Vital records of Westborough, MA, show “GAY, Salley of Brookfield and Samuel Willard Miller, int. Feb. 13, 1799.”

1850 CENSUS, NEEDHAM, NORFOLK, MA:
There is a Sarah Miller, age 75, living in a boarding house. Think this could be the right person. See note with 1860 census.

1860 CENSUS, NEEDHAM, NORFOLK, MA:
There is a Sarah Miller, widow, age 87, living in the household of Christopher Haass (Hank). Christopher’s wife Louise is the right age to be Sarah’s oldest daughter, who married Christopher Hank.

1870 CENSUS, WALTHAM, MIDDLESEX, MA: A “Sarah Miller” is found living in same household with John Smith (husband of Sarah’s daughter Hanna) in 1870. Sarah is age 95, and born in Massachusetts. This would almost certainly be Hannah (Miller) Smith’s mother.

MASSACHUSETTS DEATH RECORDS:
Died 23 May 1871: Sarah Miller (Gay), died in Waltham, age 96, a widow, died of old age. parents Ebenezer and Hannah, Born in Needham. (CAUTION: Ebenezer and Hannah were the parents of her HUSBAND. I think whoever provided the death information screwed it up! But I believe this is probably the right death date.)

Also found death record for daughter Philomelia Miller Parker for 14 Oct 1888, born in Westborough, died in Wellesley, named her parents as Samuel Miller and Sarah GAY.

FAMILY SEARCH:
I have not been able to identify the parents of ancestor Sarah GAY. The first record found is her 1799 marriage to Samuel Willard Miller in Westborough, MA. And we know she died in 1871, at age 96, suggesting 1775 birth.

There is a large group of GAY families in the area of Dedham, Norfolk, MA, in the relevant time period. My best guess is that Sarah comes from this family. However I can find no proof, and Dedham is a fair distance from Westborough; about 30 miles.

These Dedham families seem to descend from JOHN GAY, born 13 JUL 1615 in Plymouth, Devon, England, died 4 MAR 1688 in Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts. His wife was Joanna Borden born1612 in England, died 14 AUG 1691 in Dedham. There are more than 30 male lines of descent identified in various trees, and there are a couple of “Sarah/Sally GAY” identified among the descendants. But these “Sarah” seem to have known death dates, and none are near the 1871 death of OUR Sarah.

So I suspect that our Sarah may be the 2G or 3G granddaughter of John Gay (1615) and Joanna Borden (1612), but I have no idea of the path between them!