Sarah Strickland Roberts Furman (1645-1742)
Maternal Grandmother of John Hart
[Pictured above: First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, burial site of Sarah Strickland Roberts Furman]
Sarah Strickland is our 7th great grandmother by this path: RWA → Vera Esler Abbott → Martha Tappan Esler → William Tappan → Sarah Hart Tappan → Daniel Hart → John Hart → Martha Furman Hart → Sarah Strickland Furman
[endif]--Sarah is considered one of the matriarchs of the migration from Long Island to what is now Mercer County, New Jersey. At the time of its settlement it was known as Hunterdon County.
Sarah was born in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1645. Fairfield was one of the earliest settlements in Connecticut; her father Edmund Strickland was a first settler of Fairfield. Edmund was something of a wanderer. He first settled in ancient Wethersfield (in Connecticut), then to Fairfield, but was in Newtown, Long Island by the time he died. This was around the time that the English took control of New Netherland.
Sarah first married Thomas Roberts and had five children with him, although Thomas’s will mentioned an unborn child suggesting there were six children from this marriage. Sarah was widowed about age 35 and then married Josiah Furman who is our ancestor. Sarah and Josiah had five children the last child born when she was about 45 years old. This was a rather typical pattern for women who did not die in childbirth: They continued having children into their early 40’s.
The timing is not completely certain, but sometime around the birth of their last child Sarah and Josiah headed off to the newly formed Trenton, New Jersey. The first European settlers arrived in Trenton in 1679.
Although she outlived most of her children, at the time of her death at age 97, she had 5 living children, 61 living grandchildren, 182 great grandchildren, and 12 great-great grandchildren – a total of 260 descendants living at the time of her death. Among those descendants living at the time of her death was John Hart signer of the Declaration of Independence.
This family is also the start of our connection to Mark Twain. Sarah’s sister Mercy Strickland married Gershom Moore and they are direct ancestors of Mark Twain.
Sarah and Josiah’s daughter Martha is our ancestor. Martha married Edward Hart and they were the parents of John Hart.
The following obituary for Sarah appeared in The Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 27 Jan 1741/42, p. 2.
Family Group Sheet for Sarah Strickland and Josiah Furman: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/colonialgenealogy/family.php?f=251
Source:
Strickland Notes, The American Genealogist, 1943, volume 20, pp 213-215.
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