188. My great-grandmother Sarah Ann Arterbury Church, pioneer midwife in St. George!
I have written before about Haden Wells Church, and his wife Sarah Ann Arterbury Church in previous blogs. If you want to read more, check under Church Haden Wells, and Church Sarah Ann Arterbury, and Arterbury Sarah Ann in the list of "Labels" on the left side. They are especially mentioned in blogs # 164 and # 165. There are many interesting stories about them. But they mostly have been about Haden, and his many missions, settling St. George, Utah, etc. Today I'll tell about Sarah Ann's life, and some inspiring incidents in her brave, faithful, pioneer life. This was written by my father's sister, Sarah Miles Wallace, my aunt, and is in her words.
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF SARAH ARTERBURY CHURCH
BY GRANDDAUGHTER, SARAH M. WALLACE
Sarah Ann Arterbury was born May 4, 1824 at Dallas County, Alabama. Her parents were Elias Arterbury and Matilda Wallace. Her father joined the church in Alabama and was ordained an Elder September 7, 1843 by Elder Brown. The record does not mention her mother, Matilda Wallace Arterbury, who died in 1850 at the age of 45, but her endowment work was completed by her daughter Sarah. Her father died in 1848 and her mother in 1850, before they had a chance to unite with the saints.
Haden had been on a mission to Alabama, and had met Sarah Ann and her parents. He returned back to Alabama after he finished his mission, and married Sarah Ann in Alabama in 1843. An exact date of their marriage isn't known.
The newly-weds were in Nauvoo on August 27, 1845, as Sarah Ann received a Patriarchal Blessing there on that date. They were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 9, 1846, and sealed there on January 21, 1846 by President Brigham Young. Exactly two months later her first child would be born.
Their first baby, Hyrum Smith Church, was born on March 9, 1846, either in or near Nauvoo, during the time the Saints were being expelled and driven from their homes by mobs. If you remember the story--saints left Nauvoo, beginning on about Feb. 6, 1846, and imagine -- a month later her first baby being born somewhere in or near Nauvoo in those trying times!
That summer on the plains of Iowa, Haden enlisted as a member of the Mormon Battalion. He left his beloved wife and five-month old son to fare for themselves as he began to march westward as a member of the Battalion's Company "B". A private's pay was $7.00 per month, plus a clothing allowance of $42.00. He was given a rifle which he could keep when he was discharged. Their march began at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and then west and south across Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The stress and difficult conditions of the march caused many of the soldiers to become too ill to continue with the battalion to California.
Private Haden Wells Church was in the last group which left the battalion on November 10th and arrived in Pueblo on Christmas Eve with the group who were too ill to continue on with the Battalion. On the return trip, the group suffered much from hunger as well as illness. A soldier's normal food ration usually included eighteen ounces of flour per day. This detachment was given a five-day ration of ten ounces per day for the three hundred mile trek. Needless to say, the detachment suffered greatly from such meager rations while traveling in a mountainous country in the winter. Also, all of the party were in very poor health.
The winter of 1846-47 was long and hard, and there was much sickness and many deaths before the combined company left Pueblo on May 24, 1847. They traveled north to Fort Laramie and then westward. Haden and the group arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley just a few days after the arrival of Brigham Young's original pioneer company -- either on July 27 or July 29th. The battalion members were listed as being mustered-out of the army on July 16th since their year's enlistment ended on that date.
Little is known of Sarah Ann and her baby, Hyrum, before they were reunited. But it is known that they were members of the A.O. Smoot Wagon Train Company that headed west on June 21, 1847, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 25, 1847, where it is assumed that Haden, Sarah Ann, and Hyrum spent the winter together. That winter of 1847-48 was very severe, and the nearly two thousand saints that spent that winter in the valley had a very meager diet and suffered many hardships. Their second child Haden Wells Junior, was born the following September 8, 1848.
A year later Haden was called on another mission. The usual procedure was for the wife of the missionary to use her own ingenuity to provide for the needs of the family and to help support her husband while he was serving on his mission. They endured all the persecution, and privations of pioneer life. They did not leave a written record, but we do know they endured the famine of 1856 when many of the Saints in the valley had to live on Sego roots and other wild plants at the crop failure and drought caused a shortage of food all over Utah.
Grandmother was the mother of five children, one girl and four boys. All of her children were born before they came as pioneers to St. George in 1861. It is told that as her last child Robert, was being born in 1859 in a house across the street from the Court House, that a man was being hung just across the street!
Her husband had another wife, Katherine Gardner, but she had no children. She lived with grandma and helped her with the children, and I have heard my mother say that they loved Aunt Kate, as they called her.
In 1861 when their daughter Paralee Amanda – (the mother of Orson Pratt Miles--and Pal's grandmother,) was only five years old, they were called to go to Dixie to help settle that country. Again they were to undergo all the hardships of Pioneer life. As her husband was in the service of the church so much, Grandma took up the practice of being a Midwife and brought many young babies into the world and cared for them.
Sister Lottie Carter told me Grandma waited on her at the birth of her first baby. Sister Carter suffered so she thought she could never have another child. She said Grandma told her she would have another child and would suffer no pain. She said her very next baby came without pain and so fast they did not have time to get a Doctor. She told me Grandma was a reliable woman, with great faith and charity. She was a large woman, good natured and a hard worker.
Grandma was a Temple worker for many years and occupied room 8, and Mother used to tell me to always go in room 8 for that was where Grandma worked. She and her husband did many Temple Endowments for their kindred dead.
Sarah Ann Arterbury Church died July 29, 1889, just a few days before I was born. (Pal's aunt Sarah) Her request was that mother name me after her. She said I would be a girl. She also gave my mother a blessing at the time of her death and said mother would not suffer anymore from the bilious spell, which she didn’t. (Pal -- I don't know what kind of bilious spells my Grandma Pal -- Paralee Amanda, had. I wonder if it was similar to the gastritis I have had the past 3 months--April--June 2014. It is getting better now, but I wonder how they handled it in pioneer times -- caused by too much stomach acid.)
Their children were:
Hyrum Smith Church, born 9 March 1846, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, married Ella Melissa Elmer as first wife, had two other wives, died 15 September 1908.
Haden Wells Church, born 8 September 1848, Salt Lake City, Utah, married Sarah Jane Randall as first wife, 2nd Violet J. Pendleton, died 20 April 1922
Abraham Arterbury Church, born 26 February 1854 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married Martha Ellen Alger, died 5 April 1916.
Paralee Amanda Church, (Pal -- my grandmother) born 8 July 1857 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married William Gustavus Miles, died 29 July 1929.
Robert Robbins Church, born 29 October 1859 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married Emily Charlotte Talbot, died 30 April 1915.
She truly was a wonderful faithful pioneer woman, and my great grandmother! Today I know 13 of my great grandchildren, and love them so much. It is hard to imagine my own great grandmother -- being as close as I am to my great grandchildren. She passed away just after she turned 65 years old. My grandmother Pal, her daughter Paralee, also passed away at age 72. They both lived many years in early St. George. I believe life here at that time, with the heat, no refrigeration or air conditioning, etc., caused them to not live as long. I will be 80 in about 3 months! I've lived quite a bit longer than most of my ancestors did, even though the major part of my life has been here in St. George. I'm so grateful to live now! ! !
SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF SARAH ARTERBURY CHURCH
BY GRANDDAUGHTER, SARAH M. WALLACE
Sarah Ann Arterbury was born May 4, 1824 at Dallas County, Alabama. Her parents were Elias Arterbury and Matilda Wallace. Her father joined the church in Alabama and was ordained an Elder September 7, 1843 by Elder Brown. The record does not mention her mother, Matilda Wallace Arterbury, who died in 1850 at the age of 45, but her endowment work was completed by her daughter Sarah. Her father died in 1848 and her mother in 1850, before they had a chance to unite with the saints.
Haden had been on a mission to Alabama, and had met Sarah Ann and her parents. He returned back to Alabama after he finished his mission, and married Sarah Ann in Alabama in 1843. An exact date of their marriage isn't known.
The newly-weds were in Nauvoo on August 27, 1845, as Sarah Ann received a Patriarchal Blessing there on that date. They were endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on January 9, 1846, and sealed there on January 21, 1846 by President Brigham Young. Exactly two months later her first child would be born.
Their first baby, Hyrum Smith Church, was born on March 9, 1846, either in or near Nauvoo, during the time the Saints were being expelled and driven from their homes by mobs. If you remember the story--saints left Nauvoo, beginning on about Feb. 6, 1846, and imagine -- a month later her first baby being born somewhere in or near Nauvoo in those trying times!
That summer on the plains of Iowa, Haden enlisted as a member of the Mormon Battalion. He left his beloved wife and five-month old son to fare for themselves as he began to march westward as a member of the Battalion's Company "B". A private's pay was $7.00 per month, plus a clothing allowance of $42.00. He was given a rifle which he could keep when he was discharged. Their march began at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and then west and south across Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The stress and difficult conditions of the march caused many of the soldiers to become too ill to continue with the battalion to California.
Private Haden Wells Church was in the last group which left the battalion on November 10th and arrived in Pueblo on Christmas Eve with the group who were too ill to continue on with the Battalion. On the return trip, the group suffered much from hunger as well as illness. A soldier's normal food ration usually included eighteen ounces of flour per day. This detachment was given a five-day ration of ten ounces per day for the three hundred mile trek. Needless to say, the detachment suffered greatly from such meager rations while traveling in a mountainous country in the winter. Also, all of the party were in very poor health.
The winter of 1846-47 was long and hard, and there was much sickness and many deaths before the combined company left Pueblo on May 24, 1847. They traveled north to Fort Laramie and then westward. Haden and the group arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley just a few days after the arrival of Brigham Young's original pioneer company -- either on July 27 or July 29th. The battalion members were listed as being mustered-out of the army on July 16th since their year's enlistment ended on that date.
Little is known of Sarah Ann and her baby, Hyrum, before they were reunited. But it is known that they were members of the A.O. Smoot Wagon Train Company that headed west on June 21, 1847, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 25, 1847, where it is assumed that Haden, Sarah Ann, and Hyrum spent the winter together. That winter of 1847-48 was very severe, and the nearly two thousand saints that spent that winter in the valley had a very meager diet and suffered many hardships. Their second child Haden Wells Junior, was born the following September 8, 1848.
A year later Haden was called on another mission. The usual procedure was for the wife of the missionary to use her own ingenuity to provide for the needs of the family and to help support her husband while he was serving on his mission. They endured all the persecution, and privations of pioneer life. They did not leave a written record, but we do know they endured the famine of 1856 when many of the Saints in the valley had to live on Sego roots and other wild plants at the crop failure and drought caused a shortage of food all over Utah.
Grandmother (Sarah Ann Arterbury Church) had so many problems to solve, having to earn the living a great deal of the time, as her husband was called on four missions and some of these were two to four years. One of her children heard her tell this incident. She allowed herself to become so discouraged and blue, she almost thought she could not go on any longer. She went to a quiet lonely field to pray. She told her Maker if He would make known to her that the Gospel was really true, she would go back and be able to face it all, and go on with her life’s work. She said that the most wonderful Spirit possessed her whole being and she proceeded to speak in tongues, and she was able to understand. From then on she never had a doubt of the truthfulness of the Gospel. On her death bed, her last words were, “Tell Abe, I know the Gospel is true.” Abe was one of her sons.
Grandmother was the mother of five children, one girl and four boys. All of her children were born before they came as pioneers to St. George in 1861. It is told that as her last child Robert, was being born in 1859 in a house across the street from the Court House, that a man was being hung just across the street!
Her husband had another wife, Katherine Gardner, but she had no children. She lived with grandma and helped her with the children, and I have heard my mother say that they loved Aunt Kate, as they called her.
In 1861 when their daughter Paralee Amanda – (the mother of Orson Pratt Miles--and Pal's grandmother,) was only five years old, they were called to go to Dixie to help settle that country. Again they were to undergo all the hardships of Pioneer life. As her husband was in the service of the church so much, Grandma took up the practice of being a Midwife and brought many young babies into the world and cared for them.
Sarah Ann is fondly remembered in Pioneer Dixie as one of the special mid-wife doctors. Her skills and services in this critically needed specialty are mentioned many times in the early historical records. She received some of her training under Loudice Perkins. The mid-wives and nurses were set apart to serve in this area. "A general use of herbs and medicinal teas were used by all. Among them would be found Yarrow, Tansy, Slippery-Elm, Spearmint, Catnip, Peppermint. Sulphur and molasses were used and given as a spring tonic, and also for skin sores. Poultices of bacon and black pepper were used for sore throats. Warm olive oil was used for earache. Pine gum was the regular resort for "drawing" in infected places. Roasted onions and syrup made from onions and sugar were given for colds. A salve made with pine gum, mutton tallow and turpentine was a good standby for soothing bruises, etc. Flaxseed made into a poultice was also used for 'drawing purposes.'"
Sister Lottie Carter told me Grandma waited on her at the birth of her first baby. Sister Carter suffered so she thought she could never have another child. She said Grandma told her she would have another child and would suffer no pain. She said her very next baby came without pain and so fast they did not have time to get a Doctor. She told me Grandma was a reliable woman, with great faith and charity. She was a large woman, good natured and a hard worker.
Grandma was a Temple worker for many years and occupied room 8, and Mother used to tell me to always go in room 8 for that was where Grandma worked. She and her husband did many Temple Endowments for their kindred dead.
Sarah Ann Arterbury Church died July 29, 1889, just a few days before I was born. (Pal's aunt Sarah) Her request was that mother name me after her. She said I would be a girl. She also gave my mother a blessing at the time of her death and said mother would not suffer anymore from the bilious spell, which she didn’t. (Pal -- I don't know what kind of bilious spells my Grandma Pal -- Paralee Amanda, had. I wonder if it was similar to the gastritis I have had the past 3 months--April--June 2014. It is getting better now, but I wonder how they handled it in pioneer times -- caused by too much stomach acid.)
Their children were:
Hyrum Smith Church, born 9 March 1846, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, married Ella Melissa Elmer as first wife, had two other wives, died 15 September 1908.
Haden Wells Church, born 8 September 1848, Salt Lake City, Utah, married Sarah Jane Randall as first wife, 2nd Violet J. Pendleton, died 20 April 1922
Abraham Arterbury Church, born 26 February 1854 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married Martha Ellen Alger, died 5 April 1916.
Paralee Amanda Church, (Pal -- my grandmother) born 8 July 1857 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married William Gustavus Miles, died 29 July 1929.
Robert Robbins Church, born 29 October 1859 at Salt Lake City, Utah, married Emily Charlotte Talbot, died 30 April 1915.
She truly was a wonderful faithful pioneer woman, and my great grandmother! Today I know 13 of my great grandchildren, and love them so much. It is hard to imagine my own great grandmother -- being as close as I am to my great grandchildren. She passed away just after she turned 65 years old. My grandmother Pal, her daughter Paralee, also passed away at age 72. They both lived many years in early St. George. I believe life here at that time, with the heat, no refrigeration or air conditioning, etc., caused them to not live as long. I will be 80 in about 3 months! I've lived quite a bit longer than most of my ancestors did, even though the major part of my life has been here in St. George. I'm so grateful to live now! ! !
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