Description
The Sacrifices of Sarah
Sarah Chantry was born December 31, 1824, in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The fourth daughter of John Chantry and Maria Bowskill. Sarah grew up neither able to read or write—her signature merely a witnessed X.
Sarah grew into a young woman, “tall with light brown hair and blue eyes.” In April 1844, she married John Rawson in Mansfield. His occupation is variously listed as both a coal miner and a framework knitter. Both were occupations of abject poverty and hard work. Together they would have ten children. The youngest, Harry, was born when Sarah was 42-years-old.
In 1851, missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came into the area of Swanwick, Derbyshire, where John and Sarah lived. They were looking for a place to hold meetings. John and Sarah welcomed them into their home. John had sung in the choir of the Baptists for years and was considering joining that Church, but now, he had found something greater. John “was baptized 20 April 1851, confirmed 8 May 1851. [Sarah] was baptized 1 May 1851, confirmed 18 May 1851. The place of baptism was Golden Valley, Derbyshire, England.” In March of 1852, John’s parents, Francis and Jane Rawson entered the waters of baptism.
Shortly after, John was ordained an elder and began preaching. John was also made branch president and together, John and Sarah worked to make ends meet. They “lived happily,” notwithstanding members of Sarah’s family had become very bitter against her after her baptism.
Like so many others, John and Sarah desired to gather with the Saints in Zion. They were filled with the spirit of the gathering. To help assist Saints who were too poor to pay their own way alone, the Church established the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Records indicate that John served as an administrator of the fund, and yet, from 1851 to 1868, Sarah and John were unable to make that journey. Could it be that he selflessly allocated those funds to everyone else before himself?
Finally, June 10, 1868, two of Sarah’s children, Francis and Jane received word that the way was prepared for them to leave for America. Francis and his brother Joseph walked to the family home in Swanwick. “They found their father ill and his death occurred half an hour after they arrived.”
It was advised by the Conference President, Lewis Shurtliff, that Sarah take the place of her older children and set sail immediately for America.
July 14, 1868, one month to the day of John’s burial, Sarah bid goodbye to her homeland, her family, and her husband’s grave and set sail for America on the ship Colorado. In her care were her four youngest children; the babe, Harry, was only 8 months old. Caring for John in his last days had left her broken in health and in heart. And in that dread state she crossed the ocean.
September 2, 1868, Sarah arrived in Salt Lake City. She was sent on to Farmington where friends helped her secure a small house and an old rusty stove. “Characteristic of her, [she] set to work and cleaned off the rust.” Sarah made a clean comfortable home. “Her neighbors marveled at her being able to keep her home spotless and care for her children.”
By August 1871, the last of Sarah’s children arrived in Utah. They were all together at last. The family went to work, and in 1874, purchased a home for their mother in Plain City, Utah. It was there “by thrift and industry, the sale of fruit and vegetables, and the pay she received from working out at housework, she was able to gather around her more of the comforts of life than she had ever known before.”
Three things now to summarize Sarah’s story: 1. She never married again. 2. While living in Plain City, she learned to read and write at last. 3. She was faithful to the Gospel all her days. It is written of her, “Sarah labored as a Relief Society Visiting Teacher for many years. She was always generous to those less fortunate than herself.”
The sacrifices of Sarah Chantry Rawson changed the history of her family forever. Generations have and will yet call her blessed. Praise the Lord for her faith.
Source:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJ3-NJJ
