philadelphia congregation where Sarah was a member. She began preaching in the area but not without opposition. The 1834 Annual Meeting responded negatively to a query on women preaching. In 1835 Sarah wrote a letter giving a biblical basis for her preaching. In regard to those who quoted the words of Paul in order to forbid women to speak in church, she wrote: “I conceive it would be very inconsistent in an apostle who laid his hands on men and women and prayed over them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, to quench the gift of the Spirit of God because it was given to a woman ....” So Sarah continued to preach.
In 1842 she married *Thomas Major, a Brethren minister. They moved in 1843 to Highland Co., OH, where they remained except for a period in Philadelphia ca. 1857. Five children were born to them; three survived infancy. The Majors held many preaching meetings in Ohio and Indiana, speaking at churches, homes, infirmaries, and prisons. Thomas would usually open the service, then invite Sarah to speak. If the congregation had asked that she not preach, she would often lead in prayer. Those who heard her preach remember her as an able, inspirational speaker. A member of a committee sent by Annual Meeting to counsel her to remain silent said: “I could not give my vote to silence someone who could out preach me.” Sara was one of the preachers at the 1878 Annual Meeting. She was also active in temperance work, ministry to blacks, and home visitation. She died Sept. 18 after a brief illness. PBL
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See also WOMEN; MINORITIES; KOONTZ, HENRY.
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New Nation (1976) 228-39, 268, 271; Messenger (April, 1975) 18-21; cf. R. F. Flory, Lest We Forget (1976) 3:206-13; S. Ohio (1920) 504-5; Some Who Led (1912) 70-72; Almanac (1905) 5, (1909) 13-15; J. H. Lehman, Old Brethren (1976) 274-85; H. R. Holsinger, Tunkers (1901) 359-61; Mary Garber in Trail Blazers (1960) 49-52; R. L. Howe, History of a Church (1943) index; E. Pennsylvania (1915) index; Indiana (1952) 487; GM (Oct. 17, 1884) 640-42, (Dec. 28, 1935) 12-15; BHLA biog. file; I. G. Long, Faces (1962) 26-31; E. S. Moyer, "S. R. Major" (unpubl. MS); N. Atlantic (1975) index.
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Most articles do not have photographs, for the result would be more of a pictorial gallery with accompanying subtext. Pleasingly though, readers will find a modest number of photographs and illustrations in comparison to the amount of available space. In a few cases, the Illustrations do, somewhat, rival the amount of text. Photographs give us the opportunity to make visual clues and determinations about the accompanying article. We are permitted to mentally imprint these illustrations into the depths of our imagination, which then enhances our understanding. Someone has said that 95% of what we learn comes through our eyes. Another has similarly stated: "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Contributing authors are indicated by their initials at the end of the article's main body text. Full names may then be located in the Author List which appears in Volume I on page xiii. The correct initials of PBL stand for Pamela Brubaker Lowe. The Author List is naturally alphabetized and grouped by last name. But since these codes start with the initial of the first name, it can become slightly confusing unless you keep looking at the last names of each particular group. A bold letter as a heading for each group would have been helpful. No additional information is given about each author. It is simply a list of names.
Subject titles or names appear in Bold (Major, Sarah Righter). In the case of a person, the year of birth and death are given when known, followed by a brief label that captures the essence of their life contribution or best describes their accomplishments or occupation, "Preacher" in this instance. Notice a leap of eighteen years in the first sentence to highlight the more significant events in the subjects life, for constraints of space naturally preclude an exhaustive treatment in such articles. Symbols are used throughout many articles to indicate pertinent information. For example, notice the asterisk ( * ) before the name of Harriet Livermore (as well as other names) indicating the existence of a separate BE article. This is extremely helpful in cross-referencing.
highlights that could be
Quite often there are other BE articles that have related information that would augment a more exhaustive study of the person, subject, or theme of an article. Serious researchers will delight in this opportunity for cross-referencing. Our feature article has three: Women, Minorities, and Henry Koontz. In the interest of brevity, we shall examine only the first. The BE article on Women is rather extensive and well developed but only the following excerpt pertains to Sarah Major.
Women
. . . (snip) . . .
"The right of women to preach was another issue. It became especially acute among Brethren because of the preaching of Sarah Righter Major. In 1834 Annual Meeting forbade preaching by "a sister"; in 1859 a distinction between teaching and preaching and prophesying was introduced. Women were permitted to prophesy, that is to exhort, or give a testimony of their spiritual experience, but the were not allowed to preach or teach." BE, Vol. II, K-Z, p. 1360.
. . . (snip) . . .
A bibliography accompanies most articles. Some are rather scant of about one to two lines, while others are five or six lines. Personages or memorable events tend to garner the most references. Our featured article had ten lines comprising seventeen external sources. Note, Principal name of source is in italics, followed by year of issue, and list of pages.
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