Sarah Nicholson?

  Notes:

Most extant genealogies about the Hitch family show Isaac Hitch's wife as Sarah Ellegood. My research does indeed confirm the given name as Sarah, but not the surname Ellegood. In fact, my research shows that Sarah Ellegood was probably the wife of Robert Hitch, son of Elgate Hitch. She was the daughter of William Ellegood. Jean Bircher, a descendant of Rachel Hitch, daughter of Isaac, and Benjamin Hastings indicates in a correspondence to me that Isaac's wife was Sarah Nicholas who "died in Delaware in 1835, age 80 years." Unfortunately, there is no other information on this. It should be noted, however, that the surname Nicholson, Nichols and Nicholas were synonymous in those days. Isaac Hitch's mother evidently remarried to a Nichols/Nicholson after his father died. The Nicholson/Nichols/Nicholas family interact much with the Hitches in the late 18th century. More research is needed here to definitively ascertain Isaac Hitch's wife's surname.

In the 1803 Tax Assessment records of Sussex County, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred with the following: 170 acres of land 1 mare and colt 2 cows and calves 1 yoke of oxen 2 sows 3 shoats 4 sheep (SxTA-1803)

In the 1809 Tax Assessment records of Sussex County, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred with the following: 1 horse 2 cows and calves 4 shoats (SxTA-1809)

In the Federal Census of 1810, Sarah Hitch is indicated on page 307 in Little Creek Hundred, Sussex County, Delaware in a household with one male age 10-16, one male age 16-26, one male age 26-45, three females age 16-26 and one female over age 45

In the 1816 Tax Assessment records of Sussex County, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred with the following: 2 horses 1 colt 1 steer 3 cows and 1 heifer 1 sow 4 shoats 6 sheep (SxTA-1816)

In the Federal Census of 1820, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred on page 404 in a household with two males age 16-26, one female age 26-45 and one female over age 45.

In the 1822 Tax Assessment records of Sussex County, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred with the following: 2 horses 1 colt 2 cows and calves 2 sows 4 shoats 7 sheep (SxTA-1822). In the 1828 Tax Assessment records of Sussex County, Sarah Hitch "wid of Is" is indicated in Little Creek Hundred with the following: 2 horses 1 yearling 7 shoats 6 sheep (SxTA-1828). Sarah Hitch does not appear in any later tax assessments, the next occurring in 1833.

In the Federal Census of 1830, Sarah Hitch is indicated in Little Creek Hundred on page 130 in a household with one male age 10-15, one male age 15-20, one male age 30-40, one female age 30-40, one female age 70-80.

  Notes:

Sarah Hitch's death date is approximated between her apperance in the 1830 Census and her non-appearance in the 1833 Sussex County tax assessment records.

Sarah married Isaac Hitch, son of Robert Hitch and Eve* Hitch, about 1778. (Isaac Hitch was born on 30 Dec 1754 in Somerset Co., MD and died 05 Nov 1797-18 May 1798 in Sussex Co., DE.)