52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #13 Sarah Reed Hill and Her Granddaughter’s Memory of Benjamin Reed

Sarah Reed was born in Abington, Massachusetts, in 1757, married Joel Hill in Cummington, and later spent her final years in Vermont. At first, her life seems to survive only in scattered facts—birth, marriage, children, and death. But family memories passed down through her granddaughter make Sarah a much more interesting person in my search to identify the parents of her probable brother and my fourth-great-grandfather, Benjamin Reed.

Sarah Reed's Birth Record - 26 August 1757

Sarah was the daughter of Peter Reed and Lucy Hugens Reed. She was born on 26 August 1757. When Sarah was twenty-two years old, her father was said to have died on 18 February 1780. Cyril Nash wrote in his manuscript, “At the death of Peter his widow removed to the westward probably to Cummington, and Samuel to the same place, where she died.” Samuel was Sarah’s youngest brother and would have been 19 years old in 1780.

Nash did not mention Peter and Lucy’s daughters, Sarah and Joanna, in that passage. Still, his writings are important because they tell much about the families of Peter Reed and Benjamin Reed. Nash's writings were included in The Reed Genealogy: descendants of William Reade, of Weymouth, Mass., from 1635-1902, by John Ludovicus Reed. In this book, Benjamin was named a son of Peter.

On 21 October 1782, Sarah Reed married Joel Hill in Cummington, Massachusetts. That location did not surprise me. Lucy Reed was said to have moved west after Peter’s death. Sarah’s sister Joanna also married in Cummington. Benjamin Reed had been in Cummington before 1775. Sarah’s marriage there fits the movement of the family.

Over the next fifteen years, Sarah and Joel had six children: Samuel, Lucius, David, Sarah Jane called Sally, Electa, and Laura. Land records indicate that Joel and Sarah Hill remained in Massachusetts from the time of their marriage until about 1808. Before moving to Vermont, they lived in Rowe, near the Massachusetts–Vermont line. Their first home in Vermont was Marlboro in Windham County, a short distance from Rowe.

Later records place Joel and members of the family in Marlboro, Jamaica, and Dummerston. Joel died in Dummerston in 1843 and is buried there. Sarah is said to have died earlier, on 29 December 1836.

Sarah’s children help trace the family’s Vermont story. They remained in Windham County and married into other Windham County families, including Church, Blake, Phillips, Rawson, and Brown families. But the most interesting part of Sarah’s story comes from her granddaughter's memories, preserved in The Reed Genealogy.

In The Reed Genealogy, John Ludovicus Reed wrote that Sarah’s granddaughter, Mrs. John V. Evans of West Dummerston, remembered Sarah well. She also remembered Sarah’s brother Benjamin. Mrs. Evans said that Sarah had lived for a time with Dr. Braddish’s family in Bridgewater and was in Bridgewater on the Dark Day, 19 May 1780. While living in Vermont, Sarah often spoke of Abington, Bridgewater, Plainfield, Cummington, and Milford. She must have spoken of those places often enough that her granddaughter carried the memories into old age.

That granddaughter was Louisa Emeline Hill, later Mrs. John V. Evans. Louisa was born in 1816 and is identified in The Reed Genealogy as Sarah’s granddaughter, not her daughter. Some family trees list Louisa as Sarah Reed Hill’s daughter, but the records found so far indicate she was probably Sarah’s granddaughter.*

Louisa’s memories are especially valuable because they connect Sarah Reed Hill’s family directly to Benjamin Reed’s household. In 1898, Mrs. Evans remembered visiting Benjamin Reed’s old house and said she knew Benjamin and Huldah well. She described them as "fine people, of good character, and well beloved by all who knew them."

Almira Reed
East Putney Cemetery

Mrs. Evans also remembered Benjamin and Huldah’s daughter Almira, who died in 1835, and said she was with Almira at the time of her death. That detail is worth noticing. Benjamin had died six months earlier. Deed records indicate that Sarah and her family were living in Jamaica, Vermont, a full day's journey by wagon or coach. Louisa’s presence with Almira suggests that the two families were still closely connected.

Sarah Reed Hill did not leave a record trail that tells her whole story. But through her granddaughter’s recollections, she becomes more than a name in the Reed family.

* Louisa Emeline Hill’s exact parentage needs further documentation. The Reed Genealogy identifies her as Sarah Reed Hill’s granddaughter. Lucius Hill named Louisa Emeline Hill as his niece in his will, and census and deed records show a continued association between Sally Hill and Louisa.

If you would like to learn more about the families I research, follow my Facebook page, where I share each post along with other genealogical finds.

Diana

© 2026

“Abington, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L979-W74D?view=fullText

 : accessed 30 April 2025), image 7 of 152, birth entry for Sarah Reed; Image Group Number 007009636; citing Abington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk.

“Abington, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-9979-W7G7?view=fullText

 : accessed 7 January 2025), image 11 of 152, birth entry for Samuel Reed; citing Abington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk.

C. McClellan & Co. and J. Chace, McClellan’s Map of Windham County, Vermont (Philadelphia: C. McClellan & Co.; lithographed by W. H. Rease, 1856), map, digital image, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/2012586226/ : accessed 18 April 2026).

Ephraim H. Newton, The History of the Town of Marlborough, Windham County, Vermont, with introduction by John Clement (Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 1930); digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofm00newt/page/n9/mode/2up

 : accessed 18 April 2026).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/27499359/almira-read: accessed 4 July 2022), memorial page for Almira Read, Find a Grave Memorial ID 27499357, citing East Putney Cemetery, East Putney, Windham County, Vermont; memorial maintained by Cynthia Kaley, contributor 51056978; gravestone photograph by Donna G. Dunham, contributor 46871624.

“Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSVR-832H-W?view=fullText

 : accessed 14 March 2026), image 456 of 562; Image Group Number 008131623; citing Massachusetts, Court of Common Pleas, Hampshire County.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-VWT4?view=fullText : accessed 9 May 2025), image 281 of 568, page 517 marriage of Luther Rawson and Electra Reed; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-8999-V4MD?view=fullText

 : accessed 9 May 2025), image 287 of 568, page 526 marriage of Laura Hill and Timothy Brown; Image Group Number 005463989; citing Jamaica, Vermont, Town Clerk.

“Jamaica, Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37V-T9V2-C?view=fullText

 : accessed 22 February 2025), image 295 of 546, deed involving Joel Hill, Louisa Hill, and Sally Hill, 1839; original source not identified in supplied FamilySearch citation.

John Ludovicus Reed, The Reed Genealogy: Descendants of William Reade of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1635–1902, vol. 1 ([no place]: [no publisher], 1901); digital image, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/reedgenealogydes01reed/page/n11/mode/2up

 : accessed 18 April 2026).

“Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626–2001,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH5P-Z7B

 : accessed 22 January 2025), entry for Joel Hill and Sarah Reed, marriage, 21 October 1782, Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, page 2.

“Massachusetts, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9Z8-28QY?view=fullText

 : accessed 5 June 2024), image 178 of 715; citing Massachusetts, County Court, Hampshire County.

1860 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Jamaica, page 15, John V. Evans family; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4297354_00151: accessed 18 April 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, Eighth Census of the United States, 1860.

1870 U.S. census, Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Jamaica, page 46, John V. Evans family; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7163/records/40457539: accessed 18 April 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication M593, Ninth Census of the United States, 1870.

“Vermont, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1732–2005,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQ5-L9ZX: accessed 8 March 2024), entry for Joel Hill, death, 2 March 1843, Dummerston, Windham County, Vermont.

“Windham, Vermont, United States records,” digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BH-G349-7?view=fullText

 : accessed 6 May 2025), image 599 of 643, will of Lucas Hill; Image Group Number 007714786; original source not identified in supplied FamilySearch citation.