TH
Samuel Thompson III, whose father was a founder of Goshen, Connecticut in 1738, married Sarah Holcomb in that small frontier community on 29 Oct 1744, when he was barely twenty-two years old.
1 The most primary Goshen town records available specify that this bride was “not of Goshen,” without further information about her family or origin.
2 Samuel and Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson soon moved across the border and settled into Amenia Township, Dutchess County, New York, where they raised at least seven children.
3 Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson died 7 May 1809 at Smithfield, Duchess County,
New York. She was buried beside her late husband in the Smithfield Cemetery there, where her tombstone reports her as aged 89 years, 4 months.
4
Two Thompson family genealogists, who were clearly closely related and wellknown to our Sarah’s children, knew her only as “Sarah of Goshen.” 5 This epithet contrasts
1 William Barker Thompson, Thompson Lineage: With Mention of Allied Families, (Harrisburg, PA: Press of the Telegraph Print
Co., 1911) 18-19, images online at http://books.google.com/books?id=ajxWAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false
(accessed 1 July 2013); Donald Lines Jacobus, Thompson Families of New Haven, Connecticut, vol. III, Family Tree Maker CD #
179; Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Records, vol. 43, Goshen, (bound manuscript at CSL) (FHL film 2790), citing
Volumes 1 and 2 of the Goshen Vital Records and a “Book of Marriages.” None of these three volumes of town vital records are microfilmed by the Family Library, but Barbour claims to have cross-checked his data against the Hibbard book (below) and noted significant differences. The Goshen town clerk has not advised whether these three volumes of original records remain in that office.
2 Rev. A.G. Hibbard, A History of the Town of Goshen, Connecticut. (1897), 254; (FHL film 908331); images online at https://dcms.lds.org/view/action/ieViewer.do?dps_pid=IE95814&dps_dvs=1371904862312~832&dps_pid=IE95814&change
_lng=en (accessed 1 July 2013); database, Godfrey Library ( www.100megsfree3.com/litchfield/mar-rage/goshen1.htm
,
(accessed 2 March 2008); in the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records for Goshen, 29. In the Samuel Thompson family genealogy included in this volume, Rev. Hibbard explicitly states that this Sarah Holcombe “was not a Goshen girl.” p. 533.
3 Their children were R EBECCA (born 29 Jan 1745/46 in Goshen, Litchfield, Connecticut), H ANNAH (born 25 Aug 1747 in Goshen),
S ARAH (born about 1748 in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York), S AMUEL IV (born about 1753 in Amenia), F LORA (born 1756 in
Amenia), E STHER (born 1758 in Amenia), and B ENAJAH (born 1760 in Amenia).
4 Memorial to Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson, created by Jan Franco, Dec 16, 2007, http://www.findagrave.com/cgibin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=thompson&GSfn=sarah&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1809&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=23424429&df=all& (a s accessed, 1 June 2012)
5 See 18__ correspondence between what appears to be a granddaughter of Sarah (Holcombe) Thompson and a wife of a grandson of Sarah, regarding their joint contribution to Thompson Lineage, letters now in the possession of the R Stanton Avery
Special Collection at NEHGS.
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sharply with Sarah’s description in the Goshen records as “not of Goshen.” It suggests that, for some reason, Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson chose not to discuss her family of origin with friends or family, and probably did not maintain close contact with any of that family after her marriage and removal.
If Sarah’s tombstone is accurate, she was born between December 1719 and February
1719/20, 6 and was nearly twenty-five years old when she married Samuel. Connecticut records reveal no Sarah Holcomb born within this time period or for years thereafter, 7 but identify two or three Sarah Holcombs born within the preceding year and another born just over a year earlier.
8 A bride significantly older than her bridegroom is perhaps more likely than most to underestimate her age.
9 Therefore the birth date implied by Sarah’s tombstone should not preclude an inquiry into which, if any, 10 of these Sarahs might be our
Sarah (Holcombe) Thompson:
 Sarah #1 was born 24 December 1717 at Windsor to Samuel 3 (Benajah 2 , Thomas 1 ) and Martha (Phelps) Holcomb. Her father died 13 August 1722, before the birth of
6 If Sarah’s 89 year, 4 month life span is exact and includes the 11 calendar days lost in the change from the Julian to the
Gregorian calendar in 1752, she would have been born 7 Jan 1719/20. If those eleven days were excluded from in her age, she would have been born 17 Jan 1719/20. If her stated age in months represented a rounding up or down of a number of days more or less than exactly four months, Sarah could have been born any time between December 1719 and February 1719/20.
7 A Miriam (whom some called Sarah) was born to Joshua 3 (Joshua 2 , Thomas 1 ) and Mary (Hoskins) Holcomb on 18 January
1719/20 in Simsbury CT, but it is undisputed that she married only Noah Case. Some early Holcombe researchers posit another female called Sarah born into this family 2 May 1719, who also married Noah Case. Hannah Elizabeth (Weir) McPherson, The
Holcombes, nation builders: their biographies, genealogies, and pedigrees ( ); J. Montgomery Seaver,, The Holcomb(e) genealogy, a
genealogy, history and directory with illustrations, (Philadelphia, PA: American Historical-Genealogical Society, 1925). More recent researchers, however, believe her to be a mere composite of other Sarahs and omit her entirely. Thomas Holcomb and other Simsbury, Connecticut families, by Deanna Holcomb Bowman. Published 1993 by D.H. Bowman in Colorado Springs, CO ,
Includes bibliographical references and index. Vol. 2 has subtitle: Sixth generation and English records. CS71.H725 1993
8 See discussion below at notes 15-17 .
9 My own grandmother was almost four years older than her 19-year-old bridegroom in 1900, and her children never knew she was older until after her death in 1954, though she never lied to census takers.
10 There is no record of any young widow named Sarah (____) Holcomb in Connecticut in 1744. And it is quite unlikely that a daughter named Sarah could have been born to any other Holcomb male in New England between 1714 and 1726. Immigrant
Thomas Holcomb and his descendants were the only Holcombs recorded in New England in the 17 th century, and his repeatedly compiled genealogy reveals only two Holcombe males in the relevant time frame who may have lived long enough to have issue but who have no recorded children: Benjamin 3 (Benajah 2 , Thomas 1 ) Holcomb, born 1 June 1689, and Joab 3 (Joshua 2 , Thomas 1 )
Holcomb who died 5 Dec 1723 at Simsbury.
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his youngest daughter.
11 There is no known record of how or where his widow and children lived during the balance of their minority.
12
 Sarah #2 was born 2 May 1719 at Simsbury, Hartford County to Ensign John 3
(Nathaniel 2 , Thomas 1 ) and Ann (Pettibone) Holcomb.
13 Her father died between 20
May 1743 and 11 July 1744, but his will mentions his daughters – married or not – only by their Christian names. Donald Lines Jacobus believed that Sarah #2 “quite likely” was the Sarah Holcomb who married William 5 (William 4,3 , Thomas 2,1 ) Spencer of Suffield about 28 Aug 1736, and died before 21 Oct 1795 after having nine children.
14
 Sarah #3 was born 5 September 1719 at Simsbury to Thomas 4 (Thomas 3 , Joshua 2 ,
Thomas 1 ) and Mary (Hanning) Holcomb.
15 Her mother’s family is completely unknown.
16 Her father lived until 1765 and his will is not to be found.
17 Norman W.
11 McCracken copied Samuel’s children from the Phelps genealogy, but many of their dates are confirmed by Barbour’s Windsor
Collection: M ARTHA , b. 6 Aug 1710 (2:216); S AMUEL , b. 16 Feb 1712, d. 13 Aug 1722 (2:230); M ARY , b. 1714, m. Amos Case 15 Aug
1739, d. 27 Jan 1802, West Simsbury; D EBORAH , b. 20 Jul 1716(2:48), d. May 1772, Windsor; S ARAH , b. 24 Dec 1717 (2:50);
M ARTHA , b. 1718; R EBECCA , b. Aug 1719, m. John Barnettt in Windsor 26 Nov 1760; S OPHIA , b. 16 Jan 1720/21, m. Joel Catlin in
1748 (2p50), d. 9 Jan 1798 in Harwinton CT; S AMUEL , b. 2 Jan 1721, m. Bathsheba Phelps; M ARIAH , b. 8 Nov 1722, m. William
Phelps 4 Jun 1739 (2:50).
12 Samuel’s will and inventory are copied into Windsor probate records, but no probate file or packet is available.
13 McCracken The well-compiled genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Holcombe now available online,
14 Donald Lines Jacobus, comp.., “The Four Spencer Brothers – Their Ancestors and Descendants,” TAG, 27 (Apr 1951), pp. 79-
87; 27:161-185 (1951); 28:108-128 (Jan 1953) p. 128. William was born about 1716, at Suffield CT; buried about Dec 1771,
Suffield CT. This Sarah died before 21 Oct 1795 and had nine children: E LISHA , (about 1740-24 June 1818), W ILLIAM (christened
25 Nov 1739), M EHITABEL , L UCY , J ONATHAN , D AVID (christened 28 Aug 1743), H ULDAH , P HEBE , and C HLOE . Her father’s siblings were named …. and her mother’s relatives were named ….
15 George E. McCracken, Thomas Holcombe’s Earlier Posterity, TAG,73, (nfi) . This Thomas had three wives and eleven children and died in 1765. The children of his first wife were named E LIZABETH , T HOMAS , J OSIAH , S TEPHEN , S ARAH #1, M OSES , D ANIEL , and
I SAAC T ERR y . He also had three daughters by this second wife: S YBIL , M ARY and D AMARUS . None of these names – not even the common Elizabeth and Mary – were chosen by Sarah (Holcombe) Thompson for her children, other than her own name, Sarah.
Thomas’ siblings were named.
16 Because Thomas’ bride Mary Hanning’s surname is otherwise non-existent in colonial Connecticut, some researchers have suggested that her name was really Manning. This theory must be rejected because Mary (Hanning) Holcomb’s son Thomas Jr. gave his eldest son the first name Hanning.
17 His son Thomas III wrote a 1770 will which mentions many of his siblings, but contains no information identifying his sister
Sarah’s husband.
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Ingham asserts that Sarah #3 may have been the one who married Ichabod 4
(Samuel 3 , Thomas 2 , Robert 1 ) Miller at Simsbury 27 January 1741 and died in 1800 after having eight children.
18 However Ingram finds it equally possible that Ichabod’s bride was Sarah #2.
 Sarah #4 may have been born to Joshua 3 (Joshua 2 , Thomas 1 ) and Mary (Hoskins)
Holcomb 2 May 1719, according to some early Holcomb genealogies.
19 Since this is the birth date of Sarah #2, and is only 9 months before the birth of Joshua’s next child, Miriam, more recent researchers believe that Sarah #4 never existed. See note
7 above.
While there are many family genealogies, compiled records, and public family trees which equate these brides of William Spencer and Isaac Miller with Sarah #2 or Sarah #3, none offer any primary authority for their attribution. Indeed no known Spencer or Miller family history suggests an awareness that there were three or four Sarah Holcombs who could have become either of these brides.
Sarah #1, granddaughter of Benajah Holcomb
The fact that Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson gave her second son the unusual name
Benajah compels that we first consider whether she was Sarah #1, whose grandfather, uncle and first cousin all shared this biblical name.
20 Sarah #1 would have known her grandfather Benajah of Windsor, who lived until 1726.
21 She would have known of his son,
18 Norman W. Ingham, "Ichabod Miller of Springfield and Simsbury", 20 September 1989, manuscript at Salmon Brook
Historical Museum in Granby CT. Their children: D UDLEY (1742-1762), A ARON (1744-1813), S AMUEL (1747- ), S ARAH (1749-
1820), M EHETABLE (1752- ), S EBREA (1755-1807), R UTH (1757-1813), and M OSES (1760-1825). If this Sarah was the one born to
John and Ann (Pettibone) Holcomb, she had a brother named Moses and a sister named Ruth, who died in 1737. She also had close Pettibone relatives named _________________. But the Sarah born to Thomas and Mary (Hanning) Holcomb also had an aunt named Ruth and a brother and an uncle named Moses.
19 Joshua Jr,’s children by his first wife were named C ALEB , J OSHUA , T HANKFUL , E XPERIENCE , E LEANOR , M ATTHEW , H ANNAH and
H ANNAH . Joshuas Jr,’s children by his second wife were named D AVID , M ERCY , M IRIAM , R OBERT , S ARAH #4, M IRIAM , J OAB , B ATHSHEBA ,
J OEL , J OAB , and P HINEAS .
James H. Holcombe, compiler, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut, online at http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p42.htm#i2051
20 Sarah’s uncle Benajah, No significance can be given to the fact that Sarah’s eldest son, Samuel, shared this name with Sarah
#1’s father, because Samuel was also the name of our Sarah’s husband and his father and grandfather.
21 Benajah’s will….
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her uncle Benejah of Windsor (16 April 1668 – 30 October 1716, who, like Sarah #1’s own father Samuel, died young, leaving minor children.
22 And she would have known his son, her first cousin Benajah of Windsor (10 July 1710 --1736), who was even younger than his father when he died. Benajah was a name Sarah #1 -- and few others – would be likely to select, especially since her husband’s claim upon the name Samuel would have precluded her naming a son after her late father.
23 Furthermore Sarah #1 had a sister named Rebecca
(the name of Sarah Thompson’s eldest daughter) and a mother named Martha (the name of
Sarah Thompson’s fourth daughter).
How might the orphaned Sarah 4 (Samuel 3 , Benajah 2 , Thomas 1 ) Holcomb of Windsor have come to the attention to the attention of a Goshen settler all of whose family had remained in the New Haven area from that town’s founding in 1638 until Samuel, Sr. came to Goshen with his family and his brothers?
24 This question is easily answered by an 1838 document which details all sixty of the households settled in Goshen in 1745, including the origins of most heads of household.
25 While these householders were generally more closely associated with the New Haven area, three of these householders and two of their wives were fairly closely related to Sarah #1.
Moses Lyman of Northampton, Massachusetts, settled at Goshen in 1739. He had married Sarah #1”s first cousin, Sarah Hayden of Windsor in 1742.
26 Sarah (Hayden)
Lyman’s mother, Anna (Holcomb) Hayden (19 March 1675 – 13 June 1756), was a daughter of Benajah 2 (Thomas 1 ) and Sarah (Eno) Holcomb, and a sister of Sarah #1’s father. It is entirely possible that Sarah #1 and/or some of her orphaned siblings were
22 His children were divided among a number of their aunts and uncle’s families, suggesting that Samuel’s family may also have been split up. Ten years before Samuel Holcomb died, his brother Benaja’s family was divided as follows: Manwaring, Early
Connecticut Probate Records, …
23 The name Benajah had never been used by the descendants of Samuel Thompson III’s immigrant Thompson ancestors, or by the descendants of Samuel mother’s Alling ancestors.
24
25 Hubbard, quoting Rev. Grant Powers in Chapter 5 of his history of Goshen, tieled Residences and Roads in 1745. Pp. 55-64.
26
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reared in or near the Windsor home of Samuel and Anna (Holcomb) Hayden, along their daughter Sarah (Hayden) Lyman, who was only a year older than her niece, Sarah #1.
Perhaps Sarah #1 was staying with her aunt in Goshen on 29 September 1744, when Sarah
(Hayden) Lyman gave birth to a daughter she named Sarah. It is unfortunate that Goshen church records prior to 1762 are unavailable to identify the godmother for whom the infant Sarah Lyman was presumably named.
By 1744 Sarah #1’s first cousin (her mother’s nephew) Abel 4 (Joseph 3 , Timothy 2 ,
William 1 ) Phelps had moved from Litchfield to Goshen. At that time his four children were all aged six and under, and a helping hand in that household would certainly have been welcomed by his wife, who was expecting again by the fall of 1744.
The Goshen household of Zaccheus and Mary Griswold was doubly related to Sarah #1.
Zaccheus 4 (Benjamin 3 , Mary 2 Holcombe, Thomas 1 ) Griswold, Sarah #1’s second cousin, had settled in Goshen by July 1744. Zaccheus’ wife, born Mary 4 (Francis 3 , Joseph 2 , Edward 1 )
Griswold was also a second cousin of Sarah #1 through Sarah #1’s mother’s mother, Mary
(Griswold) Phelps. In 1744 their family included thirteen and twelve year old sons and a daughter about five years old.
Finally, Lieutenant Samuel Humphrey of Goshen was Sarah #1’’s second cousin, their maternal (Phelps) grandfathers being brothers. In 1744 Samuel Humphrey had no recorded daughters and a new born baby, suggesting that Sarah #1’s assistance would also have been welcome in this house.
If Sarah#1 was in Goshen in 1744, that might also explain how both of her younger sisters came to be married in neighboring Harwinton shortly thereafter. Sarah #1’s two younger sisters were both married to Litchfield County men shortly after Sarah Holcomb married Samuel Thompson in Goshen. Posthumous sister Marah married Ashbell Skinner in Harwinton, Connecticut on 1746. Her sister Sophy married Joel Catlin in Harwinton on
1748 when she was 26 years old.
27
27
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These relationships strongly suggest Sarah #1 is our Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson, despite the fact that Sarah #1 would have been nearly 27 years old when she married barely 22-year-old Samuel. All other things being equal, the Sarah born in 1717 would fit best as the 1736 bride of William Spencer. If Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson is Sarah #1, then
Sarah (Holcomb) Spencer must have been seventeen when she married.
Zaccheus Griswold is the only one of the five Goshen connections listed above which applies to all four Sarahs. Like Sarah #1, Sarah #2 and Sarah #4 were also second cousins to Zaccheus (although not to his wife). Similarly, Sarah #3 was Zaccheus’ second cousin once removed, but no relationship to his wife. The Christian names chosen by Sarah
(Holcomb) Spencer and Sarah (Holcomb) Miller bear little similarity to those of Sarah #1’s close relations. Likewise, Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson’s children’s names bear little relationship to the closest relatives of the Sarah Holcombs numbered two through four.
28 .
29
Such a persuasive case cannot be made for connecting any of the other Sarahs to the town of Goshen or to the names of the Thompson, Miller or Spencer children of the three brides named Sarah Holcomb. On the contrary, evidence connects Sarah #2 to the bride of
Ichabod Miller and evidence dissociates the other two Sarahs from Goshen.
Sarah #2, granddaughter of Nathaniel Holcomb
Sarah #2’s connections with Goshen were far less substantial than those of Sarah #1.
Lawyer Samuel 4 (John 3,2,1 ) Pettibone, was another early settler of Goshen. He was a nephew of Sarah #2’s mother, born Ann 3 (John 2,1 ) Pettibone. As the family’s lawyer, he may well have returned to Simsbury in the summer of 1744 to assist his aunt in administering her late husband’s will. If Sarah #2 was unmarried when her brother inherited all but her
28 Norman W. Ingham, "Ichabod Miller of Springfield and Simsbury", 20 September 1989 (128 Pleasant St., Granby, MA 01033).
Unknown memo. Hereinafter cited as "Ichabod Miller" Their children: D UDLEY (1742-1762), A ARON (1744-1813), S AMUEL (1747-
), S ARAH (1749-1820), M EHETABLE (1752- ), S EBREA (1755-1807), R UTH (1757-1813), and M OSES (1760-1825). If this Sarah was the one born to John and Ann (Pettibone) Holcombe, she had a brother named Moses and a sister named Ruth, who died in
1737. She also had close Pettibone relatives named _________________. But the Sarah born to Thomas and Mary (Hanning)
Holcombe also had an aunt named Ruth and a brother and an uncle named Moses.
29 Donald Lines Jacobus, comp.., “The Four Spencer Brothers – Their Ancestors and Descendants,” TAG, 27 (Apr 1951), pp. 79-
87. William was born about 1716, at Suffield CT; buried about Dec 1771, Suffield CT. This Sarah died before 21 Oct 1795 and had nine children: E LISHA , (about 1740-24 June 1818), W ILLIAM (christened 25 Nov 1739), M EHITABEL , L UCY , J ONATHAN , D AVID
(christened 28 Aug 1743), H ULDAH , P HEBE , and C HLOE . 12 She also had close Phelps relatives named
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mother’s life estate in the family home, she might well have accompanied her first cousin back to Goshen. The need for another young woman in this particular household, however, was not great. Samuel’s wife had four single daughters then aged twenty-one, twelve, nine and seven, and only two younger children.
Sarah Holcomb married Ichabod Miller married in Simsbury, Connecticut, on 27
January 1741/42, the exact date of the Simsbury marriage of Asahel 4 (John 3 , Nathaniel 2 ,
Thomas 1 ) Holcomb 30 .
31 Since Asahel was the brother of Sarah #2, this is compelling evidence that Sarah #2 was Ichabod Miller’s bride. Sarah #2’s father died in Simsbury after this double wedding but before the October 1744 marriage of Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson.
His will, which deals with Sarah #2 in exactly the same way as her three married sisters, implies that Sarah #2 is also married.
32
The names of the children of Ichabod and Sarah (Holcomb) Miller provide additional support for Ichabod marrying Sarah #2.
33 If Sarah (Holcomb) Miller was the daughter of
John and Ann (Pettibone) Holcombe, she had a brother named Moses (like Sarah Miller’s fourth son) and a late sister named Ruth (the name of Sarah Miller’s fourth daughter). She also had a Pettibone uncle named Samuel and a Pettibone aunt named Sarah, like two more of Sarah Miller’s children.
34 In summary, the evidence that Sarah #2 married Ichabod
Miller appears to be as strong as the evidence that Sarah #1 married Samuel Thompson.
Sarah #3 (& #4), granddaughter (& daughter) of Joshua Holcomb
30 Hannah McPherson, Holcombe Genealogy, Page 214.1.
31 Albert C. Bates, Simsbury Connecticut Births, Marriages and Deaths Transcribed from the Town Records, (Hartford: Connecticut
Historical Society, 1898) 94; digital images online at https://dcms.lds.org/view/action/ieViewer.do?dps_pid=IE107903&dps_dvs=1372080229975~683&dps_pid=IE107903&chan ge_lng=en
32 John Holcomb’s will make provision for his widow continued residence in the home inherited by his son, without making any provision for a spinster daughter.
33 The Miller children were D UDLEY (1742-1762), A ARON (1744-1813), S AMUEL (1747), S ARAH (1749-1820), M EHETABLE (1752-
), S EBREA (1755-1807), R UTH (1757-1813), and M OSES (1760-1825). Norman W. Ingham, "Ichabod Miller of Springfield and
Simsbury", 20 September 1989 (128 Pleasant St., Granby, MA 01033). Unknown memo. Hereinafter cited as "Ichabod Miller"
34 James H. Holcombe, compiler, Thomas Holcombe of Connecticut, Descendants including Female Lines, online http://www.holcombegenealogy.com/data/p42.htm#i2099 accessed 4 June 2013.
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So evidence unique to Sarah #2 makes it very unlikely that she married Samuel
Thompson. Similarly, evidence unique to the other two Sarahs makes it very unlikely that either of them married Samuel Thompson. A family scandal would have made Goshen the last place these Sarahs would have chosen to be in 1745. Only one pre-1744 Goshen family was headed by a Holcomb, 35 and that was not a household with which any reputable yetto-be-married young lady would choose to associate. Matthew 4 (Joshua 3,2 , Thomas 1 )
Holcomb was the uncle of Sarah #3 (and the half-brother of Sarah #4, if such a woman existed). He was apparently living in Goshen on 26 July 1740 when his mistress, Lydia
Porter, gave birth to his illegitimate son, Luther Holcom Porter. He was presumably still in
Goshen when this infant died there on 26 Mar 1741.
36
By 6 March 1744, Matthew’s misconduct was known in Windsor, for his wife, Lois
(Drake) Holcombe, then petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery and “desertion leaving children.” 37 Matthew and Lydia had presumably returned to Windsor by 21
February 1744/5 38 when Lydia gave birth to a daughter Lydia there. So if Matthew and
Lydia were still in Goshen in the fall of 1744, a half-sister or niece still hoping to marry respectably would not have stayed in this household. And if Matthew was no longer resident in Goshen when Samuel Thompson’s bride-to-be arrived there, Matthew’s scandalous behavior there would remain recent enough to seriously tarnish a sister or niece’s reputation, regardless of the household in which she resided.
39 There is certainly no way that Matthew’s conduct would not be memorable in a community which, in 1740, must have included considerably less than sixty homes.
35 Rev. A.G. Hibbard, A History of the Town of Goshen, Connecticut. (1897), 254; (FHL film 908331); database, Godfrey Library
(www.100megsfree3.com/litchfield/marrage/goshen1.htm, et seq., accessed 2 March 2008); abstracted in the Barbour
Collection of Connecticut Vital Records: Goshen, Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records for Goshen, 29.
36 Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records for Goshen, 53 (citing vol. 1, p. 254).
37 Barbara B. Ferris and Grace Louise Knox, Connecticut Divorces, Superior Court Records for the Counties of Litchfield 1752-1922
and Hartford 1740-1849 (Bowie MD: Heritage Books, 1989) 2. These charges are consistent with Matthew’s last will and testament, which begins: “First being penitent and sorry from the bottom of my heart for my past sins…”
38 McCracken, p, 67:225. Barbour Collection, citing 2, p. 360. Is this OD or ND?
39 Did these Sarahs have a relative in Torrington?
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Sarah #3 seems to share no Christian names with the children of Sarah (Holcomb)
Spencer, but this may be because the names of her mother’s family are unknown. If Sarah
#4 existed and married William Spencer III of Suffield about 28 Aug 1736, she might have named her son David after her half-brother.
Conclusion
In summary, the preponderance of the evidence assembled supports the conclusion that
Sarah (Holcomb) Thompson was the daughter of Corporal Samuel & Martha (Phelps)
Holcomb because:
1.
She had many close relatives in Goshen who could have welcomed her in their homes. She had sufficiently connections to the name Benajah to explain why Sarah
(Holcomb) Thompson gave her second son this name.
2.
The Sarah born to Ensign John and Ann (Pettibone) Holcomb (Sarah #2) seems to have been married to Ichabod Miller in a Simsbury double wedding with her brother
Asahel in 1742.
3.
The Sarah born to Thomas and Mary (Hanning) Holcomb (Sarah #3) and her halfaunt, the Sarah who may have been born to Joshua and Mary (Hoskins) Holcomb
4.
There appear to have been no other marriageable Sarah Holcombs in New England in 1744.
(Sarah #4) would not have chosen to live in Goshen after their uncle/half-brother
Matthew settled there with his mistress in 1740.
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