Sarah doubtlessly grew up in Fairfield Township, Cumberland County, NJ where she married her first husband, Timothy Bennett. She grew up with the Bennett, Bateman, Mintz/Mints/Mench, Thompson, Elmer, and Ogden families at a minimum, probably also Shaw, Ayars, Sheppard, Lummis.

I have to look both at the church records and the land plots to try to see which Davis family she belongs to. Timothy Bennett doubtlessly is a son of Nathan or Nathaniel Bennett, both sons of Samuel Bennett and Lois Diament.

I know from DNA that Sarah was from one of the Davis families of Cumberland, based on matches with Sheppard / Ayars descendants who married with the Elnathan Davis family.

We have a couple of clues from the names that she gave her children. She named her two children with William Mintz/Mints, Martha Ann and John Thompson. I am hypothesizing that she had a near ancestor named Martha and that she was a descendant of the Thompson family.

Married twice to two childhood friends of hers from either Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey or Cumberland County, Southern New Jersey. (1) married Timothy Bennett,on March 23, 1803 ; (2) married William A. (?Asbury) Mints or Mintz, possibly from a Dutch family, on March 31, 1825. Family tradition is that William Mintz may have been German.

Both marriages took place in Cumberland County. Timothy Bennett died by 1826 when his son Ezra Bennett was "left fatherless" at age 14. [Update - I am not certain that Ezra Bennett is Timothy Bennett's son now.] According to Sarah's granddaughter, her marriage to William A. Mints took place on March 31, 1825.

Children with Timothy Bennett:

1. Timothy Bennett born circa 1810 in Cumberland County, married his step-sister
2. Ezra Bennett, born March 13, 1812 in Cumberland County, married Mary Ann Bryant
3. Sarah Davis Bennett, born circa 1810, married Peter Conover
4. Isaac Bennett circa 1807, Cumberland County (hypothesis, may be a cousin instead)

Children with William A. Mints:

1. John Thompson Mints, born 1826 (probably died young. Thompson is a Fairfield Township family intermarried with the Arthur David / Martha Moore family.)
2. Martha Ann Mints, born 1829

Sarah Davis' great great granddaughter was tested and has Haplogroup U4 mtDNA (U4b1a1a1). As for where Sarah Davis's ancestors were from, the best guess is the British Isles, based on books about the various Davis families of Cumberland County, New Jersey. However an autosomal DNA match with a mostly Dutch and partially Swiss German family suggests that Sarah Davis or William Mintz had Dutch or possibly Swiss German ancestry. Further the family that several DNA matches shared was Schenck, an early Monmouth County family that intermarried with van Covenhoven (Conover).

What is known about Sarah Davis. According to her granddaughter, Mary Pettigrew, she was born on Sept. 27, 1784. She married first in 1803, so this is a reasonable date. Sarah was married twice, first to Timothy Bennett. Apparently, Sarah's eldest daughter, Sarah Davis Bennett Conover, was the daughter of Timothy Bennett (according to our cousin Bev Kline). According to her granddaughter, Sarah married second in 1825 William A. Mints (also spelled Mintz). Her granddaughter says that Sarah and William were childhood friends. The Mintz, Davis, and Bennett families were from either Freehold, Monmouth County or from Cumberland County, New Jersey, from what was known as Fenwick's Colony. There were two or perhaps three Davis families and there were numerous children. They were among the early settlers of the area. However the Conovers were from Freehold Township, Monmouth County and although Sarah Davis was married (twice) in Cumberland, County, according to her granddaughter, the Bennett, Mintz, and Davis families were from Freehold, so both locations need to be researched.

The Bennetts also were early land owners on the Cohansey River although not as numerous as the Davis family. The Mintz family appears in Cumberland County records in the latter half of the 18th century.

I have not yet connected Sarah ("Sally") to a Davis family nor Timothy Bennett to a Bennett family, although I have scanned numerous documents, genealogies, and looked at online gravestone inscriptions from the older cemeteries. I also have not found out what happened to either Sarah or Timothy. We know that Timothy and Sarah moved to Ohio in 1817 and were farmers and that Timothy died circa 1826 from the bio of their son, Lieutenant Ezra Bennett (below):

Lake Twp. -

" EZRA BENNETT, furniture; Bellefontaine; was born in Cumberland Co., N. J., on the 13th of March, 1812, and is the son of Timothy Bennett, a farmer. Our subject was born on the farm, where he remained until he was some 14 years of age, when he commenced to learn his trade as a cabinet-maker, in Cincinnati, O., having come to Ohio with his parents in the fall of 1817. Subsequently he worked at his trade at Cincinnati, Springfield and Xenia. On the 10th of July, 1844, he married Miss Mary A. Bryant, in Clarke Co., O. In his leisure hours he had studied law, and in 1844 was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, at Urbana. In March, 1845, he moved to Bellefontaine, where he engaged in the practice of law, and in the fall of 1847 was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Logan Co., under the new Constitution, in the fall of 1851, and re-elected in 1854. Not liking the practice of law as well as he anticipated, Mr. Bennett purchased an interest in a foundry and machine shop, which proved an unsuccessful venture. Himself and two sons, Lucius C. and John Q. A., and a son-in-law, James Van Eaton, served in the late Rebellion. Mr. Bennett helped to recruit the 13th Ohio Battery, of which a history will be found in another part of this work. He enlisted in this Battery as a 1st Lieutenant, and served faithfully. He was honorably discharged on account of sickness. After the war Mr. Bennett returned to the furniture business in Bellefontaine, which business he has continued ever since, being now in partnership with his son-in-law, Mr. Adams. Bennett & Adams' place of business is located on Columbus Street. (Source: History of Logan County and Ohio - Chicago: O. L. Basking & Co., Historical Publishers, 186 Dearborn Street. - 1880 - w/ some illustrations and portraits ~ Page 590)"

William Mints was first married to Betsey Shaw, another old family, before he married Sarah Davis, so I presume that they were both widowed. William Mints married again several times and Sarah Davis' older daughter, Sarah, brought up her second daughter, Martha Ann, so I presume that Sarah Davis died. But there could have been divorces, abandonment, or even mental illness. Sarah Davis just vanished.

• New Jersey Marriages 1684-1895: Timothy Bennett married Sally Davis on March 23, 1803 in Cumberland, NJ.

The Davis Family in Cumberland

The source for the early history of the area is Thomas Shourds' History and Genealogy of Fenwick's Colony (1876). He devotes three chapters to the Davis familes. According to Mary Petticrew, Sarah Davis may have been a descendant of a Caleb Davis and is "also connected with Ogden, Elmer and Brooks families." Shourds also has a chapter on the Ogden family. See the Muster Roll document attached to this profile for names of early settlers to the Cohansey River area: Brooks, Ogden, Bennett, Shaw, and Davis appear in this document from 1715, evidence that Sarah's granddaughter was correct about the families that Sarah Davis was connected to.

Reverend Jonathan Davis and his brother Elnathan of Long Island were in Fairfield in the early 1700s. Benjamin Davis, son of Daniel Davis of Connecticut came to the area around the same time and the land he purchased became the township of Deerfield. Another Long Island family, the John Davis family, arrived to Fenwick's Colonly to what is now Woodstown, Salem County in 1705. It would appear that Sarah Davis was either from the Jonathan and Elnathan Davis family or the Ben Davis family of Cumberland County. Sarah's daughter married a Conover of Cumberland County and Sarah married a Bennett; I believe that the Bennetts lived in Fairfield. The Mintz family is documented in Fairfield also.

Places in Cumberland County associated with the Davis family:

• Seventh Day Mill: Grist Mill in Stow creek Twp on Branch of Stow Creek. Still in operation in 1915. Has also been known as Nobles Mill and Zenos Davis' Mill.Second Branch of Cohansey: See North west Branch of Cohansey.
• Davis Ferry: On the Maurice River. See R's Book, p 72.
• Ben Davis Point: The point of salt marsh projecting into the Delaware Bay just above the mouth of Back creek, Fairfield Twp, the extreme point of Pierpoint Neck and the West Cape of Nantuxet Cove.
• Jeddy's Pond: The small pond north of West Commerce St and in Tumbling Dam Park. So called for Jedediah Davis, a prominent surveyor who laid out the Tumbling Dam and raceway, which latter crosses Muddy Branch and so makes this pond.

from Notes on Cumberland County Place Names by Lots of People

From Mary Petticrew Johsnon, granddaughter (written in 1920 in a genealogy publication, seeking information):

"Sarah Davis, born Sept. 27, 1784, presumably in New Jersey and likely near Freehold. Think she may be descendant of Caleb Davis, also connected with Ogden, Elmer and Brooks families. Married, first, Timothy Bennett, who was born Sept. 11, 1781, died March 22, 1803. Bennett's ancestor, a Timothy or Nathaniel, wife Nancy Bateman, owned large estates on Cohansey Creek, Cumberland County, New Jersey, descendants dispossessed by heirs of Sir John Bellows, who claimed grant from king, 1825. March 31, 1825, Sarah (Davis) Bennett married William A. Mints (note spelling), said to have been a childhood friend. Both had large families, but only two children born of this union. Martha Ann Mints, daughter, born Dec. 22, 1829, lived for a time in Greencastle, Ind., where father owned large tracts of land."
"William Mints married again. Martha, raised by sister Sarah Davis Conover, wife of Peter Conover of Franklin, O.; a large colony having emigrated there from New Jersey. Martha A. Mints married Algernon Sidney Petticrew, July 5, 1850; lived in Dayton, O."

Sources

• History and Genealogy of Fenwick's Colony, New Jersey by Thomas Shourds, published by G.F. Nixon, 1876.
• Notes on Cumberland County Place Names by Lots of People
• Ohio Genealogy Express: Logan County

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GEDCOM Source

@R1300841548@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=1030&h=291001244937&indiv=try Record for Martha Ann Mintz http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=115719094&pi...

GEDCOM Source

@R1300841548@ 1880 United States Federal Census Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Ancestry.com Operations Inc Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

GEDCOM Source

Year: 1880; Census Place: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 734; Page: 427C; Enumeration District: 370 http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=6742&h=26085163&indiv=try Record for Martha Pettigrew 1,6742::26085163

GEDCOM Source

@R1300841548@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=1030&h=291001244937&indiv=try Record for Martha Ann Mintz http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=115719094&pi...

GEDCOM Source

@R1300841548@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

GEDCOM Source

http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=1030&h=291001244937&indiv=try Record for Martha Ann Mintz http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=115719094&pi...

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 18 2021, 3:57:33 UTC