Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Sarah RICHARDSON
Sarah Richardson, only child of Joseph and Sarah (Morris) Richardson, born October 11, 1746, died March 13, 1825; married, May 22, 1771, Nicholas, son of Nicholas and Mary (Shoemaker) Waln, and grandson of Nicholas Waln, who came from Chapelcroft, near Settle, Yorkshire, and was a member of the first Provincial Assembly, 1682-3, and served for many years thereafter in the Assembly, first from Bucks county and later from Philadelphia.
Nicholas Waln married, May 22, 1771, Sarah, only child of Joseph and Sarah (Morris) Richardson, and great-granddaughter of Anthony Morris, the founder of the family in America, by his second wife, Mary Coddington. She was born in Philadelphia, October 11, 1746, died April 13, 1825. George Ross, son of George Ross, the "Signer", in commenting on Nicholas Waln as an early practitioner at the Lancaster county courts, makes this reference to his marriage: "And to crown his brilliant career at the Bar, he married Sarah Richardson, an only child of Joseph Richardson of Philadelphia of large fortune, and what was of infinitely more value, possessed of every endowment that could render the married state agreeable and happy."
She was an exceedingly small woman, and there is a tradition in the family that her father balanced her in a pair of scales with a bag of gold coin, which was to be her dowry, she being thus literally "worth her weight in gold." Before her marriage she moved in the most fashionable circles in Philadelphia and had all the luxuries her wealthy and doting parent could supply; but after her marriage she was obliged to conform to the more simple tastes of her husband. This was not agreeable to her, and she complained to him of not being able to ride in the same style as formerly with a footman to open and close the carriage door. In advanced life Sarah is described as "a small thin old lady, with rather masculine features and great vivacity of manner." Ann Warder in her diary under date of June 21, 1786, writes: "Dined with Nicholas Waln's wife, (he is in New England with John Townsend). We had a truly comfortable and agreeable visit. Friend Waln is a woman whose acquaintance will enrich anybody, she is lively and sprightly, but much of the Friend and gentlewoman and nothing in her dress or house or conduct bespeaks that gaiety we had been told in England she possessed." (Ann Warder had recently come from London, where she had married John Warder, the son of a rich Philadelphia merchant, representing his father's house there).
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