Description
We Will Be On The Margaret Tyson!
Sarah Ann Mercer was born at Allerton, Yorkshire, England on December 8, 1815. She grew up in a poor family and went to work at a young age to support her family. She married Charles Wilkinson when she was about 18. They were said to be the handsomest couple in town.
Charles and Sarah joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842, and soon thereafter were filled with the fire of the gathering. They wanted to go to America. Even 8-year-old Joseph went to work in the coal mines to earn money for ship’s passage, but there was just not enough.
Thirteen years passed and still the family had not sufficient means to make the journey. So, June 3, 1856, Charles and his son, William, sailed for America, leaving the rest of the family behind. The idea being that they would make better money in America and would later send for the family.
Sarah was left behind with eight children to care for and another on the way. She did all she could to provide, taking in washing and whatever else would add to the travel fund. But after a year, there was still not enough.
Sarah decided they needed a greater power to help. According to family records:
“That night at prayer she asked the children to each ask Heavenly Father for guidance in the matter. She led, and then the oldest boy was told to follow her, but as she finished, she told him he did not have to pray, only to thank the Lord, for the plan had come to her as she prayed.”
The next day she sent her son, Moses, to the docks to learn when the next emigrant ship would sail to Boston. He was then told to write his father a letter and let him know that the family would be on that ship.
She then dressed in the finest clothes she had, dropped her children off with her mother, and taking one little boy with her, she went to the home of one of her wealthy clients for whom she did laundry. When she came to the front door, the maid tried to send her to the servant’s entrance at the back, but Sarah insisted she wanted to “see the master of the house on important business.”
The master of the house came. Sarah explained her plight and asked him for a letter of recommendation that she could present as she went from house to house asking for help. Not only did the man give her a favorable recommendation but a generous donation as well.
Every day that she could, Sarah was obedient to her prayer and went from house to house asking for help. When the Margaret Tyson sailed from Liverpool in August 1857, Sarah and all of her children were on it as promised. She had enough money and to spare.
She reunited with Charles and William and together they came on to Zion where they lived out the rest of their days. In Hoytsville, Utah. Today their posterity calls them blessed for their sacrifices to reach Zion—of which, I am one. Sarah is my ggg grandmother.
Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJX-97H
Story Code: PS24018
