A ‘Bearly’ Believable Tale: “Sarah Whitcher’s Story” Inspires NH Kids to Read 120-Year-Old Book

Sarah Witcher, a 3-year-old gone missing in the woods of Warren for four days in 1783, described her protector as a “large, black dog.”

Precocious little Emmy and her mom stopped in at our farm recently, and I asked her if she was learning to read. Emmy told me about her favorite book and said I could borrow it if I promised to bring it back.    

The name of the book was “Sarah Whitcher’s Story” by Elizabeth Yates. It is an old children’s story first published in 1905 but republished in 1994. In the back of this book, I found a citation revealing that this children’s story is based on true events as taken from “The History of Warren, New Hampshire” published in 1870. 

That caught my attention, and I took a road trip to Warren to borrow a copy of their town history. I also took a picture of an interesting NH historical highway marker I encountered along the way.

Chapter seven of the town history bears the title, “How Sarah Whitcher Was Lost in The Woods” and describes the story as taking place on a beautiful Sabbath Day in June of 1783. The Whitcher family were early settlers in the emerging township of Warren. Sarah was not yet 4 years old and had three older brothers: Rueben, Joseph and John; an older sister, Betsey; and a baby brother, Henry.  

That Sunday afternoon, Sarah’s parents decided to go for a walk, and Sarah asked if she could go with them. Despite her protests they told her she must stay with her siblings. The parents thought Sarah had obeyed them and remained in the care of her older brothers and sister. 

The siblings thought the parents had relented and allowed Sarah to accompany them; actually, Sarah had wandered off, following after her parents but stopping to pick flowers and strawberries.

The book “Sarah Whitcher’s Story” by Elizabeth Yates tells the tale of a lost little girl in the woods.

When the parents returned, they quickly discovered Sarah was missing. The parents frantically searched the area around their cabin and sent the older boys to seek help from the distant neighbors. By nightfall the temperature was dropping, rain was falling, and nine men were searching the woods by lantern light.

The searchers burned great fires throughout the night, hoping the girl might approach the light in the darkness. They also blew horns hoping the child might follow the sound to a rescuer. Rain and darkness ended an unsuccessful search that first night, but all planned to return in the morning after the storm had passed and daylight would aid in the search for lost little Sarah.

Word spread throughout the Baker River valley, and the next morning some 20 men had assembled at daybreak to search for Sarah. They divided into groups and headed out searching towards Black Brook, Kelly Pond and Wachipauka Pond. Another group went up the Oliverian as far as the foot of Moose Hillock. All returned to the Whitcher cabin at nightfall with no news to report. 

The next morning the searchers were joined by others from Wentworth, Rumney, Orford, Haverhill and Piermont as word of the missing child spread. With more searchers they were able look in areas not previously covered, and also retrace their steps from previous days. In the mud along Berry Brook, less than a mile from the Whitcher cabin, someone found the footprints of a child. Alarmingly, the child’s footprints were intermixed with the tracks of a black bear.  

On Wednesday morning the search resumed, concentrating on the tracks that had been discovered, but at the end of the day nothing more had been found. The chances of finding her alive after a fourth night seemed hopeless, especially if she had had an encounter with a hungry or irritable bear. The searchers needed to return home to their families and were ready to give up. Distraught Mr. and Mrs. Whitcher begged them to try just one more day.

In 2022, first and second grade students from Dublin, N.H., applied for a N.H. historical highway marker
to commemorate “Sarah Whitcher’s Story.”

The weather was good Thursday morning, and the volunteers returned to the search even though most now believed finding Sarah alive was unlikely. A stranger named “Heath” who had walked some 20 miles from Plymouth arrived mid-day to join the search. Heath said he had dreamed the lost little girl would be found beneath a blowndown pine near a bridle path crossing the Oliverian. He also said he had dreamed the girl was guarded by a black bear… Heath and neighbor, Joseph Patch, set out to search the area envisioned in the dream.

Late Thursday afternoon as the sun was going down, Heath and Patch found Sarah beneath a pine tree in the location described in the dream. Although weak, tired and hungry, the 3-year-old girl was unharmed. Somehow she had survived four days and four nights alone in the wilderness, through inclement weather, without food, water, fire or shelter. When asked about her ordeal, little Sarah said that she had been visited every night by a great black furry dog who curled up beside her and kept her warm. The animal guided her to berries and water and perhaps to the bridle path where she was found. There was no sign of this great black furry dog, but bear tracks were observed in the area.

Could this children’s story actually be true? It doesn’t seem to be typical bear behavior, but bears are unpredictable. Elements of the story are verifyable and documented, including the testimony of some involved in the search. 

Sarah Whitcher lived to be 79 years old, had 11 children and many grandchildren who heard the story firsthand. They retold it to successive generations believing it to be a true story of their maternal ancestor. Similar folk tales of bears protecting small children also originate from Vermont, North Carolina and as far away as Iran.

A historical marker in Warren recalls the story of 3-year-old Sarah Witcher and her encounter with a bear.

In 2022, first and second grade students from Dublin, N.H., read Yates’ book and were inspired to apply for a N.H. historical highway marker in Warren. Whether Sarah Whitcher’s story is completely true, or an exaggerated legend, perhaps isn’t as important as the fact that it seems to capture the imagination and attention of learning little readers like precocious Emmy. 

Now I need to return her book to her, I don’t want to get kicked out of this very exclusive book club.