Sarah was the third child of fourteen born to John Watts and his wife Nancy (Avery). John and Nancy arrived at Kangaroo Island aboard the Coromandel on 26 December 1836, and they arrived at Glenelg on 12th January 1837. The family first settled at Hindmarsh and stayed there for 20 years. Sarah and nine of the other children were born there. John and Nancy were foundation members of the "Hindmarsh Mud Chapel", later the Congregational Church.
John first worked as a tailor, but was advised by his doctor to pursue outdoor employment, and seeing a big demand for bricks, he took up brickmaking. It appears that the family moved to Nairne in 1857. The business occupied three different sites over the years, all very close to Nairne.
In 1863 Watts had an employee with the surname of Davies. On 24 December 1864 Sarah married Elias Davies, who had travelled from England on the Castle Eden, arriving in Adelaide, aged 34 years, in December 1862. It seems that they had only one child, William John Davies, born in 1867. Elias Davies was storekeeper and postmaster at Dawesley, near Nairne. In 1870 he branched out and started a bacon factory at Dawesley, buying pigs locally and from Adelaide and transporting them by train. It turned out to be a profitable business, and in 1892 the factory was producing one ton of bacon a week.
