Sarah (Crowell) Willson (1735 - aft. 1809)

Born 8 Apr 1735 in New Jersey

Ancestors

Wife of Benjamin Willson UEL — married 1762 in Wantage, Sussex, New Jersey

Descendants

Died after 1809 after age 73 in Upper Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Eric Henderson [send private message]

Biography

The parents of Sarah Crowell are almost certainly not Edward Crowell and Sarah Vail, as is commonly attributed. The Sarah, daughter of Edward and Sarah, was born in 1717, which would make her about 18 years older than her alleged husband, Benjamin Willson, a formidably unlikely circumstance. Besides, this Sarah apparently married Jeremiah Hart in 1744 in New Jersey. Other sources mention other marriages, but none to Willson.

A Sarah Crowell was born to Seth Crowell (mother Mary) in 1735, a year that makes her about the same age as Benjamin Willson. I can't locate a death record so it is plausible she lived to marry Willson. In fact, there don't seem any further records about her at all, and she appears to be the only person who COULD reasonably have married Benjamin Willson. Significantly, her grandmother would be Hannah Adams, which could account for the naming of one daughter Hannah. She also had a sister named Hannah.

More significantly, when Joseph Crowell, of Amwell Township, New Jersey visited fellow Quaker Benjamin Willson and Sarah on June 3, 1793, he wrote in his journal, ""went to Benjamin Willson's, whose wife (Sarah Crowell) is a near relation of mine": Published in Friends' Miscellany Vol. 6(1835) pp.289-343. Joseph was the son of Samuel Moore and Mary Crowell, daughter of Edward Crowell and Sarah Veil. If Sarah was the daughter of Seth C, they would be 2nd cousins. If they were more distantly related, Sarah would not have been considered a "near relation."

This same quite reliable source says, "In 1787 UEL Benjamin Willson, his wife Sarah Crowell (Joseph's 1st cousin) and their family removed to the Niagara District. After he and his family had been settled there six years, they were visited by Joseph Moore of Amwell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey." But is doesn't seem likely they could have been FIRST cousins.

One source (reliability unknown) states vaguely that this Sarah may have married in Pennsylvania to Unknown. Interestingly, Sarah and Benjamin Willson were married in Wantage, NJ, about 10 km from the border of NJ and Penn.

Sources

• Descendants of Benjamin Willson, based on the Thomas Wilson Tree, published 1967.
• The following source identifies several Crowell marriages and births in Woodbridge, NJ, and vicinity: https://archive.org/details/woodbridgevicini00dall/page/324/mode/2up?q=Crowell, including Sarah's.

Acknowledgements

This person was created through the import of Glover.ged on 03 April 2011.