Sarah Sands

Note: In Sarah's will, she provided for the emancipation of her slaves, the first occurrence of the kind in America. [Portrait and Biographical Record of Orange County, NY; 1:120]

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From: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/sands.html

• Sarah Walker Sands, daughter of John and Katherine Hutchinson Walker [Katherine's last name is unknown!/ps] married "Captain" James Sands in 1645 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony.
• James was born in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1622 and was listed as being in Boston in1633.
  • He was listed as a Freeman in 1655 and was
  • Named Representative to the General Court of Commissioners at Newport, May 19, 1657.
  • About 1660, he and Sarah left Taunton, Mass and bought 1/16 of Block Island, RI. They owned lots #12,14, and 15.
  • James held leadership roles in getting the island incorporated and gave it the name "New Shoreham," which apparently didn't catch on.
• James and Sarah built a large stone house with a mill on a mill pond. I believe this was a woolen mill as several ancestors owned woolen mills.
  • They were attacked in "Philip's War," by French Privateers coming into the bay. Rev. Samuel Niles, their grandson, tells how they all ran to the woods until the English came and subdued the French.
  • They were also attacked by Indians, and the house was heavily garrisoned.
• Sarah had 6 children between about 1658 and 1672: John, Samuel, Sarah, Mercy, Edward, and James. *
• She served as the island's "surgeon," although she apparently did not have training.
• She ministered to the needs of all on the island and her home served as a church, hospital, and was a haven for any stranger.
• Although she had at least 4 black indentured servants, they apparently were happy and named their children with some of the same names as her children. She specified that they were to be freed, at specific times, in her will.
• Sarah's children were prosperous and involved in the resistance during the Revolution.
• James and Sarah both died and are buried on Block Island.

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From: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dav4is&id...

Sarah Walker was born about 1626 in England, (based on her marriage to James Sands in 1645).

• She was the eldest of 3 known children.
• She had a younger sister, Mary, who married William Earle, and
• another sister, Dorcus, who was buried 12 Apr 1640 in Portsmouth, RI (I presume as a baby.)
• Sarah married in 1645 to Capt. James Sands (Sandys) and settled on Block Island as original white settlers.
• Sarah was the island's midwife and thus was an important lady in the island's development.

As to her ancestry, Austin in his Rhode Island Genealogical Dictionary, under Walker gives a good report on this family. I also found an excellent study of this family in the June 1985 issue of Rhode Island Roots magazine by a Marjorie W. Schunke. Let me quote from her first couple of paragraphs:

• "John Walker was a freeman of Boston 14 May 1634.
• It has been widely claimed that he married Katherine Hutchinson, dua. of Edward Hutchinson, who was brother of William Hutchinson who married Anne Marbury. Primary evidence supporting this claim has not been found, however, and the late Clarence Almon Torrey in his "Marriages before 1700" first entered the marriage and then crossed it out with a "No". Unfortunately his sources of information, though several are listed beside the entry in the manuscript at NEHGS, failed to disclose definite evidence one way or the other.
• The fact that this Edward Hutchinson was 20 years younger than his brother, William, having been baptized at Alford, Lincolnshire, 20 Dec 1607, makes it unlikely that he would have been father of a daughter old enough to be Katherine Walker (New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 45:[1914]: 166).
• The idea of this Hutchinson - Walker marriage very probably arose in a misinterpretation of another marriage: Hannah Hutchinson, dau of Edward Hutchinson and grandau of William and Anne, born 16 May 1658, maried Peter Walker of Taunton. Hannah is named as sister in the will of Edward Hutchinson, dated 21 May 1692, as "my beloved sister Hanah Walker wife of my Brother-in-law Mr. Peter Walker of Taunton in New England," and he named Peter Walker as one of the executors of his will (Suffolk Co. Probate file 1951)." http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dav4is&id...
• Marriage 1 John WALKER , of Boston & Rhode Is.,
  • Immigrant
  • b: ABT. 1599 in ENG
  • Marriage 1 Katherine (WALKER) , Immigrant b: 1585-1613 in ENG
  • Married: BEF. 1625 in England.
  • Death: Mar 1647/48 in Portsmouth, Newport, RI
  • Fact 1: Aug 1638 Followed Anne Hutchinson to RI
  • Fact 2: 14 May 1634 Freeman of Boston
  • Fact 3: 7 Mar 1638/39 Signer of Portsmouth Compact, founding Rhode Island
  • Immigrant: BEF. 14 May 1634 England to Boston?
  • Children
    • 1. Sarah WALKER , Immigrant b: ABT. 1625 in Hingham, NFK, ENG

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From: http://bobrugo.us/GenealogyFiles/MatzPublic/WC02/WC02_322.HTM

Sarah Walker

• born: ca 1626, Portsmouth, RI
• Died: 24 Nov 1700, Plymouth, Mass
• Spouse: James Sands (Sandys)
  • b. 1622, Reading, Berkshire, England
  • d. 13 Mar 1695, Block Island, Rhode Island
• Married: 1645, Plymouth, Massachusetts or Portsmouth, Rhode Island?
• Children: John Sands (1649 - 5 Mar 1712); Sarah Sands (1651-1726); Mercy Sands (1654 - 1704); Samuel Sands (1656 - 1716); James Sands (1662 - 21 Sep 1732); Edward Sands (1672 - 1715)

[Her place of birth & date/place of death are incorrect--her parents didn't come to America until 1633. Place of death is also incorrect per memories of grandson who stated that both Sarah & husband, James died on Block Island./pscoggin, 8th great granddaughter)

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• Sources:
  • 1): http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db...
  • 2): http://files.usgwarchives.net/ri/washingt/history/sands3.txt
  • 3): http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/blockisl3.html
• Name: Sarah Sands
• Sex: F
• Change Date: 25 OCT 2004
• Death: ABT 1709
• Note: Livermore's History of Block Island, RI, 1877 Bridgewater, MA Pages 268 to 286 continued

MRS. SARAH SANDS

• This lady had virtues and culture, which entitle her to more than a passing notice. Although at this distant day we can give but a few outlines of her character, yet these may indicate to some the beauty of the portrait had it been properly delineated in due season. There is also incidental, collateral information obtained from the biographical fragments of her no w presented. In speaking of Captain James Sands, one of the first settlers, his grandson, Rev. Samuel Niles, says:
• "His wife was a gentlewoman of remarkable sobriety and piety, given also to hospitality. She was the only midwife and doctress on the Island, or rather a doctor, all her days, with very little, and with some and mostly, no reward. at all. Her skill in surgery was doubtless very great, from some instances I remember she told me of. One was the cure of an Indian, that under disgust, as was said, he had taken at his wife or squaw, shot himself, putting the muzzle of his gun to the pit of his stomach, and pushing the trigger. The bullet went through him, out and opposite at his back. He instantly fell, and one of the spectators who happened to be in the field at the time, and heard the report of the gun, told me, after he was fallen and wallowing in the blood, he saw the blood and froth issue out of his back and breast as often as he drew his breath. He was perfectly healed, and lived a hearty, strong man even to old age; whom I afterward knew, and often saw the scar at the pit of his stomach, as large or larger in circumference than our ordinary dollars passing among us."
• "Another signal cure she told me God made her an instrument of making, was on a young woman that was struck with lightning through her shoulder, so that when she administered to her by syringing, the liquid matter would fly through from the fore part to the hinder, and from the hinder part to the foremost, having a free and open passage both ways, yet was cured, and had several children, and lived to old age. I also knew her long before her death. She had also skill, and cured the bites and venomous poison of rattlesnakes."
• Her husband, in his last will, made her the sole executrix of his estate which, after his death, was inventoried as follows:
  • James Sands' Estate, March 13, 1694:
  • "About 400 acres of land;
  • Fifty-six head. of cattle, small and great:
  • Three horses - mare, colt, one horse:
  • Thirty swine, old and young:
  • About 300 sheep:
  • A negro woman - house and barn, and mill.
  • Sundry household goods not appraised."
• Mr. Sands died in March, 1695, and in March, 1699, Mrs. Sarah Sands, his widow, had a lawful record made of the following emancipation of her slaves:
  • "Know all men by these presents that I, Sarah Sands, of Block Island, alias New Shoreham, in the Colony of Rhode Island, Providence Plantations, in New England, Wife to Mr. James Sands, of Block Island, and made sole executrix by my said husband, James Sands, at his death, and having three Negro children born under my roof and in my custody, being left to my disposing by my above said, husband."
    • "Know ye therefore that I, the above Sarah Sands, do hereby and voluntarily give and bestow of them as followeth, that is to say:
    • "First: I give to my granddaughter, Sarah Sands, daughter to my son, Edward Sands, one of the Negro girls named Hannah: The other Negro girl I give and bequeath unto my granddaughter, Catharine Niles, daughter to my son-in-law, Nathaniel Niles, of Point Judith in the colony above said - the two Negro girls I freely and voluntarily give to my two grandchildren above named until the said Negroes come to the age of thirty years, and then I do by these presents declare that they shall be free from any service, and be at their own disposal - the Negro girl given to my granddaughter, Catharine Niles, is named Sarah. The other negro above said being a boy named Mingo, I freely give and bequeath to my grandson, Sands Raymond, son to my son-in-law, Joshua Raymond, of Block Island above named, which I give freely until that he the said Negro boy comes to the age of thirty-three years, and then to be free and his own man and at his own disposal forever after that he shall arrive to the age of 33 years; for I Sarah Sands do by these presents freely declare that I have made a promise that no child whatsoever born under my service and care shall be made a slave of any longer than is above specified, and for the confirmation and ratification of this my free and voluntary act, I have under set my hand, and affixed my seal this ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine."

Signed in presence of SAMUEL NILES. SARAH SANDS.

Two years and a half passed away and Mrs. Sands, conscious of her approaching end, in her last will, left a preamble to it that speaks well for her character, revealing a faith which was her brightest ornament through her long and eventful life mostly spent among her fellow-Islanders, many of whom she had seen in their barbarous state, and all of whom, with her devoted companion, she had labored to improve both socially and religiously.

HER WILL.

"In the name of God, Amen. I Sarah Sands of Block Island, alias New Shoreham, in the colony of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, in New England, being aged and weak in body, but of sound and perfect memory - Praise be given to Almighty God for the same - and knowing the uncertainty of this life on earth, and being desirous to see that things in order be done before my death, Do make this my last will and Testament in manner and form following: 

• "I being wife to Mr. James Sands deceased, and. made sole executrix by my said. husband., as by will bearing date June the 18th, 1694, may plainly appear, That is to say, First, and Principally; I commend my soul to Almighty God my Creator, assuredly believing that I shall receive full pardon and free remission of all my sins, and be saved by the precious death and merits of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus; and my body to the earth from whence it was first taken, to be buried in such decent and Christian manner as to my executor hereafter named shall be thought most meet and convenient: And as touching such worldly estate as the Lord in mercy hath lent me, my will and meaning in the same shall be implied.... [Things specified for each.] That they shall be equally divided. amongst my five children, viz.: John Sands, James Sands, Samuel Sands, Sarah Niles, and Mercy Raymond.....

Signed in presence of SARAH SANDS. SAMUEL NILES, and HANNA ROSE, Oct. 17th, 1703."

In Sept., 1704, she gave her negro woman to her grandson, Rev. Samuel Niles, to be kept by him ten years, at the expiration of which time she was to be free for ever thereafter.

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[The above is from both sources. The following is from the 2nd source listed above./ps] '

MR. SANDS€™ STONE HOUSE, AND THE SANDS€™ GARRISON.

• Their location is established, in the writer’s mind beyond a doubt, by the following circumstantial evidence, to have been nearly where Mr. Almanzo Littlefield’s residence is now standing.

THE HOUSE.

• That Captain James Sands had a stone house, used as a garrison and hospital, in times of necessity, is admitted, and shown by Mr. Niles’ History.

1. 1. His sixteenth of the Island - nearly all of it, as seen in the original plat, a copy of which is in the possession of Col. S. Ray Sands, embraces the house lot, and mill-pond now owned by Mr. A. Littlefield.
2. 2. Rev. Mr. Niles, grandson of Capt. J. Sands, lived some years with his grandparents in the stone house, arid he says the mill-pond was "near the house." He speaks of that pond as having a "flume."
3. 3. He says that house was "not far from the Harbor," which then was the "Old Pier."
4. 4. The house was within musket shot of a French privateer lying at the Pier. After the French had plundered it and returned to their vessel they "fired many pens at the house," says Mr. Niles, and adds: "I heard several bullets whistling over my head."
5. 5. When the French took the stone house they "set up their standard on a hill on the back side of it" [the house]. After it had stood there some hours an English vessel hove in sight, which "put the Frenchmen into a great surprise, whereupon:
6. 6. They were seen "running up to their standard on the hill, then down again, and others doing the like."
7. 7. Mr. Niles, when the French landed, was "in fair sight of the house," and at the same time "saw them coming from the water-side," while just behind him was a "large swamp."
8. 8. The outlines of a cellar still visible between the present old water-mill and Mr. Almanzo Littlefield’s house, and he states that part of a cellar-wall is there covered up.
9. 9. No other mill-pond on the Island could have had a "flume," and a flume implies the presence of a mill.
10. 10. The mill-pond now there has been there from the Most ancient traditions.
11. 11. Mrs. Sarah Sands, widow of the above James Sands, in her will transmitted to her son the "mill," and the "mill" was in the inventory of her husband’s estate soon after death.
12. 12. The stone house of Mr. Sands was "garrisoned." This implies the presence of a body of soldiers.
13. 13. That garrison existed when the men of the Island were only "sixteen and e boy."
14. 14. The mill-pond and mill were near the house and garrison when Mrs. Sands had "but one little child, a girl, just able to run about and prattle a little" when she was drowned in said mill-pond.
15. 15. Said garrison was established in the time of "Philip’s War," as a protection against the Block Island Indians.
16. 16. The earth work of an ancient garrison that commanded said stone house on three sides, is now seen, directly east of the spot where said house stood, and within pistol-shot of it, with a sharp hill back of it or east of it, and adjacent from which the whole region around was visible to a sentinel.
17. 17. The "upland in a great swamp" to which Mr. Niles fled the first time the French came to Mr. Sands’ house, was convenient place of concealment, lying a short distance northwest of the location of said house. The upland and swamp remain, and are easily pointed out, lying a little distance west of Erastus Rose’s house.

• These documents are made available free to the public for non-commercial purposes by the Rhode Island USGenWeb Project, 1998.

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* Father: John Walker۬

• Mother: Katherine ??? (no maiden name given/ps)
• Marriage 1 James Sands b: 1622 in Reading, Berkshire, England
• Children
  • 1. Sarah Sands b: 15 AUG 1645 in Block Island, RI
  • 2. Samuel Sands b: ABT 1652
  • 3. John Sands b: 1652
  • 4. Mercy Sands b: 1665 in Block Island, RI
  • 5. James Sands b: BEF 1673 in Block Island, RI
  • 6. Edward Sands b: 14 JUN 1673 in Block Island, RI

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From: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Walker-5390

• Born 1626 in Lincolnshire, England
• Daughter of John Walker and Katherine Hutchinson
• [sibling%28s%29 unknown]
• Wife of James Sands — married 1645 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
• Mother of Margaret Sands, Mercy Sands, Sarah Sands, Sarah Sands, John Sands, Mercy Sands, Samuel Sands, James John Sands, Mercy Sands, Job Sands and Edward Sands
• Died 1709 in Block Island, Newport, Rhode Island, United States

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From: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/o/r/r/Cynthia-Orr-OH/WEB...

• Sarah Walker [490], [490] was born 1620 in Hingham, Norfolk, England[490], [490], and died 1709 in Block Island, Newport, Rhode Island, USA[490], [490].
• She married James Sands on 1645 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony, MA[490], son of Henry Sandys and Priscilla Chauncey.
  • Marriage: 1645, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.[490]
• Children of Sarah Walker and James Sands are:
  • i. +Sarah Sands, b. 15 Aug 1645, Block Island, Rhode Island, USA[490], [490], d. 15 May 1726, Cow Neck, Long Island, New York, USA[490].
  • ii. John Sands, b. 1649, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA[490], d. 15 Mar 1712, Cow Neck, New York, USA[490].
  • iii. Mercy Sands, b. 1653, Portsmouth, Newport, Rhode Island, USA [490], d. 1704 [490].
  • iv. Edward Sands, d. 14 Jun 1708, Block Island, Newport, Rhode Island, USA[490].
  • v. James Sands, b. 1662, Block Island, Newport, Rhode Island, USA[490], d. 1732, Cow Neck, Long Island, New York, USA [490].
  • vi. Samuel Sands, b. 1666 490, d. 1730 [490].
  • vii. Job Sands, b. 1667, Block Island, Rhode Island, USA[490], d. date unknown.
  • viii. Mercy Sands, b. 1665, Block Island, Newport, Rhode Island, USA[490], d. 03 May 1741, Lyme, New London, Connecticut, USA[490].

Source: [490]. Ancestry.com, One World Tree (sm), Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., n.d., Online publication - Ancestry.com. OneWorldTree [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc.

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* On March 9, 1699, after her husband's death,

• * Sarah "gave negro Hannah to grandaughter Sarah Sands, daughter of Edward, also negro Sarah, to granddaughter Catherine Niles, and a negro boy to grandson Sands Raymond, and negro girl Rose to granddaughter Elizabeth Raymond. The negro girls were to be free at thirty and the boy at thirty-three."
• Source: R.I. Genealogical Register, v3, #2, p110.
• Sarah (Walker) Sands, called wife of James Sands in his will.
  • Her will, New Shoreham Wills, was dated 10 Oct. 1703 and proved 13 June 1709. Mentions: "I being wife to Mr James Sands dec made sole executrix by my said husband and in his will dated 18 June 1694." ** Mentions sons John, James, Samuel and Edward Sands, youngest, whose wife is Mary Sands; daughters Sarah Niles and Marcy Raymond; granddaughter Sarah Niles.
  • Witnesses: Samuel Niles, Hanah Rose and Nathell Mot (Nathaniel Mott?).
  • The will called her "Sarah Sands of Block Island, being aged."

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GEDCOM Source

@R-2145276565@ Family Data Collection - Births Edmund West, comp. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001. 1,5769::0 1,5769::4687868

GEDCOM Source

@R-2145276565@ Family Data Collection - Individual Records Edmund West, comp. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. 1,4725::0 Birth year: 1630; Birth city: Portsmith; Birth state: RI 1,4725::4884520

GEDCOM Source

@R-2145276565@ Family Data Collection - Individual Records Edmund West, comp. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. 1,4725::0 Birth year: 1630; Birth city: Portsmith; Birth state: RI 1,4725::4884520