Sarah B. Deaton was born around 1840 in North Carolina to William Deaton and Flora Bethune. Her father was a farmer who owned $275 of personal property by 1860. She grew up and attended school in Moore County, North Carolina. She married William M. Kennedy, and they had at least two children, including John, who was born around 1868. They lived in Jackson Springs, North Carolina, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1870, they owned $30 of real estate and $200 of personal property. By the early 1900s, they were living in Little River, North Carolina. She died in McLauchlin, North Carolina, on May 20, 1924.