Caty Sage
N 36° 43.119 W 081° 10.085
17S E 484989 N 4063675
This historic marker is located on U. S. Route 21 between the towns of Independence and Wytheville, Virginia
Waymark Code: WMA3B0
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 11/09/2010
Views: 10
On July 6, 1792, five-year-old Caty Sage was abducted from her home in Grayson County by persons unknown. As the legend goes, a local soothsayer predicted the girl would eventually be found.
In 1848 Caty's brother Charles was in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. A Wyandotte Indian told him that he closely resembled a white woman living with his tribe. "Sally," as she was called by the Wyandottes, had been given to them in trade by the Cherokees. Charles went to the village and saw a family resemblance in the woman, who spoke no English. Charles' brother Samuel then came and confirmed Caty's identity.
Having been with the Indians for so long, Caty was bound to the Native American lifestyle. She had been married in the tribe three times, and she refused to leave with her brothers. Caty and Charles did, however, keep in touch. She died of pneumonia in 1853.
"The Ballad of Caty Sage" was originally a poem written in the 1930s by Eva Boyer of Carroll County. The poem was published in The Grayson Gazette and was set to music by J. C. Pierce of Galax. Pierce performed it at the 1940 Galax Old Fiddlers Convention and later recorded it on small commercial labels.
Source/Credit: (
visit link)
The Text of the Marker reads:
CATY SAGE
"Nearby was the home of James and Lovice Sage, whose five-year-old daughter Caty was abducted in 1792. Fifty-six years later her brother Charles located her in eastern Kansas after a Wyandot Indian told him that a woman named Yourowquains, with similar features to his lived with the Wyandots. Another brother, Samuel, investigated and confirmed that she was their sister. Through an interpreter Yourowquains told them that a “white man” abducted her. She lived with the Cherokee, before they gave her as a present to the Wyandots, who adopted her. She had three Wyandot husbands and died in January 1853."