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Show 1. 2. 3. 4. s. 6. SARIAH RAWSON <:WEN 1S March 1834, Lafayette Co., Missouri Death: 10 Dec 1914., Arrived in Utah 18SO. Settled in Ogden, Weber, Utah Morgan Co, Camp Joy submitting history. Submitting history. Oles Smith, Camp Joy, Morgan Utah 2 4 BIOGRAPHY OF SARIAH RAWSON CMEN •••••• Sariah Rawson Owen, daughter of Horace Strong and Elizabeth Coffin Rawson, was born March 15, 1834, in Lafayette County, Missouri. Her twihn brother, Oriah, died a few months after ~heir birth. Her parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and were baptized in 1831. In 1832 they moved into Jackson County but because of the per-secutions against the Saints they were forced to move. They moved into Lafayette County at that time and had remained there until in June of 1834. It was while liTing in Lafayette County that Sariah and her brother were born. Her mother suffered for bare necessities of life. The trip there from Jackson Co had indeed been hard for all the family. Because of the uprising of the mobbings one more her father was advised by Thomas Marsh, the President of the Twelve Apostles, to cross over from Lafayette • County into Clay County. He harnessed the team of horses to the wagon andloaded up the family and what few household articles they had left and frove to the Missouri RiTer. • They loaded onto the ferry boat and crossed over, unloading on the other side on the sand bank. He obtained a small place in the bluff of the river and built a house. They stayed there during the winter of 1834 - 35. In the spring of 1836 they moved into Caldwell County, near Farr West, having sold their house and claim in Clay County. In the fall he bought a piece of land about four miles west of Farr West and built a house there, where they lived during that next winter. In the spring of 1837 they joined with Isaac Morley and his family and bought land north of Farr West, on Shole Creek. Again the mob eegan to plunder and murder the Saints, being stirred up by Protestant Christian Ministers • 1 Sariah Rawson Owen (cont'd) e The Saints were forced to take up anns in self defence. Sariah' s father took an active part to help defend themselves against the mob. They were forced to leave their property and liTestock and flee. This was sometime in February. e Sariah's father loaded up his family into an old wagon that he had repaired and left, joining company with Patriarch Morley and family. It was a very disagreeable time of the year to travel. At night they would pile logs together and make a big fire, putting the wagons around the fire.They would stretch sheets across poles to protect the children and mothers from the bitter cold. They arrived in Quincy, Illinois the latter part of 1839. They,the Morley family, along with other families, located on land near Lima, Hancock County, fonning quite a settlement there. They remained at this place until the spring of 1841, at which time they moved to Nauvoo. They remained there at Nauvoo for two years, in peace. In 1844 the mob uprisings began again and the Propht and the Patriarch were slain. The Saints were forced to leave. Sariah 's father moved his family up to Nauvoo. Sariah suffered many hardships along with the rest of the Saints. She was sick a lot. She walked most of the way across the plains barefooted. She helped her brothers drive the cows. Cracks would come under her toes so WJide they would be hard to heal. She would draw the cracks together with needle and thread so they would heal faster. She used a bacon rind to oil her skin. One time Sariah had serious inflamation in her eyes, being so painful that she could stand mo light. In the darkened room, with her eyes bandaged, she heard her mother say, 11 ! just don't know what to do. I have done everything I know and nothing seems to do any good". Just then there was a knock at the door. When her mother opened the door a good • looking man stepped in. Without any other words being spoken he said, "I see you have a very sick child. Get some of the herb growing out in the back yard and steep it. Make a poultice and put over the child's eyes, as hot as she can stand it, re-placing as they cool." With no more words the man left". 2 Sariah Rawson Owen (cont'd) ~ As her mother collected her thoughts she hurried to the door to ask the man who he was. Although she could see quite a distance away in all directions from the house no one was in sight. The family always wondered if he could have been one of the "Three Nephites" who had come in answer to their prapers, to heal Sariah. Needless to say that her eyes were healed quickly. Sariah arrived in the Valley of the Mountains with her family in the year 18SO. The settled in Ogden, Weber County, Utah. She grew into beautiful womanhood. One day her brother Daniel Berry brought to their home a very handsome young man, who had been a friend and compadlnion of Daniel's while serving in the Morman Battation. This young man, James Colegrove Owen, had left a young wife and child with the Saints, when he joined the Morgon Batta.lion. After being discharged from the army he had worked for Captain Sutter on his Mill-race for money to return back to his little family. She had not been faithful as he had and had e turned back, to return to her people. • In the spring of 1848 he came to the Salt Lake Valley, returning, however, soom afterward to St Louis and remainyig there uhtil the spring of 18So, when he once more made the trip across the plains by ox-tean, this time in the company of Wilford Woodruff (who later became President of the Church), James and Sariah fell in love and were married 1 June 1851. To them were born eight children, six boys and-two girls. They 'took up 1 their home on a farm near what is now the Union Depot, and followed this life for several years. Sariah was a wonderful cook, as was her mother before her. Her home was always so clean and homey, with the aroma of her good cooking in the air, although she was sick a lot through many years of her life, no doubt caused from the sufferings and hard-ships she went through as a child, with hardships of the Saints during the mobbings and while crossing the plains • 3 Sariah Rawson Owen (cont•d) Sariah and James were true and faithful to themselves, to their family, their Church and their Country. They started life empty handed and became very succ Pssful, hewing their way by hard work, and winning and retaining the highest respect of all wit h whom they came in contact with during their lives. James passed away 26 January 1914 and Sariah followed him in death 10 December 1914. They had been kind and ionsiderate all their lives, loved and admired by all who knew them • 4 |
