I think we have to take their date. I had another look at the ms and in particular the number 6 against the verse. I had originally assumed it was a normal single loop with no tail, but looking again, there is a diagonal line below left of the 6, but not looking connected to it and which I'd originally taken to be just a mark on the paper. But it does seem as if it might have been the continuation of the loop of the 6, which would make it more like the one in the date.

I also had a look for Sarah A Willard at Moriah Center in some of the censuses (via a free search at ancersty.com - it was linked from a Moriah Center site): Sarah A. Willard. There are a few of them listed for Essex, though none actually listed as at Moriah Center. If you hold the mouse over the census line it gives you some information about them. I'd could have got more information by taking a free trial, but declined to.

There are several sites relating to Moriah Center and I think there's a local history and a genealogy group listed for Moriah; they might be able to help identify her. (I think someone with genealogical experience might be needed for this). There was also a cemetary project for Essex, but it looks as if the two nearest cemetaries to Moriah Center haven't been done yet; I dint's see any Willard in the entries for the other Moriah cemeraries. Of course she may neither have been born (one of the census entries for a Sarah A Willard had estimated dob as 1794 and birthplace England!) there, nor died there.

Mick

Mick