Robert Clifton Sarratt

Robert Clifton Sarrat was born on October 21, 1859. His father was James Madison Sarratt and his mother, Julia Ann Lipscomb.[1] He had twelve siblings.[2] His paternal family was of Welsh descent.[3] Sarratt Creek was named after his great-grandfather, John Sarratt, who settled in South Carolina prior to the American Revolutionary War.[3]

Sarratt graduated from Limestone College and Wofford College.[1][2]

Sarratt inherited a farm near Providence, South Carolina.[1] He farmed in the summer and taught school in Gaffney, South Carolina in the winter.[1] He eventually became the city superintendent for all schools in Gaffney.[2][4]

Sarratt served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate, representing Cherokee County, South Carolina.[2]

Sarratt married Frances Amos,[2] the daughter of Confederate veteran and Inman cotton plantation owner Charles McAlwreath Amos and granddaughter of Charles Amos, the co-owner of the Cowpens Iron Works and a slaveholder in the antebellum era.[1] Their wedding was held on July 6, 1887 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.[1] They resided on a farm near the Pacolet River on West Frederick Street in Gaffney, South Carolina.[2] They had two sons and two daughters.[2] One of his sons, Charles Madison Sarratt, became a dean of students and later dean of alumni at Vanderbilt University, where the Sarratt Student Center is named in his honor.

Sarratt died on October 27, 1926.[2][4] His funeral was conducted by a Baptist minister, and he was buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Gaffney, South Carolina.[2]