• Support
• Volunteers & Internships
• Calendar
• About Us
• Press

Sarah was born in 1618 in Leyden, Holland and came to Plymouth in 1623 with her family. On July 22, 1612, some six years before Sarah was born, Sarah's father, George Morton, married her mother, Juliana Carpenter, also in Leyden, Holland. After their marriage, George continued his work as a merchant (someone who buys or sells goods for profit) in Leyden where Sarah was raised along with her brothers and sisters: Patience, Nathaniel, and John.

In 1623, when Sarah was just 6 years old, her father decided the family would move to the New World. Though some historians think that Sarah and her family boarded the ship Anne to go to Plymouth Colony, other historians think that they may have traveled on the ship Little James, for both ships arrived in Plymouth about a week apart from each other during the summer of 1623.

Joining Sarah's family on that voyage was her aunt, Alice Carpenter Southworth. Alice Carpenter Southworth was the sister of Sarah­s mother and had traveled with the Morton family to New England to marry William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Colony. Sarah­s youngest brother, Emphraim, was born either just before the family left Holland or soon after their arrival in Plymouth Colony. Sadly, shortly after arriving to New Plymouth in 1623, Sarah­s father died in June of 1624.

By 1627, Sarah's mother had married again to a man named Manasseh Kempton. Though they had no children together, they continued to live in Plymouth Colony. Also by 1627, Sarah may not have been living with her family anymore. Records show that she might have been living with the family of Ralph and Joyce Wallen.

When she was 26 years old, Sarah Morton married a man named George Bonham on December 20, 1644. Sarah and George eventually had six children: George, jr., Ruth, Patience, and three other girls each named Sarah. George, jr. was born in 1656. He married Elizabeth Jenney on April 27 th, 1681 and they had seven children. Ruth married a man named Robert Barrow and they had one child. Patience married Richard Willis on December 28 th , 1670 and they had one child named Ruhamah. Unfortunately, two of Sarah's youngest daughters, both named Sarah, died at a very young age. Her last child, named Sarah also, lived until 1704.

Sarah Morton Bonham died in Plymouth in 1694 at the age of 76. Her husband, George Bonham, lived another 10 years, and died at the age of 84.

Homework Help

WHO WERE THE PILGRIMS

Did you know that the "Pilgrims" weren't really pilgrims at all?

WHO ARE THE WAMPANOAG

Learn more about the "People of the First Light."

THE MAYFLOWER

Discover more about the ship, the people, and the journey.

THANKSGIVING

The history goes much further back than Plymouth and 1621.

GROWING FOOD

What it meant to the Wampanoag and the English Colonists.

BUILDING A HOME

Two very different approaches to building a home.

WHAT TO WEAR

Articles on Wampanoag and Colonial clothing.

PLAYING AND LEARNING

Through games we still play today, important skills were developed.

WHAT'S FOR DINNIER

What the Colonists and Wampanoag thought fit to eat and drink.

ANIMALS

The Wampanoag and Colonial views on animals and their purpose.

A CHILD'S ROLE

The important place of children in both cultures.

SARAH MORTON

There were many other days in her life than in the book Sarah Morton's Day.

VOCABULARY WORDS

Definitions to common words and terms used in 17th-Century Plymouth.