Sarah Elizabeth Horne
Daughter of Moses Horne and Angeline Hodgkins
And
Wife of John Gillenroy Turnbow
1839-1928
By Pauline Joyce Turnbow Bronson, a great granddaughter and Her granddaughter Edith Murphy McArthur
Sarah was my father, Appollos Reginald Turnbow's, grandmother. She was fifty nine
when Dad was born in 1900. He lived next door to her while he was growing up and spoke of her with love and admiration. He was twenty-eight when she died. I can still hear him say, "I tell you, she was a sweet, little, old lady." He also spoke of how religious she was.
The area around Friendship, Lincoln, Maine, where Grandmother Sarah was born on July 13, 1839, is best known for its beautiful shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean. Along this famous rock-bound coast are lighthouses, sandy beaches, quiet fishing villages, and thousands of offshore islands. Jagged rocks and cliffs and thousands of bays and inlets add to the coast's rugged beauty. Sarah was
so young when her family moved from Maine that she probably had but few memories of her awe-inspiring birthplace.
Maine became a state on March 15, 1820, almost twenty years before Sarah was
born. Martin Van Buren, who was ftfty-four year of age at the time of his
inauguration, became the eighth President of the United States in 1839.
Sarah's parents Moses Home and Angeline Hodgkins were married on
November 18,1835 at Friendship, and in less than four years, they had three little girls. Sarah was the youngest. Her sister Lydia Ann was born in 1836 and Emetine in 1837, and as previously mentioned, Grandmother followed in 1839. When the girls were under four years of age, their parents heard the message of
the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and were baptized members in November of
1840.
The Homes moved from Friendship, Maine to Nauvoo, Illinois in the spring of 1843. Lydia was seven, Emeline was six and Sarah was four years of age. They arrived when heated accusations and frenzied persecutions were heap upon members of the church. They were living in Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph
Smith was murdered on June 27, 1844.
Sarah's father paid a full tithe and donated one out of every ten days to building the temple. On March 14,1845, while working in the temple rock quarry, a blast hurled a rock about the size of a hen's egg striking Moses in the head and fracturing his skull. He died three hours later at their home. Sarah was five years old.
Moses' supervisor at the stone quarry. Albert Perry Rockwood, had promised the
men that he would take care of the family of anyone that was killed at the quarry.
True to his word, Albert Perry married Elvira Teeples Wheeler and Angeline Hodgkins Horne at Nauvoo on January 21, 1846.
This was during the time of great persecution of the Mormon people. Weeks after they were married, armed mobs drove them from "Nauvoo the Beautiful." Albert Perry Rockwood moved his three wives and their children across the Mississippi to a temporary camp called "Sugar Creek" in Iowa. Sarah was six.
From there, they crossed Iowa in miserable weather to a desolate place they called Winter Quarters in what was then Indian Territory and is now Omaha, Nebraska.
The saints built Winter Quarters on the west bank of the Missouri River where hundreds died from disease, exposure and lack of proper nourishment, but Angeline and her girls survived the winter of 1846-47. During the wintry weather Albert P. Rockwood was chosen to explore a route to the Great Basin with Brigham Young and about 143 other brethren. They left Winter Quarters on April 14, 1847. He didn't return until October of that year.
Afterward, he left Winter Quarters where he served a six-month mission to New York State from June 1,1848 to January 17,1849. Having returned, he, his wives and their children Jeft Winter Quarters on July 10, 1849 with Silas Richard's company with between 75 and 100 wagons. Sarah was ten when she, her mother and her two older sisters walked one thousand miles across the American Plains reaching the Salt Lake Valley on October 27, 1849.
Eventually they settled in the Salt Lake City 13th Ward where Sarah attended school and church while she was growing up. A one-page form called "Important Events" shows that Sarah was baptized and confirmed by her stepfather, Albert Perry Rockwood, in 1852 in Salt Lake City. Thirteenth Ward records show that H. Eldredge baptized her again on April 5,
1855, and James Townsend confirmed her the same day. Sarah received her endowment on Friday, February 20,1857 at the Endowment
House in Salt Lake City shortly before she turned eighteen. Both of her sisters were married a year or two before Sarah was, but all three received their endowments about the same time.
On July 17, 1860, four days after her twenty-first birthday, Sarah married John
Gillenroy Turnbow of the Saft Lake City 14th Ward. Sarah was still living in the 13th Ward at the time of their marriage. John and she were sealed for time and eternity in the Endowment House five months tater on December 29,1860.
Brigham Young asked the newlyweds to move to the Kamas Prairie or Rhodes Valley in Summit County east of Salt Lake City in the spring 1861. John and Sarah complied with their Prophet's request and set out with high hopes and a wagon loaded with tools and provisions for what was to be their new and lifelong home on the frontier. Approximately twenty other persons settled with them in
Ute Indian Territory on the Kamas Prairie.
Summit County got its name because it lies along the summit of the Wasatch Mountain Range and possesses some awesome high country made by parts of both the Wasatch and Uinta Mountain ranges. Because of its high elevation, the area had a comfortable summer climate where grass grew tall and where the Ute Indians assembled to hunt and graze their livestock. They resented the intrusion of the white man and for several years terrorized white families and pilfered their livestock.
At first, pioneers lived in a protected area near a spring on the east side of the valley, apparently attracted by the beautiful stretches of green meadows that were ideal for summer grazing land. Sarah's first home was made of logs. Most of her furniture was homemade and
candles or light from the fireplace lit their cozy cabin at night. Sylvira Elizabeth Horne Turnbow, their first Child, was born in the winter on December 28, 1861. Because she had red hair, the Indians wanted to capture her. John and Sarah cautioned her to watch, and if she saw Indians approaching while she was
herding livestock on the prairie. she was to hide in the sagebrush.
Martha Jane was born in 1863 and Angeline Horne Turnbow, was born at Parley's Park in June of 1866. Two boys followed the three girls. John Gillenroy, Jr. was born in 1869 and Samuel Turnbow in 1871. Interestingly, there are records of two of Sarah's daughters being blessed in the Salt Lake City 14th Ward where John lived and where his father, Samuel
Turnbow, Sr., still resided. Their traveling in a horse-drawn buggy forty-five miles to have this occasion shared in the midst of extended family members and friends is evidence of its importance and the closeness of family members.
As with all pioneer women, Sarah was constantly busy caring for her children, milking the cows, making soap, candles, bread, churning butter, and preparing meals. In addition to carrying water, knitting, sewing, and washing, she undoubtedly lent a hand in planting a garden in the spring and helped care for it during the summer. Rest and relaxation were scarce commodities. Everyone had to work in order to survive.
Indian threats in Rhodes Valley increased as more colonizers came. In the spring of 1866, and upon the advice of President Brigham Young, most of the Rhodes Valley settlers, who had increased considerably by this time, moved to a partially built fort at Wooden Shoe in Peoa six miles away for protection. But
John G. Turnbow, pregnant Sarah and their two little girls moved to Parley's Park in Parley's Canyon where John worked at a shingle mill. When fall came and the Utes had gone to their winter habitation, residents of Rhodes Valley returned and prepared for winter. They also commenced to build a log fort of their own. It was completed in 1867 and used until 1870 when the town of Kamas was surveyed and divided into lots.
The first mercantile establishment was a co-op store in the old fort. The first load of goods was brought to Kamas in February of 1869. Prior to that time, necessities that could not be made or grown had to be brought from Salt Lake.
W. A. Williams rebaptized Sarah Horne Turnbow at Kamas on August 2,1877, and J. K. Lemon reconfirmed her the same day, perhaps in preparation for receiving her patriarchal blessing on August 7, 1877. Sixteen years had passed since Sarah had first come to the Kamas Valley.
A blessing given by John Smith, Patriarch, upon the head of Sarah Elizabeth Turnbow, daughter of Moses and Angeline Horn, born in the town of Friendship,
County of Lincoln, State of Maine on July 13th, 1829.
Sister Sarah, by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, I place my hands upon thy head, and in the name of Jesus Christ pronounce and seal a father's blessing upon thee that thy heart may be comforted, for thou art of the House of Israel and have embraced the Gospel with an honest heart for which thou art entitled to the blessings of the New and Everlasting Covenants with the gifts promised unto the
mothers in Israel. Therefore, I say unto thee, be of good faith and of good cheer and let thy heart be comforted, for better days await thee. The Lord hath heard thy petitions and is pleased with thine integrity and will reward thee for the trials through which you have passed. His eye has been upon thee from thy youth. He hath given his angels charge concerning thee who hath delivered thee from among thine enemies and brought thee out from Babylon that you might partake of the blessings in Zion and do a work for thy kindred and be an instrument in His hands in doing much good.
Therefore, seek wisdom and thou shalt be strengthened in body and mind. The blessings of the Lord shall attend thy labors and give thee joy in thy daily avocations. Thou shalt be enabled, through prayers and faith, to heal the sick of thy family and hold the adversary at bay that health and peace may reign in thy dwelling. Thy table shall be spread with the bounies of he earth and no one shall be turned from they door hungry. Thour art of Ephraim and shalt receive thine inheritance in company with they companion among the Saints. Therefore, be faithful and teach thy children the principles of truth and virtue, and they shall grow up around thee, and bless thee in thine old age, and bare thy name in honorable remembrance, and all shall be well with thee. This blessing I seal upon thy head, and seal thee up unto eternal life to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection with many of thine kindred and friends, even so, amen.
On November 7, 1889, the three sisters, Lydia, Emeline and Sarah were sealed to their parents, Angeline and Moses Home. Their mother, still living, would have been present.
Sarah and John lived to see the death of their daughter Sylvira who had married Randolph Murphy in 1888. They had six living children and were residing in Woodland, a few miles from Kamas, when she died on April 13, 1902, a week after the birth of her last child. Randolph remarried two-and-a-half years later
and moved to Salt Lake City. but Sarah went as often as possible and did what she could to help with their needs.
Sarah's mother, Angeline Hodgkins Home Rockwood, passed away (three months after Sylvira died) in July of 1902 at Centerville, Davis County, Utah. Through her faith and knowledge that life is eternal, Sarah was comforted. Many verses of scripture teach that Christ rose from the dead and became the first
fruits of them that slept. Many were resurrected when He was, and we know that all will be resurrected.
In 1 Corinthians 15:29, the Apostle Paul asked his followers who questioned the actuality of the resurrection, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" Modern revelation and latter-day scriptures reveal much more about this great
and essential work for the salvation of both the living and the dead, which was being carried out even in Paul's day.
Having an understanding and testimony of the significance of temple ordinances, Sarah lost no time in performing this work for her dear and deceased Sylvira. Less than two months after Sylvira's death. Sarah traveled to Salt Lake where she did the temple work for her daughter.
John Gillenroy Turnbow, Sarah's life-long companion, died at 10 p.m. on December 26, 1907. His death was caused by sclerosis of the liver. He was 74 years, 3 months and 13 days old, had been a farmer all of his life and a resident of Kamas for about forty-six years.
After John Gillenroy died, John and Samuel helped build a new home for their mother on the Main Street of Kamas near their homes. It is thought that one of Jesse Burbidge's sons did most of the work. Sarah lived in this house until her death.
Sarah went to the Salt Lake Temple in March of 1908 and did the baptism and endowment for her mother's sister, Eleanor Hodgkins. Sarah's aunt Eleanor Hodgkins Horne passed away in 1906. The jaunt to Salt Lake was still a long one. Sarah was nearly sixty-nine years of age at that time, but she would live another twenty years.
Four of Sarah's five children, Martha, Angeline, John and Samuel, married, had children and outlived their parents by many years. Because they resided in the Kamas Valley, her grandchildren were privileged to know her and receive her love. Dad told me the following:
Grandma always baked bread; she made a lot of corn bread too. Every night about eight o'clock, she would warm some milk and have bread and milk for
supper. When I was a kid, I remember going to her house and getting a "hunk" of homemade bread with jams or pickled peaches out of a crock. Her home was immaculately clean. She went to church every Sunday and to the temple in Salt Lake every fall. She stayed with her Murphy grandchildren while she was there. She always attended General Conference.
When my parents were first married in 1923, they lived in Sarah's old house in a field below Main Street in Kamas, and Sarah lived in the new home that her two sons had helped build for her. Mother said
Grandma was a kind, gentle, little woman. She was a good cook, a neat housekeeper and a very devout woman who minded her own business and bothered no one. I can remember a little old lady coming up from Salt Lake, and I always thought it was Grandma's sister. They owned a furniture store on
21st South and 12th or 13th East in Sugar House.
Angeline's son, Moses Perry Rockwood, said that about 1865 Angeline moved to Kamas where she lived for a few years. Afterward she moved to the Rockwood Farm in Sugar House. Albert P. Rockwood's history talks about his farm in Sugar House and about his being one of the first penitentiary wardens. About
two doors east of Granite Furniture on 21st South, there is (or was) a little furniture store called Rockwood Furniture. The older woman mentioned by my mother, who visited Sarah in Kamas, was probably her sister or a relative who was in some way tied to the store.
Grandma frequently walked down through the fields and asked my mother to comb her hair. "It was long and she wore it in a bob on the back of her head". Mom and Dad said Sarah was a little woman with dark brown eyes, and she always wore a long skirt and a sunbonnet. She was 5' 4" tall, weighed 170 pounds, and was interested in farming and church work.
Kamas Ward records show that Sarah passed away on September 30, 1928, but her headstone and death certificate say she died on October 1. According to the death certificate, the cause of death was entercolitis, or inflammation of both the large and small intestines. A contributory cause was senile degeneration. Dr. Laffoon attended her for a month before she died at the age of 89 years and 2 months and 18 days.
Edith Murphy McArthur, born in 1891, was eleven years old when her mother, Sylvira Murphy, died. She said that Grandmother Turnbow "played quite an outstanding part in my life." Edith's history follows:
Sarah Elizabeth Horn was my grandmother on my mother's side. Her father was born in 1804 at Friendship, Knox, Maine. He died in 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. He was killed by a premature blast (on March 14, 1845) while working in the stone quarry getting out the stone to be used in building the Nauvoo Temple. My grandmother was 10 years old when she walked most of the way across the plains. She wore a waist apron, and her job was to pick up buffalo chips and carry them in her apron. When the wagon train stopped at night, the chips she had picked up were used for firewood.
At the age of 21, Sarah Elizabeth Horn was married to John Gillenroy Turnbow on July 17, 1860 at her home. This marriage was performed by her stepfather Albert Perry Rockwood, who as the President of the Seventies. My grandmother made her own wedding dress, which she said had fifteen yards of calico in it. It had a very tight fitting bodice with mutton-leg sleeves, a plain skirt with ruffles, which were very small on the very bottom. Five months after her marriage, she and her husband were married for time and eternity in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City, which was located on the Northwest comer of the Temple Block. My grandmother moved, from Salt lake City, Utah, with her husband to a little town of Kamas, Summit, Utah or Rhodes Valley, as it was known in 1861. They
lived in a fort at the Brigham Anderson place for a while due to the hostilities of the Indians. In 1866 the family moved to Parley's Park, where her husband
worked in the shingle mill. Indian trouble forced the people to move from place to place, and finally they moved back to a farm at Kamas, Summit, Utah which had about 80 acres. This is where my grandmother lived for the rest of her life. Her first home was a one room, log house that sat back off the main road under some poplar trees somewhere near the center of the farm. Later he husband built her a new house and the old one was used as a granary. In later years, the door was taken off and given to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers as a door for
their building which stands today in Kamas, Utah.
Her new home was built like a little farmhouse of today and was painted white. It had four rooms. There was a kitchen and three bedrooms with a large porch running across the front and a smatter porch across the back. The kitchen was a large room with one end used as a kitchen area and the other end as the dining area. In the kitchen end she had linoleum on the floor. There was a large Home Comfort range with a copper reservoir on the side for hot water. The kitchen table always had a water bucket and a tin dipper to drink water out of. There was a wood box in the back of the stove, which was always full of wood for burning. In the other end of the room, which was the dining room, there was a rag carpet. This room had a square table and six chairs, a dish cupboard with glass doors and a rocking chair for her and an armchair for her husband.
After grandfather died, she wanted a home up on the road by her son. Her ctaughter-in-Iaw's brother was a carpenter, so she had him build her a three-room
house. This house had a living room, a kitchen and one bedroom. I can remember that she always had a pincushion and a pair of scissors hanging on the side of the window.
My grandmother was a good housekeeper. I can remember her saying, "Everything should have a place and everything in its place," and that is the way she ran her home. I believe all her meals were cooked the same time everyday. Breakfast was a
6:00 a.m., dinner was at 12:00 ooon, and supper was at 6:00 p.m. Breakfast consisted of salt pork, eggs, potatoes and barley coffee made from barley she had browned in the oven. She also had baking powder biscuits. Dinner consisted of meat, potatoes, gravy, vegetables and pie with dry sugar on top and
plenty of milk. For supper they always had bread and milk. I can remember her telling us if she and Grandpa were invited out for supper. my grandfather would always go home and have his bread and milk before he went to bed. My grandmother would put
the milk in a bowl for each one, and the cream that settled on it was stirred in and you got that milk for supper. I remember she had a three-pound tin, lard pail that she always ate her supper out of, and she always had it shining. My mother lived about four miles from my grandmother. When we would go to
see Grandma, we were always hungry when we got there, so she would give us bread and jam and have us sit on the porch to eat it. She kept her jam in a
wooden candy bucket. My grandmother was short and of a stocky build. She had gray hair and small
brown eyes. She parted her hair in the middle, combed scallops around her face and bobbed her hair on the back of her head. She wore long skirts and three petticoats that were starched stiff, and black, laced shoes that went over the ankle with black stockings. Her very best dress was a black satin one. There was always a breast pin at her neck, and she had a gold watch on a chain around her neck. This watch was tucked into her waist
just above the belt. She usually had a white ruching in the neck of her dress, and she always wore a hat when she went to church, but when she was at home or went to the store or to Relief Society, she would just wear a sunbonnet. Around her home she always wore a waist apron made of gingham-most often of blue and white check. She did all of her own work such as her own washing, ironing, sewing and
knitting. She also made her own soap and cheese. She pieced her quilts and sewed rags to make her carpets. Then the rags were sent to the weaver and
made into carpet squares. Twice a day she helped milk the cows wearing special clothes which she wore only when she went to the corral to milk. She changed her clothes twice a day in the milk house, and the milk clothes never came into her home except to be washed. She had a scarf which she called a "nubby" that she tied around her head so she could put her head against the cow when she was milking. Every cow was milked in her turn. I remember my grandmother would sit down to the
wrong cow just to see what would happen. The cow whose turn it should have been would come up and push the other cows away. She was always neat and clean around her home. It didn't look like most of the other farmhouses. After separating the milk, she sold her cream, and she also sold eggs. That is
where my grandparents got their spending money.
She was a woman who expected her children to mind when she spoke to them. One Christmas she had a large tree, and all of her children came home with their families. We all got one small gift off the tree. Mine was a small vase which is still in my home (Sept 23, 1959).
Grandmother joined the Relief Society on October 22, 1861. She was called as Second Counselor in the Kamas Ward Relief Society and was set apart on August 1, 1881 by Bishop Samuel Atwood. She served in that capacity for 21 years. She would leave early and walk in the snow so that she could get a fire burning in the stove before the other women came to Relief Society at 2 p.m. Grandma left right after lunch. Sometimes I went with her. She was set apart as a visiting teacher in the Relief Society on July 2, 1903 by Bishop Daniel Lambert of the Kamas Ward. She served in this position for ten years. She was also Second Counselor to President Elva Lambert and was set apart by Bishop Moo Pack on August 7, 1913. From 1881 to 1926 she was very
active in the Church, holding many high and honored positions in different organizations. She was released from her religious duties because of her
advanced age. She used to go to Salt Lake City for General Conference. While she was there, she would stay with us children and do our mending and fix the bedding that might need repairing. Then, when she got us caught up in our work, she would spend her time doing temple work. She used to take my older sister and me to Conference with her at 7 a.m. so she could get a good seat. We would stay all day so we took sandwiches with us. I feel quite safe in saying; I know she sat in the same seat every time. It was about the third row back and right in the center (of the Tabernacle). Grandma always taught us children to stay in the church, and to never do
anything that we would be ashamed of, and also, to keep our name clean.
Her husband died December 26, 1907 at Kamas, and she never remarried. I remember asking her if she believed in polygamy, and she would say, ''You don't understand it, so let's not talk about it."
Sarah Elizabeth Horn Turnbow was 89 years of age when she died at her home in Kamas. Funeral services were held on October 3, 1928 at the Kamas Ward meetinghouse under the direction of the Kamas Ward Blshopric. Olpin Mortuary in Heber City was in charge of her burial. She was taken to the cemetery in the first hearse that ever came into the town of Kamas. Interment was at the Francis
Cemetery where the grave was dedicated by Jim Ure. Her obituary follows:
Sarah Elizabeth Horne Turnbow passed away at her home in Kamas Monday, October 1, 1928 at 5:05 a.m. after an illness of nine weeks. She was the daughter of Moses and Angeline Home, and was born July 13, 1839 in Friendship, Lincoln County, Maine. Her father died when she was but a child,
and her mother, after marrying A. P. Rockwood, moved with her family to Utah in 1849. At the age of 21, Sarah Elizabeth Horne was married in the Endowment House to John G. Tumbow, and came to Kamas (or Rhodes Valley, as it was then known)
in 1861. They lived in a sort of fort at the Brigg Anderson place for a while, due to the hostility of the Indians. In 1866 the family moved to Parley's Park, Mr. Turnbow working at the shingle mill. Indian troubles forced the people to move from place to place, finally coming back to Kamas and settling on their farms. From 1881 to 1926 Mrs. Turnbow was very active in church duties holding many high and honored positions in the different organizations. She was released from these religious duties in 1926 due to her advanced age. To Mr. And Mrs. Turnbow were born five children: Alvira (Sylvira) E. Murphy of Woodland (deceased); Martha Jane Carpenter, Angeline Simpson, John G., and Samuel Turnbow all of Kamas. She was the grandmother of 32 children and great-grandmother of thirty-eight. (Another history said she had 52 greatgrandchildren.) Funeral services were held, Wednesday, October 3, at the Kamas Ward house, under direction of Kamas bishopric. The singing was furnished by a mixed
quartette, Ella Blazzard, May Burbidge, Wilford Lewis and A. B. Caseman. Invocation was offered by Wm. P. Richards and the benediction by D. Jackson.
Beautiful eulogies were paid to Mrs. Turnbow by Frank Turnbow, Wm. Russell and Pres. O. W. Stephens. A vocal solo was rendered by A. B. Caseman. Fourteen flower girls carried the profusion of floral offerings. Interment was at the Kamas cemetery where Jim Ure dedicated the grave.
Relatives attending the funeral from out-of-town were: Mr. And Mrs. A. A. Rockwood, Mr. And Mrs. Carl Standish, Mrs. Perry Rockwood, Mrs. Ella Garns,
Mrs. Nel Langston and two daughters. Mrs. Mary D. Rockwood, Mrs. Mary Ellen Dillon, Mrs. Bowen, Mr. and Mrs. John Erickson, Mr. And Mrs. Berd Murphy, all of Salt Lake City; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kent and daughters of Lewiston; Mrs. Madie Lefler and Mr. and Mrs. Appollos Turnbow of Park City; Frank Turnbow, Vera (Gines?) and LaRetta Turnbow of Woodland; Mr. And Mrs. Pharen Stevens
and George Roundy of Peoa.
Sarah's death certificate said she died at 5:05 a.m. on October 1, 1928 in Kamas of Entercolitis and senile degeneration. C. A. Laffoon had been treating her for one month. She was 89 years 2 months and 18 days old, a widow, and had been a resident of Kamas for 60 years. The informant was Mrs. Thurston
Simpson.
Sarah had lived a good life. She suffered many hardships, but it seems that these only increased her strength and testimony in Jesus Christ and his Gospel. She is in a better place waiting for us to come.