A name like "Sarah Smith," with no hint of parentage, can seem like a lost cause for a descendant doing genealogy. Where to begin? In this case, the Proximity Principle ["Look nearby for clues"] came through with a likely candidate for her family.
When John Macomber Sr., father of Sarah's husband, died in 1821, his real estate was distributed among the heirs. [LDS Film #575163] A description of the land laid out to John Jr. names the neighbors, including, to the southwest, one Remember Smith. In the land records that year, we find record that on July 2, 1821, John Macomber Jr. sold his share of his father's land to Remember Smith. [Bristol Co. deed book 110, p. 304, LDS film 466930] Then four years later, Remember Smith sold the same land right back to John Macomber. [Book 117, p. 523, LDS film 466934] This suggests something like a pre-arranged agreement, perhaps a friendly loan between neighbors--or relatives? Could this neighbor be related to Sarah (Smith) Macomber?
Further fishing in land and probate records eventually led me to the probate records for Nathaniel Smith, who wrote his will on Nov. 12, 1811, and died soon after, as it was probated in January of 1812 [Probate book 47, p. 60, LDS film #462645] Therein, Nathaniel names wife Molly, and several children, including Remember Smith and --of course-- Sarah Smith. This was less than a year before her marriage, prompting the possibility that this 28-year-old daughter had been caring for her aging father, and after he died, she was free to marry when the slightly younger neighbor John Macomber Jr. came courting.
I haven't yet found absolute proof that this is the same Sarah Smith who married John Jr., but in the genealogy game, often one has only probabilities to work with. And the probability appears pretty high, in this case, given her proximity to the Macombers and the friendly agreement with Remember Smith in 1821-1825.
The record for the marriage of Nathaniel's parents is found in the vital records (v.1, p. 344): John Smith Jr. and Lidia Butterworth, both of Rehoboth, married by Rev. John Greenwood on May 18, 1742. But interestingly, there is another record from the month before: John Smith and Elizabeth Butterworth, married by Rev. John Greenwood on Apr. 22, 1742. This raises the question of the relationship between the two Johns and the two Butterworths. Was the April groom the father of John Jr., marrying a second (or more) time to a relative of his son's bride? No, it turns out; the John who married Elizabeth is of another line, and was simply older than our John; back then, "Jr." or "2nd" implied only a ranking by age, not a genealogical relationship.
Further work in the probate, land, and vital records for Rehoboth have revealed the following details:
Hannah Wheaton was the daughter of Robert and Alice (Bowen) Wheaton of Rehoboth. She died 7 Oct. 1724. Roberth Wheaton, the immigrant of that line, was born ca. 1605 at Swansea, Wales, and died ca. 1695 at Rehoboth. His wife Alice Bowen was the daughter of Richard and Ann Bowen.
Judeth Bozworth was born 12 Feb. 1689/90 at Rehoboth, daughter of Joseph and Hester (Smith) Bozworth. Joseph was the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (-----) Bosworth. Jonathan is the son of Edward and Mary Bosworth. Edward is said to have died aboard ship even as it arrived at Boston Harbor.
Hester Smith was born 7 Feb. 1661 at Rehoboth, the daughter of Daniel and Ester (Chickering) Smith. Daniel was the son of immigrant Henry Smith; the family arrived in 1638 at Hingham on the ship Diligent. Ester Chickering was born 3 Dec. 1643 at Dedham, MA, to Francis and Anne (Fiske) Chickering. She was buried at Rehoboth on 6 June 1687. Francis Chickering, immigrant of that name, was born ca. 1587 at Ringsfield, co. Suffolk, son of Henry and Mary Chickering. Francis died 10 Oct. 1658 at Dedham, MA. His wife Anne Fiske was bapt. 1 Apr. 1610 at South Elham, co. Suffolk, daughter of John and Anne Fiske. She died 5 Dec. 1649 at Dedham.
William Cole was born 24 Jan. 1723/4 at Rehoboth to Joseph and Rebeckah (Allen) Cole. His parents were married 24 Jan. 1722/3 at Rehoboth, by the Rev. John Greenwood. Rebeckah Allen is described as "of Barrington" in the record. [Barrington, now in Rhode Island, was part of Massachusetts. It was a Congregational parish that had split off from Swansea, which in turn was founded as a Baptist town.] Rebeckah was born at Swanzey, Mass., on 2 Sept. 1701. Her parents were Thomas Allin and Anne Barnes, married at Swanzey on 24 Sept. 1694. Thomas Allin was the son of William Allin, an immigrant ca. 1662-3 to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, who later moved to Swanzey. His wife was Elizabeth but her ancestry is unknown. For details on this family, see the manuscript Some Prudence Island Allins, by Devere Allen, on LDS microfilm no. 858658.
William Cole married on 26 Nov. 1747 at Rehoboth, by the Rev. John Greenwood, to Molly Greenwood. Molly was the minister's daughter, born 4 July 1729 at Rehoboth. Rev. John was pastor of the 2nd parish of Rehoboth, which later became the town of Seekonk. He married Lydia Holmes on 25 May 1721. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Greenwood, previous minister at Rehoboth. There is more on the Greenwood and Holmes lines in Ancestral File, but I'm going to try to find better documentation of the lineages claimed therein.
For one thing, the George Holmes Genealogy identifies our Lydia as the daughter of Nathaniel Holmes and Sarah Thaxter, b. 19 Nov. 1696 at Boston. Well, that would be fine if John Greenwood met her while in the area attending Harvard. But their marriage record states that Lydia Holmes was "of Scituate"-- a town in Plymouth County far (in those days) from either Boston or Rehoboth. The Scituate Vital Records also published notice of the marriage, citing the church records of the 2nd Church of Scituate. Although I cannot find a Holmes family at Scituate for her to have belonged to at the time, this suggests she might not have ties to the Boston group. So I'm hesitant about adopting that group as part of my ancestry.
William Cole's father Joseph Cole, died on 20 Apr. 1724, barely, three months after his only son was born. But young William was looked after by his grandfather, also William Cole. When the grandfather died in 1745, his will left his entire estate to his grandson William Cole.
I recently (July 2000) made contact with a fellow descendant of the two William Coles. She clued me in on this will before I'd found it, and also told of what she'd learned about the family background: William, a tanner, had come to Rehoboth ca. 1710 when the town was in need of a tanner. Where he came from is not to be found in the local record. We may have a hard time tracing this, as the Cole surname is found in various places at the time: Plymouth (but no Williams yet found in that line); Kingston, R.I.; Hartford and Wethersfield, Conn.; Wallingford, Conn.; Salem, Mass. We shall see where we can go from here... [entered July 12, 2000]