Sarah (Unknown) Simmons (abt. 1614 - bef. 1689)

Born about 1614 in England [uncertain]

Wife of Moses (Simonson) Simmons — married about 1635 in Plymouth Colony

Descendants

Died before 17 Jun 1689 before about age 75 in Duxbury, Plymouth, Plymouth Colony [uncertain]

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Sarah (Unknown) Simmons migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

As documented in the Winter 2022 Mayflower Descendant, Sarah, wife of Moses Simmons, was possiby a daughter of Edmund Chandler by his first wife.^[1] Wing includes a variety of evidence which supports this conclusion including:

1. Plymouth Colony during the 1620s-1630s was quite small. Sarah Chandler, daughter of Edmund was the only otherwise unmarried female with a given name of Sarah documented as being in the colony during this early period.
2. Edmund Chandler left a will, leaving some sugar he owned in Barbadoes to his daughters Sarah, Anna and Mary. Prior genealogists all stated these three daughters were by Edmund's second wife, but there is no reason why they could not be daughters by his first wife. Edmund's wording in his will leads us to believe Sarah was the eldest of his daughters. Edmund also gave a separate bequest to his daughter Ruth, which may indicate she was a daughter of a second wife.
3. A Plymouth Court case in December 1663 dealt with dividing common land between Samuel Chandler (eldest son of Edmund) and Moses Simmons. This occurred shortly after the death of Edmund Chandler and the land likely was part of his estate, given to his heirs.
4. The estate of the above Samuel Chandler was administered by his widow and John Soule. John Soule married Rebecca Simmons, so he was a son in-law to Moses Simmons. John would only be related to Samuel Chandler if the wife of Moses Simmons was daughter of Edmund Chandler.

We know that a woman named Sarah was married to Moses Simonson. Her maiden name is currently set as "Unknown". If she was the mother of Moses' children, they married by 1635, based on the estimated birth of their first child. They were clearly married by 13 December 1660, when Moses executed a deed that referred to the "consent of my wife Sarah."^[2]

Torrey in "New England Marriages to 1700" says they were married about 1630; this aligns with the Duxbury land deeds found for Moses which appear to show him receiving a single man's portion of land and cattle in 1627 (see profile of Moses for sources).

Moses and Sarah had seven children:

1. Rebecca, born c. 1635, married John Soule^[2]
2. Moses, born c. 1639, married Patience Barstow^[2]
3. Mary, born c. 1641, married Joseph Alden^[2]
4. John, born c. 1644, married Mercy Pabodie^[2]
5. Sarah, born c. 1649, married James Nash^[2]
6. Elizabeth, born c. 1651, married Richard Dwelley^[2]
7. Aaron, born c. 1653, married Mary Woodworth^[2]

Sarah was still living in June 1673, when Richard Sutton of Roxbury sued "Moses Symonds", his wife Sarah and daughter Elizabeth. Sutton claimed that Elizabeth had promised to marry him but her parents prevented it. The court ordered "Symonds" to pay Sutton £3.^[3] Sarah's last documented appearance was 4 December 1678 when Moses and Sarah gave land to their son Aaron.^[4]

Sarah appears to have died before 17 June 1689, when Moses Simonson made his will, which [apparently] does not mention her.^[2]

Research Notes

LNAB/Conflation Warning

Merge with caution:

There is no contemporary record that confirms a marriage of Moses and a Sarah Chandler. However, in 2022, Raymond Wing published a new theory about Moses' wife being Sarah, daughter of the immigrant Edmund Chandler in the Winter 2022 edition of the Mayflower Descendant (see info above).

It should also be noted that some sources identify Moses' wife as Sarah Chandler, the daughter of Roger Chandler. This connection is incorrect: Roger Chandler's daughter Sarah was married to Solomon Leonard and having children at the same time Moses Simmons was married to his wife Sarah and having children.

Sources

1. ↑ Wing, Raymond T. "Sarah, wife of Moses Simmons of Duxbury: A Possible Parentage" in the Mayflower Descendant, 2022, vol. 70, pp. 42-46. AmericanAncestors.org($).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. Boston: NEHGS, 1995, vol. 3, pp. 1681-1683. AmericanAncestors.org($): profile of Moses Simonson.
3. ↑ Shurtleff, PCR, vol. 5, p. 115. Archive.org.
4. ↑ Simmons, Lorenzo Albert. History of the Simmons Family from Moses Simmons 1st (Moyses Symonson), Ship Fortune 1621. Lincoln, NE: Lincoln Herald Print, 1931, pp. 5-12. Archive.org: at p. 8, citing "Old Colony Deeds", vol. 4, p. 274.