Sarah Soule Wilbour

Sarah Soule Wilbour’s schooling was frequently interrupted by her mother’s illnesses. Determined to receive an education, Sarah completed the 8th grade at the age of 22. She married her cousin Charles Wilbour, and their one surviving child, Charles Edwin, became America’s first Egyptologist. An enthusiastic local historian, Sarah wrote numerous documents recording Little Compton’s early history. As an activist, she fought for both abolition and suffrage. The widowed Sarah could not vote but was still obligated to pay taxes. She refused, citing taxation without representation, and instead funded a variety of community projects, including the leveling of hills to ease the work of horses and oxen.