Sarah Chadwick

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868 1856 Edmund Ellsworth Company

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Birth: Mar. 2, 1821
Death: Apr. 23, 1904

Ensign July 2006 starting page 38 "Some Must Push and Some Must Pull"

Pioneer Article citing Sarah Goode Marshall's handcart experiences.

Sarah Goode Marshall (inset) had no formal education as a youth in Abenhall, England. However, she was a devoted reader of the Bible. "There is more in the Bible than the ministers understand," she often remarked. After she learned of the gospel, she walked 20 miles with her baby in her arms to hear the missionaries. But her husband, Tom, was strongly opposed to her new beliefs and her desire to join the Saints.

In the summer of 1854 her husband died, leaving her penniless with six small children. She was baptized and worked for two years as a "lady's maid" during the day and made kid gloves at night to earn enough money to emigrate.
The night before she left England with her children, all under the age of 12, her extended family and friends gathered to say good-bye. Some of the presiding elders of the British Mission were also invited. During the gathering Sarah's family begged her not to leave, telling her that she and her children would die. One of the elders heard the discouraging remarks. He rose to his feet and, by the power of God, promised her that she would complete the journey successfully and not lose one of her children on the way. (The elder's promise was fulfilled.)

On Saturday, April 19, 1856, Sarah and her young family boarded the ship Samuel Curling and sailed from Liverpool, England. After five weeks they arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, where they went by train to Iowa City, Iowa. Here they became part of the Ellsworth company, the first handcart company to cross the plains to the Salt Lake Valley.

1856: After three months and 17 days of pulling her handcart, Sarah Goode Marshall was camped with her six children and the Ellsworth and McArthur handcart companies. All were ready to enter the Salt Lake Valley the next day. Sarah asked Captain Ellsworth if she and her children could start out ahead of the company. Permission was granted, and early on the morning of September 26, 1856, Sarah and her six children left.

Meanwhile, the news had spread in the Salt Lake Valley that the first two handcart companies were arriving on the 26th. Preparations were made to meet them and celebrate their arrival. As Sarah and her children headed toward the valley, they encountered the men on horseback. Some of the men (with Sarah's permission) scooped up her children on horseback and galloped back to the valley. Sarah was now free to pull the handcart the rest of the way.

Family links:

Children:

• Louisa Marshall Boice (1844 - 1926)*
• Selena Marshall Gregory (1846 - 1918)*

Burial:
Franklin Cemetery
Franklin
Franklin County
Idaho, USA