Sara Carter Bayes

Sara Carter Bayes Early Biography

Sara Dougherty was born July 21, 1898 to Sevier and Elizabeth Kilgore Dougherty of Wise County, Virginia. Sara's mother died when she was three years old, and the young girl spent the better part of her childhood traveling around Virginia with her father from one relative's house to another. Eventually Sara settled in Rich Valley with her uncle and aunt, Milburn (Uncle Mil) and Melinda (Aunt Nick) Nickels, in Copper Creek.

Uncle Mil was a fiddler and there were often music gatherings at their home. Sara learned to play the autoharp from EB Easterland. “I was about ten when I got my first autoharp,” Sara said. “I sold greeting cards to raise money and ordered it from the Sears Robuck catalogue for eight dollars.” Uncle Mil played fiddle and before long Sara learned to pick the banjo and keep up with him. Among his favorite songs were “Fatal Wedding” and “Johnny Put The Kettle On.” She began playing with cousin Madge Addington (Maybelle’s older sister). They both played guitar, banjo and autoharp and would switch off on different songs.
 
“Aunt Sara was a woman hard to explain” said June Carter Cash. “She was tall, buxom, blackeyed, and always beautiful. She was a thoroughbred. She sang in a very low, almost male sounding voice, and she sang a lot because she loved it so.”

Sara learned a song from neighbor Myrtle Porter that would become one of the anthems of early Country Music and the Carter’s biggest hits, “The Wildwood Flower.” The song was passed down for several the generations in these remote mountains and like many of the Carter Family songs was based on an earlier song, "I’ll Twine 'Mid The Ringlets,” written in 1860.