Sarah Shedd was born in Washington, New Hampshire, in 1813 to John and Lydia Shedd, the second of four children. Her mother, Lydia, was a Farnsworth—a name long associated with the early history of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Washington. One of Sarah's cousins, William Farnsworth, was a founder of that church. She had many relatives in town.

Sarah received her education under the guidance of Mary Lyon at Holyoke Seminary, now Mount Holyoke College. At just 15, she began teaching school in Washington. Two years later, her father passed away, leaving Sarah, her mother, and her three siblings to manage on their own. By the age of 20, her older sister had married and moved west, and her younger sister had died. With her mother and younger brother depending on her, Sarah moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, to work in the textile mills.

Mill work offered a steady income, though it demanded long hours and exposed workers to difficult conditions. Despite these hardships, life in Lowell also offered cultural and social opportunities—concerts, museums, lectures, and shops—that were unavailable in rural Washington.

Sarah spent most of her adult life working in the textile mills of Lowell and later Salem, returning to Washington each summer to care for her mother and teach school to local children. She loved reading and writing poetry, often composing poems as gifts for friends and contributing to factory publications during her limited free time.

She worked in the mills for 25 years, managing to save about $2 per week—at a time when buying a single book could cost a full week's savings. At the age of 45, she left the mill work and returned to Washington to care for her aging mother, who passed away shortly after. Sarah herself died less than ten years later, in 1867, at the age of 54. She never married.

Upon her death, Sarah left a bequest of $2,500 to the town of Washington, requesting that the funds be used to establish a town library. She is remembered for her cheerful self-sacrifice, her unwavering dedication to her family, and her kind spirit. Sarah believed that the greatest gift she could give her hometown was a library—a place where books could be shared freely with all.

The town acted quickly to honor her wishes. In 1869 a library committee was formed, and its first action was to name the institution the Shedd Free Library. The library opened on October 30, 1869 with 292 books. It was initially housed in temporary quarters throughout the town.  In 1881, Lumen Jefts, a former Washington resident who had found success, donated the town’s only Victorian-style building to serve as the library’s permanent home. By then, the collection had grown to over 2,000 books.

To this day, the Shedd Free Library continues to serve the community of Washington, just as Sarah Shedd envisioned.

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Information from Rumors of Sainthood: Sarah Shedd of Washington by  Ronald Jager