Thanks for some additional background information. We love learning more and more about the paces we visit.

Good questions, Anonymous. I just visited Council Grove and discovered “Aunt Sally/ Sarah Parker. This is the info I was given:
She came with Seth Hays as a slave and was given the choice after emancipation to stay or leave. She chose to stay. Of course, it is not known if she had family to go to or how she would have survived on her own if she left. Since she had a “good” relationship with Hays a prominent figure in town, nice accommodations in the basement of his house, steady work in the trading post, and became a respected woman in town, staying was probably the better choice.

The child Hays adopted was not Sarah’s. She was a newborn orphaned by the father after the mother died in childbirth. Hays offered himself and Sarah as caregivers for the infant then a few years later he legally adopted the child. Her name was Kittie Hays. A book was written about this unusual arrangement.

The extent of the relationship between Hays and Sarah can be left to speculation. They were, it appears near the same age. When Sarah became ill and passed, Hays made sure that she was buried in his plot, in the “white” section of the cemetery. A highly unusual request for the times, but I heard Hays was quite the character and usually got his way. He died a year later and is buried close by Sarah.

I write historical fiction based on slave narrratives and am looking to find more information on this unusual relationship.

Those are good questions. Sounds like more research is needed, but often these little details can be lost in history.

If Sarah Taylor was the Mother, but Seth Hayes was not the father, yet he adopted the girl, that means Seth Hayes was either a benevolent slaver in Kansas or a cuckold to his chosen partner.

We loved our visit and recommend it to everyone who loves history. Hopefully, we will get a chance to visit again in the future.

Mark Brooks
Site Administrator

It’s such an interesting place.

It sounds like a wonderful life of adventure. It is certainly a historic destination.