Born in England, as the daughter of botanist John Lindley, Crease studied art with Charles Fox and Sarah Ann Drake.

Sarah married Henry Pering Pellew Crease on 27 April 1853 after a four-year engagement.

[1] Besides her seven children, Crease taught Sunday school in the Anglican church and was a volunteer and fundraiser for many local cultural institutions.

[3] In addition to her painting Sarah kept detailed diaries which depicted the complexities of daily life in British Columbia.

Her cumulative body of work comprises a "detailed pictorial record of colonial British Columbia".