Sarah was born in Queens County, New York, in an area now in Brooklyn, in 1831, the eldest of ten children. She was named Minsarah J. Smith, but her first name was commonly shortened to the familiar Sarah. Her parents, Sylvanus, a prosperous pig farmer, and Ann Eliza Smith, were of mixed Native American, White, and African-American descent. However, in 1845, at the age or fourteen, she began teaching at a black school in Williamsburg

During her years as a principal, her private life underwent important changes. About 1879, her first husband having died, she married Henry Highland Garnet, a prominent abolitionist and Presbyterian clergyman. He was appointed United States minister of Liberia, but died shortly after his arrival there in 1882. However, on September 17, 1911, she died suddenly at her home in Brooklyn, having devoted her life to improving the status of black teachers and of women.

, later a part of Brooklyn. At an early age she married Samuel Tompkins they had two children, both whom died at an early age.

Sarah’s teaching experience and additional training after her first job at the age of fourteen are unknown. However, by 1863 she had advanced far enough in her profe

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