Item Detail
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Thornton, Sarah Elizabeth Dunn
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1836-1918
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MSS SC 834 fld 4
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Biography
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Sarah Elizabeth Dunn Thornton was born 26 July 1836 in Wayne County, Michigan to James Dunn and Sally Barker Dunn. Sarah was the only girl and youngest of seven children. She spent the first years of her life in a big house by the woods in Michigan. Her family worked hard, and found particular delight every spring when the family would all help to distill maple syrup. The Dunn family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and soon moved to Illinois to gather with the other saints. In 1842 while living in Illinois the family experienced the persecution common during that time. Sarah went with her parents the day after the death of their prophet and Leader Joseph Smith to see his body. In 1847 when many of the saints took the journey west to resettle in the Salt Lake Valley Sarah and her family stayed in Illinois for the next five years as they cared for the wives and children of battalion men and waited for their own sons to return before making the pilgrimage to Utah. At age 15 Sarah and her family traveled as part of a wagon train to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Dunn family had been blessed and found themselves well supplied for their trip. Sarah helped the family earn money with her sewing and shoe making, finding she had a talent for this work. On 8 March 1853 Sarah married Jasper Thornton and in 1854 they moved together to California and they added the first two children to their family. In 1857 all members of the L.D.S. Church were asked to return to Utah. So the small family returned and established their home in North Ogden. However, in 1858 they were urged to move south due to the threat of Johnstons army and from there the family relocated to Willard, Utah and then in 1863 Providence, Utah. During this time the family was plagued with grasshoppers which would come and destroy their crops. The family during this experience came to know a very real sense of want. With the passing of the years their prospects brightened and the family of twelve prospered. Sarah had eight daughters and two sons with Jasper, four of her precious daughters did not live to maturity. Sarah, a kind and loving mother, passed away on 29 December 1918.
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This manuscript is four typewritten pages long. Entitled Incidents in The Life of Sarah Elizabeth Dunn Thornton as Related by Her to Her Children, the history was written by her youngest daughter Enez Thornton Hoff. The manuscript was dedicated to Sarahs granddaughters, followed by a list of their names. The manuscript is easily legible and printed on very thin semi-transparent paper. The biography of Sarahs life is separated into sections according to important years and covers the major events of Sarahs life including early childhood life, marriage, children, and her death. Also included are a few short memories that were important to Sarah as she related them to her children. This manuscript is found in the second folder of a larger six folder collection containing papers about her husband Jasper Thornton.
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1836-1918