Item Detail
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Chipman, Sarah Binns
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1842-1930
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MSS SC 3292
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Biographical Sketch
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Sarah Binns Chipman was born on 15 November 1842 in St. Louis, Missouri to John Binns and Mary Calverley Binns. She was the second of 5 children born to them, the others being Hannah, Mary Jane, Thomas, and Lewis.
Unfortunately, Sarahs mother and four of the children succumbed to Cholera during an epidemic that swept the southern states when Sarah was only 9 years old. Her father married another woman named Jane Creer, who was very religious, and had already been converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon, Sarahs father and her whole family joined the Church, and they began preparations to journey West with the rest of the Saints. The family moved to Utah in 1852 and went with the William Field Company.
After settling in American Fork, Sarahs father purchased the Richard Robinson farm. Farm life helped Sarah a great deal, as it gave her 5 years of experience before, at the age of 18, she left home. On 7 April 1861 in Salt Lake City, Utah, she married William Henry Chipman, and together they had 14 children, John Isaac, Annie Hannah, Willard, Mary, Alice, James, Jane, Reuben Binns, Ira, Abner, Zina Selina, Leonard Ellsworth, Joseph H., and Asenath. Sarah was Williams third wife.
Throughout her life, she worked hard to nurture her family and uphold the Gospel. When Williams second wife died, Sarah even took on the task of caring for her 9 children, on top of her own 14.
She was only 48 years old when her husband passed away, leaving her with 12 yet-unmarried children, the youngest of which was still an infant, but she remained faithful and industrious in raising them and teaching them the Gospel. She lived long, longer than her sister-wives and her husband, dying on 23 March 1930 in American Fork, Utah, at the age of 88. -
This sketch was written by Myrtle Chipman Robinson Seastrand, granddaughter of Sarah through Jane. It is five pages and a cover page of photocopied, typed script.
It covers Sarahs parentage and how her mother died. When her father remarried, the family was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and soon they were baptized and heading West.
On their journey, Sarah had her own pony that she rode for most of the way and drove cattle. As they traveled through Indian Country, Sarah had no fear of them. She was glad for the adventure.
When they arrived in Utah, the family settled in American Fork. There, Sarah grew and learned many valuable life skills. She left her fathers home at 18 having learned the art of homemaking. She married William Henry Chipman as his third wife.
Sarah only weighed 90 pounds at 46 high, but she became a wonderful homemaker and mother raising 14 of her own children and the 9 children of her husbands second wife.
Myrtle writes, Artists struggle for years to attain fame; poets seldom gain recognition without strenuous effort, but no field of endeavor takes greater perseverance, more patience, or more premeditated tact than rearing a family especially one numbering 23 souls. And yet, a mothers name is only known in her small circle, but that is part of the beauty of it all, her joy comes through silent service service to her creator, her husband, and the little souls whom she has privileged a material body for life on this earth.; evidence that Sarahs was a life of hard work and sacrifice in the name of her family and her God.
At the time of the manuscripts writing, Sarah had reached the age of 84, having become a grandmother of 45 and a great-grandmother of 47.