Sarah Lawrence

John Lawrence b say 1643; mar Sarah (Cornell) (Willett) Bridges, daughter of Thomas Cornell, widow of Thomas Willett, and Charles Bridges

Sarah Cornell (1623-1690), daughter of Thomas Cornell and Rebecca LNU m1. 1643 Thomas Willett, m2. 1647 Charles Bridges, m3. 1682 John Lawrence.

Sarah Cornell Willett Bridges Lawrence has an aunt Sarah Cornell ( ? - 1661), m. 1640 John Briggs.

Sarah is sister to Thomas Cornell m. Rebecca Briggs..

We have record of two of Thomas Cornell's daughters who were with him at this time in New Amsterdam, and who subsequently inherited his estate in Westchester—Sarah and Rebecca Cornell. In the month of June, 1643, they witnessed the departure of Roger Williams for Europe, and no doubt John Throckmorton and other friends, both English and Dutch, saw him on board his ship.

One of the young Englishmen with whom Thomas Cornell's daughters ripened their acquaintance in the Dutch colony of New Netherland was Thomas Willett of Bristol, England. This Thomas Willett of Bristol was probably of the same family with Captain Thomas Willet of Plymouth, Mass., who at that same time was building up a profitable trade with New Amsterdam, and who, twenty-two years later, was the first English Mayor of New York. But the Captain Thomas Willett of Plymouth had been married since 1636, and the Thomas Willett of Bristol was, in 1643, making love to Thomas Cornell's eldest daughter, Sarah. The marriage record of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, the only church in the city, in the year 1643, contains eight entries, the sixth of which, translated into English, reads that

"On the ist of September, 1643, were married, Thomas Willett, previously unmarried, of Bristol, England, and Sarah Cornell, not before married, of Essex, England."

None of the marriage records give the names of the parents, but we know that this Sarah (Cornell) Willett subsequently inherited Cornell's Neck, as the daughter of Thomas Cornell ; and it is because her children and her grandchildren were prominent in Westchester County for more than a century that this special mention is now made of her. We know that her eldest son, William Willett, lived and died on Cornell's Neck; but whatever visits she may have made to the Neck, there is no record that she herself ever made her home there. She remained in the city, where her husband was in business, and escaped the dangers of an isolated habitation surrounded by Indians.

Sarah Cornell's marriage with Thomas Willett seems to have been accomplished on the eve of another Indian war. She was married on the ist of September, and under date of September, 1643, Governor Win- throp writes:

" The Indians near the Dutch having killed fifteen men, as is before related, proceeded on and began to set upon the English who dwelt under the Dutch. They came to Mrs. Hutchinson, in way of friendly neighborhood as they had been accustomed, and taking their opportunity they killed her and Mr. Collins, her son-in-law (who had been kept in prison in Boston, as is before related), and all her family, and such of Mr. Throckmorton's and Mr. Cornell's families as were at home, in all sixteen, and put their cattle into their barns and burned them. By a good Providence of God there was a boat came to them, the same instant, to which some of the women and children fled, and so were saved ; but two of the boatmen going to the houses were shot and killed."*

Sarah, who came to New Amsterdam with her father, and there, as above mentioned, married first, in 1643, Thomas Willett, of Bristol, England, who died in 1645, and she married, second, in 1647, Charles Bridges. Her children and her grandchildren, as

already stated, inherited and occupied her father's estate of Cornell's Neck for more than a hundred years.

Sarah (Cornell) Willett had two sons, each of whom successively was the owner of Cornell's Neck. Her oldest son, William Willett, according to the record of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, was there baptized on the 27th of June, 1644, Governor Keift being one of the sponsors. This baby, William Willett, grandson of Thomas Cornell, became the owner of Cornell's Neck in 1667, when he was twenty-three years old, and he died there a bachelor in i/oi, at the age of fifty-seven. The second son, Thomas Willett, was baptized in the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam on the 20th of November, 1645. But this child never knew his father, as the elder Thomas Willett died about the time of baby Thomas' birth, leaving the widow some property and two young children to care for. She proved to be an attractive widow, and was compelled to appeal to the local court for protection from disagreeable attentions. On the nth of August, 1647, John Dolling, one of her admirers, was ordered by the court not to visit nor to trouble Sarah Willett. A little later she found more efficient protection in Charles Bridges, an Englishman long esteemed among the Dutch of New Amsterdam, whom she married on the 3d of November, 1647. His Dutch neighbors had translated his name into Carel Ver Brugge, and under this name he was made English Secretary for the Province by Governor Stuyvesant in 1652; was in the Governor's Council, and was Military Commissary in 1660.

    Sarah Cornell resided at Essex, England. She resided at Cornell's Neck, NY. She married Charles Bridges on 3 Nov 1647 at Dutch Reformed Church, New Amsterdam; 2nd husband. She married John Lawrence Jr., son of John Lawrence and Susannah, on 20 Nov 1682; license, 3rd husband. She died between 1692 and 1698.

    Known children of Thomas Willett and Sarah Cornell were as follows:

                i. Lt. William Willett; baptized 27 Jun or 6 Jul 1644

                   at New Amsterdam; d. 1701; no issue.

    2.         ii. Col. Thomas Willett, bap. 26 Nov 1645 at Dutch

                   Reformed Church, New Amsterdam; m. Heiltie

                   Elbertse Stoothoff; m. Charity Stevenson.