Sarah (Unknown) Miller (abt. 1641 - abt. 1719)

Wife of Thomas Crosby — married 1662 (to 27 Jun 1702) in Eastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Wife of John Miller — married 28 Apr 1703 (to 1 Jun 1711) in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died about Jun 1719 at about age 78 in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

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Biography

Sarah's last name at birth is not known, but the evidence does not support the 19th century claims that she was Sarah Fitch from Connecticut. See the cogent summary of why her last name at birth was definitely not Fitch: ^[1]

Original sources concerning Sarah's birth or marriage in Cape Cod vital records have not yet been found. The births of her twelve children with Thomas Crosby (also written as "Crosbie" since spelling was inconsistent back in the 1600s) were carefully recorded in Eastham vital records, but the mother's name was not part of the records until the following century. Of course, in very small villages like Eastham in the early colonial period, marriages and births were known to every adult in town!

Thanks to an unusual probate situation in 1704, however, there is proof that Sarah was indeed the wife of Thomas Crosby. She was summoned to the local probate court on April 4, 1704, to confirm under oath that she had been present when Rev. John Sunderland signed his will in 1700 and had declared it was his last will and testament. She also "made oath" that "Thomas Crosbie her late Deceased Husband" was present and signed Mr. Sunderland's will as a witness. :^[2]

"Sarah Miller Late Sarah Crosbie Appeared before Barnabas Lothrop Esqr Judg of probats .... Aprill the 4^th 1704 and made Oath that shee did see John Sunderland Late of Eastham now Deceased Signe and Seale the above written Instrument and heard him Declare it to be his Last Will & Testam^t and That Thomas Crosbie her Late Deceased Husband was present and sett to his hand as a witness attest W^m Bassett Rege^tr" [emphasis added]

Based on the fact that their oldest known child, Thomas, was born on April 7, 1663,^[3] Sarah most likely married Thomas Crosby sometime in 1662 in Massachusetts. Based on an estimated marriage year of 1662 and the birth of her first child in 1663, she was probably born between 1641 and 1645.

Sarah was married to Thomas for about 40 years, until he died on June 11, 1702 in Boston. ^[4]:

'Here Lyeth / Y^e Body Of / Thomas Crosby / Aged 68 Years / Died June Y^e / 11 1702.'"^[5]

Together Sarah and Thomas had twelve known children born from 1663 to 1680, including twins born in 1670, both named 'John,' only one of which survived (see Research_Notes), and triplets born in 1678 (Ann and Mercy survived to marry and have a family, but Increase died soon after birth).^[6]

After Thomas Crosby died in 1702, Sarah married prosperous widower John Miller of Yarmouth, in Harwich on 28 Apr. 1703.^[7]

John Miller of yarmouth and Sarah Crosbey of Harwich ware joyned in marrage upon ye 28th day of Aprell in ye year of 1703 by Nathanill Stone, minster of Harwech. (See attached image.)

In addition, a decade prior to Sarah's second marriage, her son Joseph had married John Miller's daughter Mehitable Crosby, so she and John Miller knew each other well.

Research Notes

Twin Sons Named John

Twin sons were born 4 December 1670. The oldest known record concerning their birth indicates that both sons were named John:

"Mr Thomas Crosbe two sonnes borne at a bearth named John borne the 4th Day of December in the yeare 1670." The following sentence in the record then says, "John Crosbe the sonne of Mr Thomas Crosbe Deseased which was one of the children borne at a beirth: buried the 11enth Day of Feburarie 1670."^[8]

Although it seems odd (and makes it a bit confusing), they were probably both named John after the fact (the document was obviously written long after the fact since it contains the names of all of the children). It would basically be the same as having a single son named John who died when two months old, and then the next son born receiving the name John. That type of naming is common, and so helps to make more sense of twins with the same name.

An important thing to note is that the twin who died was not named Thomas as some genealogies report. People may have been confused because in the entry for the twin Johns the name Mr Thomas Crosbe comes at the beginning and people simply saw the name at the beginning, figured two children named John didn't make sense, and therefore the one son must be named Thomas.

Disputed Associations

There has been some confusion as to whether or not this Sarah and Sarah (Unknown) Bangs were one and the same. Some have assumed that after Thomas Crosby died, his widow, Sarah (Unknown) Crosby married Jonathan Bangs, and hence, would be the same as the Sarah found on this page. But the ages, children's births, etc. don't align with that thinking and there are no direct sources to prop up such a theory.

The bulk of the confusion most likely comes from (or at least perpetuated by) Find A Grave (FAG), in which contributors to the site have written incorrect information on the memorials of the following people: this Sarah (Unknown),Thomas Crosby, Jonathan Bangs (1640-1728), and Sarah (Unknown). The surnames of the two Sarahs and whom they each married have been muddled together at various points in time. As of 25 September 2021, anything other than the photos on the headstones found on FAG should be disregarded. The various owners of the memorials have been notified several times (a couple of them have made attempts at cleaning things up, but there are still serious errors).

Sources

1. ↑ Bob Daniels, "The Mysterious Case of Sarah Fitch," 28 Nov. 2005 at Thomas Crosby
2. ↑ George Ernest Bowman, ed., The Mayflower Descendant : A Quarterly Magazine of Pilgrim Genealogy and History, 17 (1915):100 (Boston : Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1899), digital image at Archive.org.
3. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," image 112 of 157, digital images by subscription FamilySearch.org.
4. ↑ Ogden Codman, Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Mass., 71 (Salem: The Essex Institute, 1918), digital images at Archive.org."[stone dim red; copied from Wyman]
5. ↑ Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, Boston, MA: Old Cemeteries of Boston, 1649-1920. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007, digital images by paid subscription at AmericanAncestors.org
6. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," image 112 of 157, digital images by subscription FamilySearch.org.
7. ↑ “Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” image 126 of 178, digital images by subscription at Ancestry.org.
8. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," image 112 of 157, digital image by subscription FamilySearch.org.

See also:

• Eleanor Davis Crosby, Simon Crosby the Emigrant: His English Ancestry, and Some of His American Descendants (Boston: Press of Geo. H. Ellis Co., 1914), digital images at HathiTurst.org.
• Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, p. 235, (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), digital images by subscription AmericanAncestors.org.
• Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016). https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/13934/178/251759521