Sarah Hatfield Clark

Sarah Hatfield, the eldest daughter of Isaac Hatfield, was born in 1728 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. She married Abraham Clark, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, when she was twenty-one years old. Sarah was from a well-to-do and respectable family, but little else is known of her family.

Abraham was a farmer and surveyor as well as a "poor man's lawyer" helping his neighbors. He served as a county sheriff, clerk of the assembly, and as a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress. He was a part of the Congress that voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence, and he continued as a member of the Congress for many years.

Sarah's home was not invaded by the British, but two of her sons, officers in the Continental Army, were captured by the British. They both were treated badly by the British "because of the activity of the father." When Congress threatened to retaliate against two British captains, the British began to treat Sarah's sons better and they were exchanged for British officers.

Abraham died in 1794, and Sarah died about ten years later. They are both buried at Rahway.

Facts and quotes are from Wives of the Signers: The women behind the Declaration of Independence, pp 147-149.