Sarah Shelton Henry

Sarah Shelton Henry was Patrick Henry’s first wife and the mother of six of his children; severe mental illness led to her confinement at the family home. Sarah Shelton Henry is generally dated to 1738–1775.

Sarah Shelton married Patrick Henry in 1754 and managed a growing household while his legal and political career developed. She suffered a severe mental illness late in her life and was cared for at the family home rather than confined in the colonial asylum at Williamsburg.

In Ann Rinaldi’s Or Give Me Death, Patrick Henry’s public career moves toward the speech remembered for “Give me liberty, or give me death,” while his daughters live with a private crisis.