Program

NYS Historic

Subject

People, Site

Location

1123 Main St, Mumford, NY 14511, USA

Lat/Long

42.989209270493, -77.859040065289

Grant Recipient

Caledonia Mumford Central School District

Sara J. McBride was born around 1844 in Caledonia, New York, to Irish immigrants John and Mary McBride. By 1872, the family resided in Mumford, New York, where John McBride operated a fishing tackle business he had established in 1840. Sara studied her father’s fly-tying techniques and developed an interest in entomology by observing fish and insects in the local stream and maintaining aquariums.

In 1872, she attended the LeRoy Academic Institute for music and Ingham University for drawing and painting. Following her father’s death around 1875, she assumed control of the family tackle business. By 1876, she gained national recognition at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, earning a bronze medal for her fly-tying skill. Her success was attributed to her ability to create lures that accurately mimicked natural insects based on her scientific observations.

That same year, McBride published an article in Forest and Stream titled “Metaphysics of Fly Fishing.” The piece introduced the concept of “matching the hatch” to the American angling community, advocating for the use of lures that corresponded to native insect populations. While this practice was already established in Europe, McBride’s writing and technical proficiency helped popularize the approach in the United States.

After a period of writing and further study in Europe, McBride moved her business to New York City in 1878. She returned to Mumford eighteen months later, and her final known article was published in 1880. In 1884, Forest and Stream reported that she had moved to Australia. Although the details of her later life and death remain unverified, her contributions to entomology-based fly design continue to influence the industry.