Ann Bolton was a deeply pious woman, giving freely of her life and means to the cause of Christ and relief of the poor. She had inherited considerable means and she promptly responded to every demand for relief of others. Her greatest desire was the conversion of her husband and children. On finding that her husband inclined to the Presbyterian Church, she withdrew from the Episcopal Church of her parents and joined the First Presbyterian Church of Tuscumbia.
In the course of time Ann and James, John and Sarah Bolton's eldest daughter and son, visited the family of Col. Benjamin Sherrod, their old Georgia neighbor, who was then living near Courtland, AL. Since there was no railroad, travel by the old style high strap stage from New York to Alabama was no light undertaking. As success renders all burdens light, they regarded this as a delightful diversion. To add to their enjoyment, Col. Sherrod's sons gathered together quite a party of young people. Taking a steamer at Tuscumbia, all had a most enjoyable trip to New Orleans. Sitting on a bale of cotton on deck, steaming down the Mississippi River, F.O.A. Sherrod courted and won the hand of Ann Bolton. During the Civil War she unflinchingly urged her four sons into service of her country, and with her labors, tears and prayers, her soul seemed to be on the fields of battle with the Boys in Gray. After her second marriage she lived at Jackson, MS, home of her husband, Doctor Samuel C. Farrar, until his death October 25, 1867. She then returned to Tuscumbia, AL and lived alternately with her three sons that survived the Civil War, Bolton, Fred and Ben. She died at Tuscumbia, AL, May 5, 1874, and was buried beside her first husband, F.O.A. Sherrod, at the family graveyard two miles east of Tuscumbia, AL.
