SARAH ANN PRESTON DICKERMAN (born Ballard) is a native of Boston, Mass. Her birthplace was the family residence, which stood on Washington Street (formerly Orange Street), the locality being now the corner of Washington and Davis Streets, where her mother's grandmother, Mrs. Zebiah Davis Cowdin, a daughter of General Amasa Davis, for whom Davis Street was named, was born in 1782. General Davis was one of the Boston merchants who signed the agreement which led to the Boston Tea Party of. December 16, 1773. The estate remained in possession of the family until 1892, when it was sold.
Mrs. Dickerman's father, Joseph Atlams Ballard, was of Dutch blood on the paternal side. His father, Peter Albertus Von Hagen, came to Boston to teach music, and was organist of Trinity Church for many years. He married Miss Lucy Ballard in 1800. The Von Hagen children by act of Legislature took their mother's maiden name, Ballard, Joseph H. Von Hagen becoming Joseph Adams Ballard. Mr. Ballard's ancestors on the maternal side were New England people, residents for a number of generations in Boston and vicinity. The house in which his grandmother, Madam Lucy Adams, lived, as the wife and afterward the widow of Abijah Adams, her second husband, is still standing on Pinckney Street.
Joseph A. Ballard up to the time of his death, October 1, 1858, at the age of fifty-one years, was marine editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, associated with the Hon. Nathan Hale, father of the Rev. Dr. Edward Everett Hale.
Mr. Ballard's wife, Mrs. Dickerman's mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Davis Cowdin Gamage, died July 4, 1874. She was a daughter of Nathaniel and Sarah Davis (Cowdin) CJamage and grand-daughter of Daniel Cowdin and his wife, Zebiah Davis, above named. Mrs. Ballard was early interested in philanthropic work. She joined the Rev. Charles Francis Barnard in organizing the Warren Street Chapel, a children's church, and devoted many years to this and other charitable institutions.
Sarah Ann Preston Ballard, now Mrs. Dickerman, was born June 13, 1833. She was educated in the Boston public schools, being for some years a pupil in the old Franklin School. She was married February 16, 1853, to Henry Wilson Dickerman, son of Ezekiel and Marinda Dickerman, of Stoughton, Mass. Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Dickerman in the early years of their wedded life, namely: Joseph Henry, February 8, 1854; and William Montgomery, who died soon after his birth, April 10, 1855.
In her girlhood Mrs. Dickerman was much influenced by the Rev. Charles Francis Barnard, and in early womanhood she came under the ministry of Dr. Edward Everett Hale, with whom she formed a friendship which has been unbroken. This training determined her choice of occupation outside of family claims. She has always chosen to join societies having for their objects the advancement of humanitarian ideas or the alleviation of some form of suffering.
She seems to have been a born suffragist, as from early girlhood she rebelled at any form of injustice to women, and, although descended from most conservative ancestors, was always ready to work for suffrage for women, serving on the Ward and City Committee of Women Voters in Boston with Abby W. May, Ednah D. Cheney, Lucia M. Peabody, Dr. Salome Merritt, and other pioneers in this work. She has voted for school committee ever since women were granted the right to do so, and her interest in school matters still continues.
She has worked in the following named societies, serving most of them as either president, secretary, treasurer, director, or trustee: Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, Massachusetts School Suffrage Association, Jamaica Plain School Suffrage Association, Woman's Charity Club, Martha and Mary Lend-a-Hand Club, Moral Education Association, Barnard Memorial A.=sociation, Franklin School Association, Children's Mission to the Children of the Destitute, Committee of Council and Co-operation, Ladies' Physiological Institute, Jamaica Plain Friendly Society, New England Helping Hand Society, Jamaica Plain Woman's Alliance, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Animal Rescue League.
