Ancestors

Sarah Kingsbury

Sarah Kingsbury was born about 1632, probably in England, the eldest known child of Joseph Kingsbury. Her father most likely came from the Boxford and Assington district of Suffolk. He was at Dedham, Massachusetts, by July 1637, and her sister Mary was born there that September. Sarah's own birth is not recorded, and no record names her mother. Her father's wife from at least 1637 was Millicent, and no other wife of his is known.

She grew up at Dedham. When the town gathered its church in 1638, her father was kept out of it for being "too much addicted to ye world", and he was not received until 1641. Millicent was admitted in the church's first winter. Six younger brothers and sisters were born at Dedham between 1637 and 1650.

On 25 May 1652 she married Robert Crossman at Dedham. The town clerk wrote "1652 Robert Crossman & Sarah Kingsbury was married the 25 of the 3 mo." The Dedham year began in March, so the third month was May. Robert was a drum-maker, a son of John Crossman, one of the first purchasers of Taunton. A family history of 1905 says he was called "The Drum Maker of New England".

Their daughter Sarah was born about 1653 at Dedham. By 1654 the couple had moved to Taunton, in the Plymouth Colony. There Robert worked on the Taunton Iron Works and later built mills, according to the same history. Eleven more children were entered in the Taunton register: John on 16 March 1654, Mary on 16 July 1655, Robert on 3 August 1657, Joseph on 25 April 1659, Nathaniel on 7 August 1660, Eleazer on 16 March 1663, Elizabeth on 2 May 1665, Samuel on 25 July 1667, Mercy in 1669, Thomas on 6 October 1671 and Susanna on 14 February 1672/3. Eleazer died in 1667.

In 1660 her aunt Margaret Kingsbury of Dedham, the widow of her father's brother John, left five pounds to "Sarah, wife of Robert Crosseman, of Taunton". In May 1675 her father left her five pounds more.

Her eldest daughter Sarah married John Woodward at Taunton on 11 November 1675. That year war broke out between the New England colonies and the Wampanoag leader Metacom, whom the English called King Philip. In March 1675/6 her son Nathaniel was killed by Indians at Wrentham. He was fifteen. Her father died at Dedham in 1676.

Her own death is not recorded. She was living when Susanna was born in February 1672/3, and her father's will of May 1675 treats her as living. She was dead by December 1687, when Robert contracted to marry Martha Eaton of Bristol, "she being forthwith to be my maried wiffe".

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Cite: Heirology, "Sarah Kingsbury (b. 1632)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/sarah-kingsbury-1632-6ebe97.