Untangling the Three Sarahs: How I Solved an 18th-Century Massachusetts Identity Crisis
The Case of the Missing Sarah
Sarah Moseley, daughter of John Moseley of Westfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, was born in 1722. On October 11, 1742, she married Reuben King of Sheffield. But by January 1747, Reuben had died, leaving Sarah a young widow with two minor children.
Then, the paper trail gets messy. Most young widows in the 1700s remarried quickly, leading to two competing theories in major online trees:
Theory A: Did she marry Timothy McCormick in October 1747?
Theory B: Did she marry Lt. Asahel Clapp of Northampton in December 1753? (Even though Asahel was already married to Sarah Wright?)
Here’s how I untangled the records to find out what actually happened.
The Clues in the Court Records & Wills
To find the true Sarah, I had to line up five crucial pieces of evidence:
The 1750 Will of John Moseley: Explicitly refers to his daughter as "Sarah King, widow of Reuben King" in 1750—proving she had not married Timothy McCormick back in 1747.
The Vital Records of Northampton: Reveals that Asahel Clapp's first wife, Sarah Wright, actually died in September 1751.
The 1753 Remarriage: Widow Sarah Moseley King married Asahel Clapp on December 3, 1753.
The 1777 Will of Asahel Clapp: Asahel states that his late wife (Sarah) was the mother of his youngest five sons, starting with Azariah, born around 1754.
The 1778 Estate Distribution: Land from Asahel’s estate was granted to Bohan King and Sarah Lyman—explicitly identified as the son and granddaughter of Sarah Moseley King Clapp.
The Verdict: Three Sarahs, Three Clean Identities
By digging into the original quit-claim deeds, land transfers, and probate distributions, we can finally separate these three women:
Sarah Moseley (1722–1776): Widow of Reuben King. Returned to Westfield in 1750, married Asahel Clapp in 1753, had five sons with him, and died in 1776.
Sarah King (b. 1727): Daughter of John King & Sarah Allen of Palmer. Married Timothy McCormick in 1747. Verified by quit-claim deeds naming her as a King heir.
Sarah Wright (c. 1722–1751): First wife of Asahel Clapp. Mother of his older children up to 1750. Died in Northampton in September 1751.
Fixing the History Books
I have updated my public trees on Ancestry to reflect the correct records, and I am currently in the process of submitting correction requests to Find-A-Grave, FamilySearch, WikiTree, and Geni to ensure these three women are no longer conflated.
Sources & Linked Tree Profiles
You can view the full record citations, document images, and lineage updates across these public tree profiles:
Sarah Moseley (1722–1776): View her profile and attached probate sources on Ancestry(subscription required) or on FamilySearch(free).
Sarah Wright (c. 1722–1751): View her profile and Northampton vital record citations on Ancestry or on FamilySearch (free).
Sarah King (b. 1727): View her fully cited public profile and quit-claim deed references on WikiTree or FamilySearch(free & public).
Stuck on an 18th-century brick wall or conflated identities in your own family tree?
Resolving tangled New England records is one of my specialties. If you have an ancestor whose identity has been swallowed up by online tree errors, drop me a message on my contact page and let's unravel the paper trail together!
