Sarah Coates was born in Philadelphia in 1776, the daughter of William Coates and Margaret Norris. At age twenty-three, she married Samson Levy, Jr., the Episcopalian grandson of famed New York Merchant, Moses Raphael Levy. The couple participated in the highest reaches of Philadelphia society, and Sarah’s husband, a lawyer, was known for his ardent and affecting eloquence before a jury. They had two children—Sophia and Margaret.