Last Page | Return to Index | Next Page
In June 1839 at the age of ten she with the rest of the family, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The family had moved to the United States. They settled in Missouri by 1839. A sister, Alice Elizabeth was born 5 January 1839 in Caldwell, Missouri. Elizabeth only lived until 30 September, 1839,where by this time, they had moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Another brother Joseph Burrows was born 16 May 1841 in Nauvoo. Sarah's mother, Sarah Ann Burrows, died in Nauvoo on 20 February 1844. Sarah had to help her father with the raising of her four small brothers.
As a young woman in Nauvoo, Sarah knew the Prophet Joseph Smith and well remembered when he organized the relief Society, an organization of which she was a faithful member and participated in all of her life. She also knew Brigham Young. She could relate many interesting stories of violence, privations and other dangers peculiar to the followers of the church and Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
Sarah Ann Richmond married Henry Nelson on May 16 1847 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. The young couple started westward with the body of the saints. They stayed at Council Bluff, Pottawatamie, Iowa, for several years, where their first child, Henry Thomas Nelson, was born 28 October 1850. Next spring they were in an ox-team company heading west toward Utah. The young family arrived in Utah and settled in Provo, Utah County. While in Provo, their daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born on February 22nd 1852. On September 6, 1852 Henry Nelson and Sarah Ann Richmond went to Salt Lake City and were sealed for time and all eternity. Heber C Kimball officiated in the ceremony. This was before the Temple was built, so the ceremony was done in the endowment house. A son, Jessie Richmond Nelson, was born December 29. 1854.
She and the children went out into the fields to fight the crickets. Exhausted, they all knelt down and prayed to God for deliverance from the plague. He answered their prayers by sending the seagulls to devour the crickets.
They lived in Provo for about 14 years, then the family moved to Heber City in Wasatch County. In 1878 they moved to Buysville, where Henry lived out his life. Buysville later became Daniels and is located at the mouth of Daniels Canyon southeast of Heber City.
Additional children were born to this family while in the Heber City area. They are William Richard Nelson born 29 March 1856; Wilford Nelson born 12 May 1858; Sarah Alice born 2 December 1859; Mercy Jane born 1 December 1861; Joseph Everett Nelson born 26 August 1863; Margaret born 16 May 1865; Emma born 11 January 1867; John Benjamin Nelson born 14 February 1868; Hyrum Nelson born 20 January 1870 and Mary Emily born 29 December 1871/72.
Henry was superintendent of the Sunday School At Buysville. Henry and his boys hauled wood to Salt Lake City by ox teams to fire the furnaces when the temple was being built.
She and Henry experienced all the hardships and privations incident to life in a new country. She accepted these challenges.
Her mother-in-law lived with her many years. She was a very kind person and was loved by those in her community.
Henry died 12 September 1897 and was buried in the cemetery at Heber City. At the time of his death he was a High Priest in the LDS Church.
Sarah Ann Richmond lived for almost another five years then died 4 September 1902 at Buysville, Wasatch, Utah. She was buried in the cemetery at Heber City.
Mrs. Nelson was a daughter of Thomas and Sarah Richmond formerly of Lincolnshire, England where she was form. On Nov. 20, 1829 at the age of ten she, with the rest of the family, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and later moved to America.
She was married to Henry Nelson may 16 1848 and came to Utah in 1851. They moved to Heber in 1864 and to Buysville in 1878. She was the mother of 13 children 11 of whom survive her. She also had 66 grand children and 6 great grand children.
She passed the persecution of the saints prior to the exodus to Utah and all the hardships incident to pioneer life in Utah, and could relate many interesting incidents of mob violence privation and other dangers peculiar to the followers of the Prophet Joseph Smith and President Brigham Young. She knew the Prophet and well remembered when he organized the relief Society, an organization of which she was a faithful member.
She died in full fellowship in the church and with a strong conviction of the truth of its principles to which she had been an adherent since her girlhood.
[Some information from family records and a story written buy Elfie Nelson Blackley, a grand-daughter, for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and the book "HOW BEAUTIFUL UPON THE MOUNTAINS."]