Sarah Clark

Sarah was probably the third daughter of George Clark "Jr." of Milford, one of two George Clarks there at the same time, who had come from Much Munden in Hertfordshire by 1639; his will of 1690 names his Marvin grandchildren. About 1662 she married Lieut. Reinold Marvin of Lyme. He died in 1676, and on 12 Feb 1677/8 she married Capt. Joseph Sill, "the famous Indian fighter," and had more children by him (source).

King Philip's War. Her second husband had fought through the war in the Massachusetts service. He was lieutenant to Capt. Richard Beers in August 1675 and was left at Hadley in command of the rest of the company when Beers was killed in September (Soldiers in King Philip's War, pp. 266-275). On 5 Oct 1675 he marched with Major John Pynchon and Capt. Appleton to burning Springfield, "with a company of 190 Soulders" (p. 68), and on 12 October Appleton stationed "Capt. Sill and his company" there for the town's security (p. 147); thirty-nine of his men stayed on in garrison for the winter (p. 268), while Deacon Samuel Chapin lay dying in the town. In November he led about sixty men of Charlestown, Watertown and Cambridge to Hassanamesit with the Natick guides James Quannapohit and Eleazer Pegin, and brought back the captive boy Christopher Muchin (pp. 267-268). He was with the army in the Narragansett country after the Great Swamp Fight (p. 184), brought off the people of Groton with sixty carts, and in April 1676, "being appointed to keep Garrison at Groton," killed two Indians "by one single shot made by the Captain's own Hands" (Hubbard, quoted p. 269). On 27 April 1676 the colony raised "three [companies] of foot under Capts. Sill, Cutler and Holbrook" (p. 270), the third being Capt. John Holbrook of Weymouth. Sill was at Hadley with Capt. Henchman from 14 June (p. 270), and at Dover on 6 Sept 1676 with Capt. Hathorne when the Indians gathered at Major Waldron's were seized (p. 271). Then his war ended badly: on 17 Oct 1676 the General Court, told "that of late he hath carried himself offencively in that place," ordered "that the said Scyll be forthwith dischardged from that imploy" (Records of Massachusetts Bay 5:126; Bodge p. 271). He was living at Lyme by 7 Nov 1681 (p. 272). In 1685 he asked the Massachusetts court for land, "that so a little part of what he hath seen with his eyes and trod with his feet, in your service, may be committed into his hands" (Mass. Archives 70:148, Bodge pp. 274-275). Sill's son Zachariah married Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Mather, who probably rode in Capt. Prentice's troop in the Narragansett campaign.

Sarah died at Lyme on 1 Feb 1715/16, and her grave in the Duck River burying ground is to the left of her two husbands' (source).

Research: Notable connections of Patricia Hatten (1940-2009): the paternal Hatten line; the war: King Philip's War: the Connecticut valley, the Colony of Connecticut, Long Island and New Paltz.