Biography

Annie Marie Sargent (Marie) was born 18 May 1898 in Golansville, Caroline County, Virginia, the youngest daughter of John Sargent and Nellie Gray Patron.[1] In 1906, when Marie was eight years old, missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints baptized her along with her mother Nellie and her six siblings in a creek near Golansville.[2] Marie’s father, John, did not convert. Latter-day Saint missionaries laid hands on the head of each convert to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost and to confirm their membership the same day.[3] There was no church near enough for the family to regularly attend worship services and so they sustained their faith on their own and with visits from the missionaries.[4]

Marie likely lived with her family until she married Sylvester Derricotte, who was also raised in Caroline County.[5] The couple married on 12 January 1917 in Washington D.C. and welcomed their first child, Aubrey, three months later.[6] In June, shortly before the end of World War I, Sylvester was drafted into the United States Army and served in France as part of the 372^nd Infantry, a segregated African American regiment.[7] After Sylvester was honorably discharged, the couple moved to Caroline County, presumably to be near family.[8] They became the parents of nine children (Aubrey, Clifton, Laurecer, Sylvester, Jesse, Emily, Joseph, Harry, and Dorothy). Three of their children (son Aubrey, son Sylvester, and daughter Emily) died before Marie.[9] In 1950, Sylvester died of myocarditis, leaving Marie a widow.[10]

Marie lived the rest of her life, thirty-four years, in Virginia. At some point after Sylvester’s death she moved from Golansville to Ruther Glen, both rural communities in Caroline County. Sylvester had worked as a farm laborer and for road crews and Marie worked as a homemaker.[11] 

Marie remained on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ records through 1930, but a family member remembered that she “quit going” at some point. She eventually transitioned to the Baptist faith where her husband Sylvester was affiliated. When he died, his funeral was held at the local Baptist church and when Marie passed away a Baptist minister, Reverend C. C. Dickerson presided at her services.[12]

Marie died on 27 August 1984 from cardiac arrest at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia. She is buried in a family cemetery in Ruther Glen, Virginia.[13]

By Joseph Stuart, with research assistance from Zachary Matthews

Primary Sources

“Church History.” Jericho Baptist Church. Accessed February 10, 2021.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Record of Members Collection. Southern States Mission. Virginia District. Microfilm 1995. Family History Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Derricott.” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), 31 August 1984, B-2.

District of Columbia. Marriages, 1830-1921. Sylvester Derricote and Marie Sargent, 12 January 1917.

“John Clement Farr.” Missionary Database. 

Richards, Debra E. “Open the Gates of the Temple,” The Daily Universe (Provo, Utah), 12 April 1976, 3-4, 9.

“Sargeant.” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914-1935. C.R. 4 311. Church History Library. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Thomas Edwin Ricks III.” Missionary Database. 

United States. 1900 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1910 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1930 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1940 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. Army. 368^th Company, Private. World War I. U.S. Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939. Sylvester Dericote. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

United States. Washington, DC. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Sylvester Dericote. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File No. 24824. Registered number 3092, Aubrey Derricott. Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death. File 25457. Registered number 25, Sylvester Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death. File 83-042529. Registered number 143, Emily L. Smith, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death. File No. 70-024685. Registered number 129, Sylvester Lewis Derricotte, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death. File 84-028057. Registered number 222, Marie Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Wright, Virginia K. Oral interview by Alan Cherry, 14 October 1986. Transcript. Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Oral History Project. L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Harold B. Lee Library. Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Roberts, Frank E. The American Foreign Legion: Black Soldiers of the 93d in World War I. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004.

[1] United States, 1900 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

[2] Virginia K. Wright, Oral interview by Alan Cherry, 14 October 1986, transcript, 1, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Oral History Project, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

[3] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Southern States Mission, Virginia District, Microfilm 1995, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[4] Wright, Oral Interview, 1.

[5] United States, 1910 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

[6] District of Columbia, Marriages, 1830-1921, Sylvester Derricote and Marie Sargent, 12 January 1917; Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File No. 24824, registered number 3092, Aubrey Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

[7] United States, Army, 368^th Company, Private, World War I, U.S. Army Transport Service, Passenger Lists, 1910-1939, Sylvester Dericote, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. For more on the 372^nd Infantry, see Frank E. Roberts, The American Foreign Legion: Black Soldiers of the 93rd in World War I (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004), chapter eleven.

[8] United States, 1930 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison.

[9] Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File No. 24824, registered number 3092, Aubrey Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File No. 70-024685, registered number 129, Sylvester Lewis Derricotte, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia; Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 83-042529, registered number 143, Emily L. Smith, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

[10] Virginia; Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 25457, registered number 25, Sylvester Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

[11] United States, 1930 and 1940 Censuses, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

[12] "Sargent," Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914-1935, CR 4 311, Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. “Derricott,” Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA), 31 August 1984, B-2. Reverend C.C. Dickerson, who led Jericho Baptist Church in Ruther Glen, Virginia from 1945-1962, officiated at Marie’s funeral. See “Church History,” Jericho Baptist Church (accessed 11 June 2020), entry for Rev. C. C. Dickerson.  Virginia K. Wright, Oral Interview,  17.

[13] Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 84-028057, registered number 222, Marie Derricott, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

Documents

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