Sarah Ann Morgan Edwards
Sarah Ann Morgan
Edwards, wife of David Edwards, and the fifth of seventeen, was born Jan 14,
1819 in Merythr Tydfil, South
Wales. She was the daughter of William Morgan and Elizabeth Richards. She was
converted to the "Mormon Church" in Wales, and was baptized Feb.
21, 1847.
Her husband, David
Edwards, died almost a year before she left her native Wales and
brought their five children to America. They arrived in Salt Lake
City on Oct 4, 1864. They were instructed by the authorities of the Church
to proceed to Southern Utahto
make their future home. They therefore settled in Paragonah, Iron
County, Utah
In dire poverty she
endeavored to make a living for her little family of two daughters and three
sons; many times doing washing from door to door, many times barefooted. During
their first winter in Paragonah, Sarah and her
five children built for themselves a one-room log home. The furniture was of
the home-made pioneer type prevalent at the time, but was supplemented by a few
articles they had brought across the ocean and plains. Among these pieces was a
chest for holding clothing. It is in the possession of her grand-daughter Sarah
Hanks Barton to this day, Oct 4, 1944. (Eighty years after being brought from Wales).
Many times while crossing the plains, her
children observed that she did not eat the evening repast of corn cakes. But,
claiming that she was not hungry, she would give her ration to her hungry
growing boys and girls that they might not cry for want of food. Her whole life
was one of self-sacrifice for her loved ones.
I have recounted in the history of her son,
William Edwards, of her determination to come to Utah without
stopping in Pennsylvania to see her Father and Mother and sisters and
brothers whom she had not seen for many years. She said she knew that if she
went to see them she would not have the courage to go on to the "Valley of
the Mountains." and thereby would not have the courage to fulfill her
promise to her husband to "bring the children to Zion."
Steadfastness to a purpose has no finer example than in the life of this Good
Woman.
The following is the
account of an incident that happened to her after she arrived in Paragonah, as told and printed in "Heart Throbs of the
West" by Kate B. Carter for the Daughter of the Utah Pioneers, vol 3, page 350.
"One fine morning
in the spring of 1865, Sarah Ann was sitting in front of her fireplace alone.
This was about eleven o’ clock in the morning. She was poorly clad, hungry, ill: and for the first time in her long struggle she was
offering up a silent prayer of thankfulness that her husband had not lived to
experience such hardship. At the close of the prayer she heard distinctly a
knock at her door. She arose, opened it, and there stood a tall slender man,
whose face was covered with a long black beard. His countenance was serious,
but very kindly, and he was dressed in rough homemade clothing of the Pioneers
of that period. Sarah Ann invited him in and he stepped inside the door. As he
did so, he said, "You did well, my daughter, to bring your five children
to Zion." Sarah Ann turned to get a chair for her visitor, but when
she turned again to the door, he was gone.
In surprise, she
stepped to the door, looked up and down the street, but could not find him, and
never did see the stranger again. She always contended that the mysterious man
was one of the three Nephites who roam the
world preaching the Gospel until the coming of Christ.
Many years afterwards, when the St. George
Temple was completed and ready for endowment services, she took her five
children to that place and there she was sealed to her husband, David Edwards,
and the children to them, for time and all eternity. Soon after their return
from this journey, she was seated alone in kitchen of her daughter Elizabeth’s
home. Sarah Ann was now in somewhat better financial circumstances, for now she
had at least sufficient to eat and to wear. As she sat there, her husband,
David, appeared to her. He was dressed as when she last saw him alive. He now
seemed to be in good health and to be very, very happy. He said to her,
"Sarah, the Lord has blessed you, and will yet bless you, and you have
done well." With these words he turned and walked out of the door as
quietly as he had entered,
From the age of about
seventy years until her death at eighty-two she became totally blind. A
cataract was on her eyes. At one time she was given a blessing in which she was
promised that she would be able to see before she passed from this life. She
became very frail and ill and was nursed for many years by her daughter
Elizabeth. Then one day as Elizabeth was cleaning her Mother’s room,
she noticed her Mother turning her hands over and over in front of her. Elizabeth went
near the bed, her Mother raised her eyes and
said, "Eliza, how white your hair has grown!" She could see at last!
Their joy was unspeakable. She lived for several weeks, enjoying the world of
sight again after so many years of darkness. I (Ilene Hanks) have a rocking
chair that belonged to her. She rocked the rockers flat during the long years
of her blindness.
On November 7, 1901
Sarah Ann Morgan Edwards passed from this life’s sphere. She had been a woman
of unbounded courage. Her faith was enough to move mountains, and her ever healthful
attitude on life’s problems was an inspiration to her family and
friends. The path of Life down which her feet have traveled was richer for her
being there. For 82 years she had been a strength to
her family in a period of time when strength and courage were most needed in
coming to a New World and making a home in the Wilderness.
(This history was
written by Ilene Hanks, later Ilene Hanks Kingsbury, the
author of "Hand to the Plow”.)
