History of Block Island, RI, 1877; Sarah Sands, widow of Captain James Sands

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Livermore's History of Block Island, RI, 1877 Bridgewater, MA
Pages 268 to 286 continued 


                        MRS. SARAH SANDS

This lady had virtues and culture which entitle her to more than
a passing notice. Although at this distant day we can give but a
few outlines of her character, yet these may indicate to some the
beauty of the portrait had it been properly delineated in due
season. There is also incidental, collateral information obtained
from the biographical fragments of her no w presented. In
speaking of Captain James Sands, one of the first settlers, his
grandson, Rev. Samuel Niles, says: 

"His wife was a gentlewoman of remarkable sobriety and piety,
given also to hospitality. She was the only midwife and doctress
on the Island, or rather a doctor, all her days, with very little,
and with some and mostly, no reward. at all. Her skill in surgery
was doubtless very great, from some instances I remember she told
me of. One was the cure of an Indian, that under disgust, as was
said, he had taken at his wife or squaw, shot himself, putting
the muzzle of his gun to the pit of his stomach, and pushing the
trigger. The bullet went through him, out and opposite at his
back. He instantly fell, and one of the spectators who happened
to be in the field at the time, and heard the report of the gun,
told me, after he was fallen and wallowing in the blood, he saw
the blood and froth issue out of his back and breast as often as
he drew his breath. He was perfectly healed, and lived a hearty,
strong man even to old age; whom I afterward knew, and often saw
the scar at the pit of his stomach, as large or larger in
circumference than our ordinary dollars passing among us."

"Another signal cure she told me God made her an instrument of
making, was on a young woman that was struck with lightning
through her shoulder, so that when she administered to her by
syringing, the liquid matter would fly through from the fore part
to the hinder, and from the hinder part to the foremost, having
a free and open passage both ways, yet was cured, and had several
children, and lived to old age. I also knew her long before her
death. She had also skill, and cured the bites and venomous
poison of rattlesnakes."

Her husband, in his last will, made her the sole executrix of his
estate which, after his death, was inventoried as follows: 

          James Sands' Estate, March 13, 1694: 
          "About 400 acres of land; 
          Fifty-six head. of cattle, small and great: 
          Three horses - mare, colt, one horse: 
          Thirty swine, old and young: 
          About 300 sheep: 
          A negro woman - house and barn, and mill. 
          Sundry household goods not appraised."

Mr. Sands died. in March, 1695, and in March, 1699, Mrs. Sarah
Sands, his widow, had a lawful record made of the following
emancipation of her slaves: 

"Know all men by these presents that I, Sarah Sands, of Block
Island, alias New Shoreham, in the Colony of Rhode Island,
Providence Plantations, in New England, Wife to Mr. James Sands,
of Block Island, and made sole executrix by my said husband,
James Sands, at his death, and having three Negro children born
under my roof and in my custody, being left to my disposing by my
above said. husband." 

"Know ye therefore that I, the above Sarah Sands, do hereby and
voluntarily give and bestow of them as followeth, that is to say: 

"First: I give to my granddaughter, Sarah Sands, daughter to my
son, Edward Sands, one of the Negro girls named Hannah: The other
Negro girl I give and bequeath unto my granddaughter, Catharine
Niles, daughter to my son-in-law, Nathaniel Niles, of Point
Judith in the colony above said - the two Negro girls I freely
and voluntarily give to my two grandchildren above named until
the said Negroes come to the age of thirty years, and then I do
by these presents declare that they shall be free from any
service, and be at their own disposal - the Negro girl given to
my granddaughter, Catharine Niles, is named Sarah. The other
negro above said being a boy named Mingo, I freely give and
bequeath to my grandson, Sands Raymond, son to my son-in-law,
Joshua Raymond, of Block Island above named, which I give freely
until that he the said Negro boy comes to the age of thirty-three
years, and then to be free and his own man and at his own
disposal forever after that he shall arrive to the age of 33
years; for I Sarah Sands do by these presents freely declare that
I have made a promise that no child whatsoever born under my
service and care shall be made a slave of any longer than is
above specified, and for the confirmation and ratification of
this my free and voluntary act, I have under set my hand, and
affixed my seal this ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine."

Signed in presence of 
SAMUEL NILES.                               SARAH SANDS. 

Two years and a half passed away and Mrs. Sands, conscious of her
approaching end, in her last will, left a preamble to it that
speaks well for her character, revealing a faith which was her
brightest ornament through her long and eventful life mostly
spent among her fellow-Islanders, many of whom she had seen in
their barbarous state, and all of whom, with her devoted
companion, she had labored to improve both socially and religiously.  

                                 HER WILL.

"In the name of God, Amen. I Sarah Sands of Block Island, alias New
Shoreham, in the colony of Rhode Island, and Providence
Plantations, in New England, being aged and weak in body, but of
sound and perfect memory - Praise be given to Almighty God for
the same - and knowing the uncertainty of this life on earth, and
being desirous to see that things in order be done before my
death, Do make this my last will and Testament in manner and form
following: 

"I being wife to Mr. James Sands deceased, and. made sole
executrix by my said. husband., as by will bearing date June the
18th, 1694, may plainly appear, That is to say, First, and
Principally; I commend my soul to Almighty God my Creator,
assuredly believing that I shall receive full pardon and free
remission of all my sins, and be saved by the precious death and
merits of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus; and my
body to the earth from whence it was first taken, to be buried in
such decent and Christian manner as to my executor hereafter named
shall be thought most meet and convenient: And as touching such
worldly estate as the Lord in mercy hath lent me, my will and
meaning in the same shall be implied.... 

[Things specified for each.] That they shall be equally divided.
amongst my five children, viz.: John Sands, James Sands, Samuel
Sands, Sarah Niles, and Mercy Raymond..... 

Signed in presence of               SARAH SANDS. 
               SAMUEL NILES, and 
               HANNA ROSE, Oct. 17th, 1703."

In Sept., 1704, she gave her negro woman to her grandson, Rev.
Samuel Niles, to be kept by him ten years, at the expiration of
which time she was to be free for ever thereafter.  

            MR. SANDS’ STONE HOUSE, AND THE SANDS’ GARRISON.

Their location is established, in the writer’s mind beyond a
doubt, by the following circumstantial evidence, to have been
nearly where Mr. Almanzo Littlefield’s residence is now standing. 
  
                                 THE HOUSE.

That Captain James Sands had a stone house, used as a garrison
and hospital, in times of necessity, is admitted, and shown by
Mr. Niles’ History. 

  1. His sixteenth of the Island - nearly all of it, as seen in
     the original plat, a copy of which is in the possession of
     Col. S. Ray Sands, embraces the house lot, and mill-pond now
     owned by Mr. A. Littlefield. 
  2. Rev. Mr. Niles, grandson of Capt. J. Sands, lived some years
     with his grandparents in the stone house, arid he says the
     mill-pond was "near the house." He speaks of that pond as
     having a "flume." 
  3. He says that house was "not far from the Harbor," which then
     was the "Old Pier." 
  4. The house wss within musket shot of a French privateer lying
     at the Pier. After the French had plundered it and returned
     to their vessel they "fired many pens at the house," says
     Mr. Niles, and adds: "I heard several bullets whistling over
     my head." 
  5. When the French took the stone house they "set up their
     standard on a hill on the back side of it" [the house].
     After it had stood there some hours an English vessel hove
     in sight, which "put the Frenchmen into a great surprise,"
     whereupon: 
  6. They were seen "running up to their standard on the hill,
     then down again, and others doing the like."
  7. Mr. Niles, when the French landed, was "in fair sight of the
     house," and at the same time "saw them coming from the
     water-side," while just behind him was a "large swamp." 
  8. The outlines of a cellar still visible between the present
     old water-mill and Mr. Almanzo Littlefield’s house, and he
     states that part of a cellar-wall is there covered up. 
  9. No other mill-pond on the Island could have had a "flume,"
     and a flume implies the presence of a mill. 
 10. The mill-pond now there has been there from the Most ancient
     traditions. 
 11. Mrs. Sarah Sands, widow of the above James Sands, in her
     will transmitted to her son the "mill," and the "mill" was
     in the inventory of her husband’s estate soon after his
     death. 
 12. The stone house of Mr. Sands was "garrisoned." This implies
     the presence of a body of soldiers. 
 13. That garrison existed when the men of the Island were only
     "sixteen and e boy." 
 14. The mill-pond and mill were near the house and garrison when
     Mrs. Sands had "but one little child, a girl, just able to
     run about and prattle a little" when she was drowned in said
     mill-pond. 
 15. Said garrison was established in the time of "Philip’s War,"
     as a protection against the Block Island Indians. 
 16. The earth work of an ancient garrison that commanded said
     stone house on three sides, is now seen, directly east of
     the spot where said house stood, and within pistol-shot of
     it, with a sharp hill back of it or east of it, and adjacent
     from which the whole region around. was visible to a
     sentinel. 
 17. The "upland in a great swamp" to which Mr. Niles fled the
     first time the French came to Mr. Sands’ house, was a
     convenient place of concealment, lying a short distance
     northwest of the location of said house. The upland and
     swamp remain, and are easily pointed out, lying a little
     distance west of Erastus Rose’s house. 


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