Many of us have asked: Who is Alexander Bow’s first wife Sarah?
The answer: We don’t know.
Most people use Unknown as a placeholder for her surname but we’ve also seen NLN (No Last Name) used. Several years ago we had an online discussion with a lady who was adamant Sarah’s surname was Nin (NLN = Nln = Nin); we parted ways agreeing to disagree.
What do we know about Sarah? Not a whole heck of a lot. Here are the few details we do know:
- Married Alexander between March 1, 1657/8 and October 23, 1660 in Charlestown, Massachusetts or Middletown, Connecticut (or somewhere along the route between the two)
- Three children: Samuel, Sarah, and Mary
- An initiated member of the First Church of Charlestown
- Died April 16, 1665 in Middletown at an unknown age
That’s not a whole lot of information to work from but we won’t let this discourage us.
The most tantalizing tidbit is she belonged to the First Church in Charlestown.
This led us to create a spreadsheet of all known females named Sarah identified in First Church records.
As you can see, there are a few more Sarahs we need to research including any widows named Sarah.
We also need to scour other information sources like:
First Church Records, Vols 1 & 3 at the Massachusetts Historical Society (research must be done in person)
New England’s Hidden Histories: Colonial-Era Church Records
The articles of faith and covenant of the First Church, Charlestown: with lists of the founders, the pastors, the deacons and the surviving members (Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1842)
William Budington’s The History of the First Church, Charlestown: In Nine Lectures, with Notes (Boston: C. Tappan, 1845)
Richard Frothingham’s The History of Charlestown, Massachusetts (Boston: C. C. Little and J. Brown, 1845)
The articles of faith and covenant of the First Church, Charlestown: with lists of the founders, the pastors, the deacons and the surviving members (Boston: J. Howe, 1856)
Records of the First Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1632-1789 (Boston: D. Clapp and Son, 1880)
Please let us know if you are aware of other places to find Charlestown and/or First Church records or if you have any suggestions as to how to possibly identify Alexander Bow’s first wife Sarah Unknown.
Alexander Bow 