Sarah Elizabeth Ford was born in Morristown, New Jersey. She graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1857 and then taught at Snow Hill in Maryland. She taught at various schools until 1871 when she opened her own school in New Jersey. In 1886 her father died and she took over control of her family farm in Fordville, New Jersey. She had three sisters who also graduated from Mount Holyoke: Abbie, Charlotte, and Emma J., class of 1858, 1862, and 1864 respectively. Sarah Elizabeth Ford died on November 29, 1916, in Morristown, New Jersey.