Sarah (Bassett) Elwell (abt. 1649 - aft. 1707)

Born about 1649 in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Elwell — married 23 Nov 1675 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died after 20 Apr 1707 after about age 58 in Salem County, Province of New Jersey [uncertain]

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Biography

Sarah Bassett was the daughter William Bassett of Lynn. She was born in Lynn, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, in about 1649.^[1][2]

Sarah married Thomas Elwell in Gloucester, in the Massachusetts Bay colony, on 23 Nov 1675.^[3][4] They had at least seven children between 1676-1700.^[5]

Her extended family was targeted during the Salem witch trials of 1692-93, and several of her close relatives were accused, including sisters Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and Mary (Bassett) Derich, brother-in-law John Proctor (who was executed), sister-in-law Sarah (Hood) Bassett, and sister-in-law Esther (Dutch) Elwell.

The family relocated to Salem County, New Jersey sometime between February of 1699 and June of 1700, likely as a result of their persecution during the witch trials.^[6] Thomas purchased 110 acres of land there from Benjamin Acton in a deed dated 6 Sep 1698 and recorded 8 Oct 1698.^[7]

Sarah's date and place of death are unknown, but she died after 20 Apr 1707, when she proved her husband's will in Salem County, New Jersey.^[8]

Children

Children of Thomas Elwell and Sarah Bassett include:^[9]

• Sarah, b.24 Aug 1676, m. Thomas Walling
• Thomas, b.26 Apr 1678
• Mary, b.13 Mar 1679/80, m. Nickolds
• William, b.8 Apr 1682
• Elizabeth/Elisha, b.30 May 1684
• John, b. abt 1685 (named in his father's will, apparently already 21)
• Samuel, b. aft 1685 (named in father's will, under age 21 in 1706)

Sources

1. ↑ Robert C. Anderson, et al., The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, 7 vols. (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999-2011), 1:193.
2. ↑ Jacob Thomas Elwell, The Elwell Family in America: A Genealogy of Robert Elwell of Dorchester and Gloucester, Mass., revised by Charles Henry Pope (Boston: Charles H. Pope, 1899), 9.
3. ↑ Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 3 vols. (Topsfield & Salem, Mass.: [various publishers], 1917-24), 2:202.
4. ↑ Anderson, Great Migration 1634-1635, 2:430.
5. ↑ Elwell, Elwell Family in America, 11.
6. ↑ Frank Bevc, Puritans, Patriots and Pioneers : An Elwell Family History, (Winter Springs, Fla: Lulu.com, 2016), 118; partial preview available here.
7. ↑ Elwell, Elwell Family in America, 9-10.
8. ↑ Elwell, Elwell Family in America, 10 (including a transcription of the will).
9. ↑ Elwell, Elwell Family in America, 11.

See Also:

• Davis, Walter Goodwin. "The Ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800: Wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine." Boston, MA: Stanhope Press, 1916. Pages 69-70.
• Van Name, Elmer Garfield, author. The Elwell Family (Seventeeth and Eighteenth Centuries - Southern New Jersey). (1963).