Sarah Emily Williams was born on May 12, 1843, in Delaware County, Indiana, to Solomon and Sarah (Holloway) Williams. She was the seventh of nine children.
She married Charles Points Hamar on June 6, 1858, in Delaware County, Indiana. They had seven children: Julia, David, William, Charles Francis (died in infancy), Miley, Charles Wallace, and Florence.
In 1883 the family emigrated to Cherry County, Nebraska.
Sarah died on April 27, 1924, in Kearney, Buffalo, Nebraska. She was buried with her husband in the Mt. Hope Cemetery in Valentine, Cherry, Nebraska.