Lemuel Barrett, her paternal grandfather, served in the Maryland militia during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1823, when Sarah was around the age of nine, her father moved the family from their isolated farm to Madison, Indiana, so that the children could attend local schools.

[7][8] As a young woman she became a regular contributor of poems to newspapers in Madison, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

When financial difficulties forced the Boltons to return to the farm on a full-time basis, they operated their farmhouse as a public tavern.

After Bolton Smith's return to the United States, he became a lawyer and investment banker, as well as active at the national level with the Boy Scouts of America in Washington, D.C.

"[7][14] On September 15, 1863, five years after the death of her first husband, Sarah Bolton married Judge Addison Reese, of Canton, Missouri.

[9][16] During her first marriage Sarah Bolton continued to write poetry in addition to running the family's household and helping in her husband's publishing office.

Bolton's poems appeared in newspapers and periodicals such as Harper's Weekly, but her literary work was not always attributed to her by name.

[18] In addition to writing poetry and composing music, Bolton was active in efforts to secure property rights for women in Indiana.

Although Robert Dale Owen is credited with securing passage of women's property rights, Bolton collaborated with him in efforts to lobby support from members of the Indiana General Assembly.

[1][6] She is buried at Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery beside the remains of her first husband, Nathaniel Bolton.

A simple inscription and epitaph marks her grave: "Sarah T. Bolton, 1814–1893, The first singer in a new land.

[20] Most of Bolton's writings, including her narrative poetry, were idealistic and expressed her nostalgic views of early pioneer and farm life.

"[7] However, some of Bolton's poems show her concerns for social justice and sympathy for supporters of radical causes.

[20] For example, "Ne Dormiat Deus" expresses Bolton's concerns for women's inequality; "Evicted," "Two Scenes," and "Ye Sons of Toil" describe inequalities among social and economic classes; and "The Doomed Anarchist, " a poem inspired by Chicago's 1886 Haymarket affair, protests the death penalty.