Born before in Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States
Ancestors 
Daughter of Joseph Ford
and Freelove (Beals) Ford
Sister of
Moses Cross Ford, Joseph Ford, Noah Ford, Jacob Ford, Molly (Ford) Mason, Sally (Ford) Hodges, Nehemiah Ford and Anna Ford
Wife of
Isaac Edson
— married
1796 (to after 1805) in Milford, Otsego, New York, United States1805
Wife of
Constant Williams
— married
23 Oct 1817 (to before 30 Jun 1828) in Hardin, Kentucky, United States
Descendants 
Mother of
Hannah (Edson) Tower, Martha (Edson) Beals, Daniel Thomas Edson, Sarah Elizabeth (Edson) Tower and Margaret Williams
Died about
after about age 66
in Machias, Cattaraugus, New York, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 29 Mar 2018
This page has been accessed 6,883 times.
Biography
Researcher NOTE - this profile is under construction - info may be dumped here under heading Additional Information and not edited. Please do not tinker with the information because goal is to untangle information between this profile and for her sister Sally.
Research Note - Caution - Online Sources such as Ancestry, Family Search, and others need careful vetting as information may not be correct - reason for this is mixing name Sarah with Sally, as well as some of their details.
Original Biography
Sarah Ford was a daughter of Joseph Ford and Freelove (Beal) Ford, born about 1777 and baptized on 12 September 1779 in the First Congregational Church of Cummington, Massachusetts. In The Edson Family, she is erroneously identified as Sarah, daughter of Samuel Ford and Sarah Dyer, who was born in 1788 in Weymouth, Massachusetts.[1]
In about 1796 she married Isaac Edson, son of John and Judith (Shaw) Edson of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They married at Milford, Otsego County, New York. They had four children. She left Isaac Edson in about 1804 or 1805 and got a divorce. Subsequently, in about 1807, she removed with her children to Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where her brother Noah Ford had located. In about 1815 she removed to Hardin County, Kentucky, where her brother Moses Ford had located.[1]
Second Marriage Sarah married Constant Williams in 1817 in Hardin County, Kentucky.. Constant Williams was living in Crawford County, Indiana at that Time..in the Far South Section of Crawford County Indiana.
Additional Biography
RESEARCH NOTE: Researchers are advised to read the information on Sarah's profile and that of her sister Sally's profile before reading Sarah's husband Isaac's profile. The reason to read Sarah's page first is because there has been intermingling of Sarah's details with the details of her sister Sally Hodges resulting in the creation of Sarah Sally. Sarah Sally evolved because of revisions made from Volume 1 to Volume 3 of the books The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth Massachusetts. [2]
Background to how Sarah's and Sally's information became intermingled
Over a period of time, researchers investigating 2 of the daughters of Joseph and Freelove Beals, namely Sarah and Sally, have intermingled their birth, marriage, death, and other information creating issues, especially for researchers wanting to claim connections to organizations that require detailed evidence of correct ancestry.
One reason the problems with Sarah and Sally became an issue may have been related to the information in 2 books titled The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth Massachusetts by ELIZABETH COBB STEWART.
In Volume 1 on page 1 Stewart, explains her role as compiler and the many sources and contributors to the book. One contributor Stewart described was Florence Harlow Barclay of Whitman, Mass. noting that she contributed much to the first 2 generations . Mrs Barclay pops up in several places related to Sarah and Sally and those places will be explained in more detail in latter sections of this biography.
Perhaps because of the intermingling in the book mentioned above, other researchers on various sites may have started using the name Sarah Sally for one or both individuals. For this reason, any researcher coming to this profile must understand that many researchers, including those who are direct line descendants, have expended a great deal of effort and time to sort out who was SARAH ? who was SALLY? and why there was no person called Sarah Sally.
Background to the confusion- related to the books titled The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth Massachusetts Volumes 1,2, and 3.
Comparing Volumes -To see comparison information - refer to the attached document labelled Analysis of how Sally Ford Hodges and her sister Sarah Ford Edson evolved through revisions to become Sarah Sally
1969 Edition - In Volume 1 on Pages 59 and 60 under Joseph Hodge ID Number 30, Stewart (the compiler) lists Joseph's ancestors, names his wife, Freelove Beals, and lists his children.
- Joseph's sons are clearly identified.
- However, the daughters are listed as un-named daughter born about 1773, Sally ID number VI born 1777, and another un-named daughter born 1781.
- Stewarts's details about Sally ID number VI are comprehensive, covering her birth, marriage to Phillipp Hodge, their children and Phillip and Sally's deaths.
- Stewart makes no suggestion about the names of the daughters born in 1773 and 1781.
- There is no mention of Sarah.
1988 Edition- Stewart (the complier) makes numerous corrections in The eighth, ninth and later generations; additions and corrections for parts [vol.] 1 and 2.
- One of the corrections that Stewart makes is to swap Sally ID number VI with that of Sarah who is now Sarah ID number VI.
- Stewart doesn't refer to the dates originally assigned to Sally, instead refers to the 12 Sep 1799 Baptism Record. and this is important as it confirms that Sarah's parents were Joseph Ford and Freelove Beals Ford
- Stewart also provides details about this newly added Sarah's (using Sally's ID) marriage to Isaac Edson, their divorce and their children.
- Stewart also mentions
Another book that also may have contributed to the intermingling of Sarah's and Sally's details was the book Edson family history and genealogy : descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass. Volume 2, Chapter 25, Pages 641 Heading John 5 Edson Fifth Generation ID Number 202 and Page 642 Heading Sixth Generation Isaac 202-1 by Carroll Andrew Edson published in 1969. One of the flaws of Edson's research is that he suggests that Sarah was the daughter of ..
Therefore, because of the changes of name and details, it was highly likely that Sarah and Sally became inter-mingled and that this intermingled information was (and still is) spread throughout the many genealogy sites. So Who WAS The Original SARAH and what EVIDENCE do we have?
Researchers need to refer to the attached image labelled Sarah Edson 1983 page 43 Revision.
'
On Pages 59 and 60 under the biographical description of their father Joseph's Id Number 30. Joseph's and Freelove Beals Ford's children are listed.
On Page 59 -? daughter, b. about 1773. On Page 60: vi. ? SALLY, b. in Mass. 18 Sept. 1777; d. 4 Aug. 1846; m. in Montgomery Co., N. Y. (or near Marcellus, N. Y.), 18 Dec. 1796, PHIILIP HODGES, viii. ? daughter, b. about 1781. Note: No mention is made of a daughter named Sarah.
Beside the books discussed above, in another genealogy book
On Pages 59 and 60 under the biographical description of their father Joseph's Id Number 30. Joseph's and Freelove Beals Ford's children are listed.
- On Page 59 -? daughter, b. about 1773.
- On Page 60:
- vi. ? SALLY, b. in Mass. 18 Sept. 1777; d. 4 Aug. 1846; m. in Montgomery Co., N. Y. (or near Marcellus, N. Y.), 18 Dec. 1796, PHIILIP HODGES,
- viii. ? daughter, b. about 1781.
Note: No mention is made of a daughter named Sarah.
Preliminary Research Note:- Read this section First before reading about Sarah, Isaac and their children
Research Notes
- Sarah's Death and Burial are not Known. Based on the attached Letter from Ten Broeck Cemetery in Farnersville, New York.. citing readings of grave markers in 1950, it could be that her grave has not been found, but may have been vandalized.
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (Compiled from articles originally published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.) From Eastwood, Elizabeth Cobb Stewart, "Descendants of Andrew Ford, Weymouth, Mass.: Additions and Corrections," The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 137 (1983), page 43. Correction to content published in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 119 (1965), pages 255-256.
- ↑ The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth, Massachusetts Vol 1-Compiled by ELIZABETH COBB STEWART 3 v. PAGE COUNT 173 OWNING INSTITUTION Sacramento California FamilySearch Library PUBLISHER DIGITAL FamilySearch International ACCESS LEVEL Public located at: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/601183-the-descendants-of-andrew-ford-of-weymouth-massachusetts-pt-1
- The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth, Massachusetts Vol 1-Compiled by ELIZABETH COBB STEWART 3 v. PAGE COUNT 173 OWNING INSTITUTION Sacramento California FamilySearch Library PUBLISHER DIGITAL FamilySearch International ACCESS LEVEL Public located at: https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/601183-the-descendants-of-andrew-ford-of-weymouth-massachusetts-pt-1
Volume 1 https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G002493.pdf Volume 2
The Descendants of Andrew Ford of Weymouth Massachusetts Volumes 1,2, and 3. Volume 2 Link
- Edson family history and genealogy : descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass. Volume 2, Chapter 25, Pages 641 Heading John 5 Edson Fifth Generation ID Number 202 and Page 642 Heading Sixth Generation Isaac 202-1. located at: Ancestry. com. Edson family history and genealogy : descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass. [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Edson, Carroll Andrew,. Edson family history and genealogy : descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass.. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Lithographed by Edwards Bros., 1969?.
- Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76319749/sarah-edson: accessed 08 July 2023), memorial page for Sarah Ford Edson (18 Sep 1777–4 Aug 1846), Find a Grave Memorial ID 76319749, citing Ten Broeck Cemetery, Franklinville, Cattaraugus County, New York, USA; Maintained by MW (contributor 48367755).
- Mayflower Society Application Database: "Community Trees," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:QVQY-KTJ : accessed 22 October 2021), entry for Sarah Ford, cites sources; "Mayflower Pilgrim Genealogies" file (2:2:2:MMXD-DP8), submitted 24 February 2020 by FamilySearch.
- General Society of Mayflower Descendants Membership Applications, 1620-1920. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2020).
This link is to the Family Search Mayflower Descendants Database . Showing her Linage to ..James Chilton. And how many times She has been Proven (49) +
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Sarah by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Sarah:
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Sarah by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Sarah:
-
~1.56%
Jan Burnett
:
23andMe
+
AncestryDNA
+
Family Tree DNA Family Finder
+
MyHeritage DNA
-
~1.56%
~6.25%
Lawrence Hasenstab :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch NZ5888317 [compare]
+
Autosomal DNA Test
+
Living DNA, GEDmatch NZ5888317 [compare]
-
~1.56%
~6.25%
Cleve Willis :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch CK6009117 [compare], Ancestry member willis362529
-
~1.56%
Philip Damon :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A576520 [compare]
-
~0.78%
Patricia Hodges :
23andMe, GEDmatch A811540 [compare]
+
AncestryDNA
-
~0.78%
~3.12%
Bill Phillips :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A145606 [compare], Ancestry member jistjul
-
~0.78%
P Damon :
AncestryDNA, GEDmatch A098096 [compare], Ancestry member nomadpsd1
Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
Images: 13
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F > Ford | E > Edson > Sarah (Ford) Edson
Categories: Cummington, Massachusetts
I believe Richard Leighton Ashmun.. Adhmun-26.. Used Our Sarah Ford Edson's Cummington Massachusetts Vital Records Book page 27.. Even after being told by the Historian at the Cummington Massachusetts Historical Society that his Sarah "Sally" Ford Hodges was not in the Vital Records Book.. My contact at the Cummington Society has told me that a record book is missing that may contain many Tower and Ford Family records. If you look at both.. Matthew Tower 1768 And Sarah Ford Edson's 1777-????Ancestry and Wikitree's profiles. Most of their siblings were born in Cummington Massachusetts.
Looks to Me like Sarah Ford Edson Williams had a Daughter.. Margaret by Constant Williams.. These DNA Matches????
Did You add the James Chilton Generation 8 Source???? Where did that come from,???? Would like to See that Source Please..
( daughter of Joseph and Freelove Ford) . one distant cousin just got approved in 2021 or 22 . ( using our Sarah/ Sally Ford Hodges As daughter of Joseph and Freelove Ford!. . I have been researching many other possible Ford connections including researching the Ansel Ford and Ansyl Ford and many others Ford’s living close to the Hodges in New York. So far no answers or other connections found? I do find it interesting that I share DNA with an Edson and a Moses Ford distant relatives. My own hypothesis is that one of the Sarah’s is Molly and one is Sarah ??? I have seen other Hodges family trees where they have our Sarah listed as Molly? We know from the Hodges Bible that our Sarah/ Sally was born Sept 18 1777 and died Aug 4 1846 . We have no idea where either of the Sarah’s are buried! There is an active Hodges ancestry research Group looking at our Hodges relatives during that time period. I am hopeful they will find some answers! I do have a concern/ question if Mary Polly Ford Mason, who was recently added as the Daughter Molly to Joseph and Freelove Ford tree, is Freelove and Joseph Fords daughter? She was born in Dighton Mass. 1777 as stated on her grave stone and was married in Dighton Mass 1796? Documented on records from Dighton. Freelove and Joseph had left Mass. with their children between 1780 and 1790 and it is unlikely they would have left a daughter in Dighton? There are many Fords in the Dighton area and I am actively looking to see if one of them is more likely Mary Poly Ford Mason’s parents?
edited by Patricia Hodges
Given the overwhelming evidence for the daughter of Joseph and Freelove marrying Isaac Edson, you can justify removing Sarah (Ford) Hodges's birth and death information from this page (as project manager - or I can do it). I also think Sarah (Ford) Hodges should be severed from Joseph and Freelove. There just isn't any credible evidence to link these families. The same for Molly (Ford) Mason of Bristol Co., MA. I see no connection whatsoever to Joseph and Freelove. Several of us have tried to initiate a conversation about this on her page but I don't think anything will happen on that end.
btw - I'm writing an article about Joshua Beal of Abington and Cummington and peripheral relatives, which will include Joseph and Freelove's family. So I'm sorting out fact from fiction from educated guesses.
Michael Willis is A Tower Edson Cousin.. He Decends from Sarah Edson and Hull Tower. Sarah Edson is Sarah Ford Edson's Daughter.. As is My Hannah Edson Married to Cotton Tower.. Patricia Hodges is From Sarah Sally Ford Hodges.. Please.. Check Sarah Ford Edson's DNA Connections.. All three of Us are relatef???
And the Source that Cited a James Chilton Source Generation (8). Isaac Edson and Sarah Ford's marriage..
Many Thanks
Mike Hasenstab.
edited by Lawrence Hasenstab
So I found Molly on Ancestry..And Molly Ford.. Baptism the same Day as Jacob and Sarah in Cummingtown Massachusetts Vital Records Book VR27.. There is a Gelabd Written VR Book Missing.. I have been in Touch with a Historian in Cummington Mass that thinks He Knows Who Had the Book..
If Molly is not Joseph and Freelove Beals Daughter.. After I Chop them Off as Her Parents.. Do I just Back out all of the DNA Matches????
The Church usually lasted Three Hours.. As ..Found in the Cunmington, Massachusetts VR Book that is For Sale from the Cummington Historical Society.. Historian.. Leslie Keller..
There are Letters in the thumb drive that I have from the Society Historian that show that the Cummington Massachusetts Historian had told Richard Ashmun's Sarah "Sally" Ford Hodges had no Christening Record from Cummington, Massachusetts.. And that Sarah Ford Christened on 18 September 1779 was not Sarah "Sally" Check Ashmun-26. Edited..15 October 2023
edited by Lawrence Hasenstab
Looking at all the comments here and at other pages and looking into it myself (I'm researching the Fords peripherally as they relate to the Beals), I don't see why there was ever any confusion other than the initial mistake made by the author of the book on Andrew Ford's descendants. It seems this is the prevailing thought on the Edson side, but not so much on the Hodges side, the pages for which I can't make sense of. I don't see why Isaac Hodges, his wife Freelove and their presumed son Hezekiah are thought to be related to Phillip. In fact, I don't see solid evidence of who Isaac and Freelove were, in terms of their origins, despite attachments at their pages. On the face of it, the deed in which Nehemiah Ford was a witness for the Hodges doesn't appear to support the idea that Phillip Hodges was related to them or that he married Nehemiah's sister. Just some food for thought.
I have been working with several Sarah (Ford) Edson and Sarah (Ford) Hodges descendants for the past couple of years. We have turned up a little evidence--like Sarah (Ford) Edson's 2nd marriage to Constant Williams and Sarah Edson's marriage certificate to Hull Tower with her brother Daniel listed on it (potentially signifying that her mother was dead by 1821). While we have not found conclusive proof, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence that favors the hypothesis that Sarah (Ford) Edson is probably the daughter of Joseph and Freelove Ford, including:
- The Ford's and Edson's lived in the same town of Milford, NY (originally in Montgomery County, but then transferred to the newly created Otsego County). Noah Ford (a son of Joseph and Freelove) shared a property line with Isaac Edson, and Moses Ford bought land from Isaac Edson. And they are listed as attending some of the same town meetings.
- Sarah Ford and her 3 children followed the same path as Noah and Moses Ford. They are said to live with Noah in Bradford, PA and then moved on around 1816-7 to Elizabethtown, KY where Moses lived. Hannah was married there and Sarah (Ford) Edson was remarried there. The children then moved to Crawford County, IN where Noah Ford and a lot of the Beal clan had relocated. Sarah Edson married Isaac Edson there. They moved along with the Beal clan to Coles County, ILL.
But still digging. Hope someday to pin down the respective origins of these two women with some degree of certainty.
/Michael
Richard Leighton Ashmun, Membership Application to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (Plymouth, Massachusetts and Salt Lake City, Utah 2019) is for Sarah Ford Hodges and daughter Lorena Hodges Morley. Also Wikitree has both women listed as the daughter of Joseph Ford and Freelove Beals see Ford-12956 also noticed it is listed below for merging but that must be rejected they are two different women both married at the same time to two different men. Perhaps the Edson family history and genealogy : descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass. is correct and she is the Sarah Ford of Weymouth, MA not Cummington. The Sarah Ford Edson born in Weymouth on May 11, 1788 daughter of Samuel Ford and Sarah Dyer. She was in Milford, NY in 1800 and left him for Kentucky. Mary Ford Hodges ended up in Michigan supposedly actually says NY or Michigan so even that is not definite.
It must be noted, though, that this publication was unable to definitively establish which of two competing Sarah Ford's is a daughter of Joseph Ford and Freelove Beal (the one here that married Isaac Edson and a contemporary that married Philip Hodges). NEHGS made "an informed guess", however, that it was the Sarah Ford that was wife of Isaac Edson. Both Joseph and Freelove moved to and died in Otsego, NY where Sarah Ford married Isaac Edson. NEHGS speculated further that the Sarah Ford who married Phillip Hodges might be connected to Ansyl Ford, who lived in Franklin, NY nearby where Sarah and Phillip Hodges lived in 1800. NEGHS concluded that "It seems to this compiler that the Isaac Edson marriage, pointed out by Mrs. Hodge and Mrs. Coffill, 1980, is the logical and correct one for Sarah, dau. of Joseph and Freelove Ford".
I have been studying this line and trying to find proof one way or another, but it has so far proven elusive. Though indirect and not conclusive, the immigration patterns of the Fords and associated Beals and Tower families (all from Cummington like the Fords) paint a fairly consistent pattern. They migrated from Cummington, MA to Otsego, NY to PA to Hardin, KY to Crawford, IN and then some to Cumberland, IL as well. The Sarah Ford that married Isaac Edson travelled with brothers Noah and Moses Ford (who are almost certainly the sons of Joseph Ford and Freelove Beals) on this path (Moses as far as Hardin, KY and Noah to Crawford, IN). Somewhere along the line, this Sarah disappears but her 3 children (Hannah, Daniel Thomas, and Sarah Edson) continue the journey west. Hannah and Sarah married brothers Cotton and Hull Tower (from Cummington, MA) in KY and IN, respectively. The Beals family from Cummington is also present in Otsego, NY, Crawford IN, and Cumberland, IL.
Isaac Edson and a brother arrived in Otsego, NY in the early 1790's, a bit after Sarah Ford and her family arrived (Joseph died there in the late 1780's and Freelove after the 1790 census, where she is listed). In around 1805, Isaac published ads in the newspaper disavowing any debts incurred by wife Sarah, which are are available, though these are not a smoking gun either.
While the Sarah Ford who married Philip Hodges is harder to track, her descendants followed a different path, many to Michigan.
Am hoping that primary documents will come to light that resolve the origins and identities of these two women.
I am hardly surprised to hear that there is uncertainty about this genealogy, given the number and magnitude of the "corrections" in the 1983 article, as well as my own experience with the sparse documentation for other members of the Beal/Beals family who moved west from eastern Massachusetts. It would be very helpful if you could revise the profiles for this woman and other family member to include discussions of what is and isn't known about them, and what the sources are. Note that when you refer to other people who are not linked from a profile (such as Philip Hodges), you can link to their WikiTree profiles, which makes it easier for others (and possibly for you in the future) to follow the story you are telling.
BTW, I believe that genealogy is done by people, not organizations, so I prefer to refer to the Andrew Ford family articles as the work of Elizabeth Cobb Stewart Eastland, not work of NEHGS. :-)
Furthermore, I found no evidence for her death -- not in the source I found and not on findagrave. Findagrave has a page image from The Edson Family, plus records for the Weymouth birth in 1788 of Sarah Ford (who was clearly too young to be this Sarah Ford).