Item Detail
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Buckwalter, Sarah Shuler
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1801-1879
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MSS SC 1738
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Biography, photographs
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Sarah Shuler Buckwalter was born May 15, 1801 in Chester County, Pennsylvania to William Shuler and Sarah Croll. She married John Buckwalter, and they had eight children together. John joined the church in 1839 but died two years later. During these two years, Sarah was converted as well, and in 1842, she and her children moved to Nauvoo. Her oldest son took ill a year later and died at age twelve. Because of Sarah's economical position, she was forced to stay in Nauvoo even when most of the Saints had already left, and consequently, she was still in Nauvoo during Joseph Smith's martyrdom. In 1846, the remaining Saints were attacked and forced to leave. They first went to St. Louis, and there, the boys found work and were able to provide for the family. In 1849, Sarah returned to Pennsylvania to visit relatives, but they were unsupportive of her belief in the gospel. In 1852, she and her family traveled to Council Bluffs, and after much hardship, the family reached Salt Lake City. In 1855, they moved to American Fork. Sarah lived with her oldest son, Henry, and in 1877, moved with him to Salt Lake City. Sarah died from a paralytic stroke on January 25, 1879.
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This three-leaf biography was written by Helen Taylor Allison, Sarah's great-great granddaughter, and on the last page is a picture of a man and woman (presumably of Sarah and John). Helen describes Sarah as having been a short little woman. Helen also describes some events in Sarah's life before reaching Utah. When widowed and poverty-stricken, Sarah pled for help from a farmer to take her and her family to Keokuk, offering all that she had. When the farmer discovered she had no money, he refused and returned to his home. His wife, upon hearing this story, insisted upon him returning and taking the family for no charge at all, which he did. Afterward, Sarah had to plead with the captain of the steamboat. He allowed the family to ride in exchange for a feather bed and rifle. In 1849, when Sarah returned to Pennsylvania to visit family, one brother was completely indifferent to the Church, while another attempted to dissuade Sarah from being a part of it. He offered her a house and a means of living, but she remained true to her beliefs. Three months later, Sarah contracted a serious case of cholera and was lucky to recover, with the help of some members of the Church. In American Fork, Sarah helped to fight the grasshoppers in 1955 and 1956. Accompanying the biography is a copy of three photographs of her children, Margaret Buckwalter, Henry Shuler Buckwalter, and Elizabeth Buckwalter. A list is also provided of many of the baptisms Sarah did for relatives, as well as some endowments.