Sarah Jane Barker

Sarah Jane Barker Contributed By: Ann L Johnson · 12 September 2017 · SARAH JANE BARKER BORN: July 13, 1860 to James Barker and Polly Emeline Blodgett MARRIED: August 25, 1881 to Frederick Ellis in the Salt Lake Endowment House CHILDREN: Martha Emmeline, Eva Jane, William Samuel, James Franklin, Alma Leroy, Polly Oatley Sarah Jane was the fifth child born to James and Polly Barker. Her mother had 11 children in all. With lots of younger siblings in the house, there was always plenty of work for Sarah to do, helping with the family chores. Sarah Jane also taught the primary grades in school during the week. Sarah Jane attended church in North Ogden, about 2 miles from her home. She sang in the choir. Brother Frederick Ellis was the choir leader. He had a very pleasing voice and could play the organ and was a pleasant man. In 1880, when the LDS church announced it was all right for men to enter into polygamy, Frederick and Sarah Jane, after much thought and prayer, decided to marry. They received the consent of Frederick’s first wife, Susan. Then they went to consult with Sarah Jane’s parents. Her parents were not in favor of Sarah Jane, their sensitive, self-sacrificing daughter marrying into polygamy. They knew that Susan, Frederick’s first wife was very much in love with her husband and she already had five children. So Sarah Jane waited until she was 21 to marry and did not need her parent’s consent. Frederick was 35. Sarah Jane moved into the second floor of the two-story brick house which Frederick had built for Susan. Sarah Jane’s first daughter, Martha was born on Oct 7, 1882. Sarah Jane had 2 other children before the Edmunds Tucker Act was passed which outlawed the practice of polygamy. A change had to be made at this time. Grandmother Barker gave Sarah Jane a big pile of bricks, so Frederick built her a home in Pleasant View, two miles west of the family home in North Ogden. Frederick already owned the land there. When the home was completed, Sarah Jane and her three children moved to the new house. Sarah Jane walked to the new home, carrying 5-month old baby William with Martha by her side. Frederick moved furniture in a wagon and took 2-year old Eva with him. Sarah Jane didn’t dare ride in the wagon as hired deputies were on the look-out for plural marriage folk. Sarah Jane enjoyed her new home and being able to take care of her children as she wished. She had three more children after moving to Pleasant View. Frederick planted apple, pear, peach and plum trees, grape vines, raspberries and a gooseberry bush on the property. She had cows and chickens and made butter. She would drive her own wagon to Ogden to sell butter, eggs and produce. Everyone in the family had to work. The sons milked the cows. The older boys from Frederick’s first family came to help with the farm work. Sarah Jane would never turn away a hungry person. “You might help an angel unawares,” she would say. Her Patriarchal blessing, given to her in 1888 states a sentence that seemed to be her guide, “Thou shalt have joy in thy daily avocations, thy table shall be spread with the bounties of the earth, and no one shall be turned from thy door hungry.” In 1893, Frederick left for a mission to Tasmania. Sarah Jane worked hard to help provide money for his support. He had asked her for a sum of $10/month, which she provided. Frederick’s first wife Susan also helped support their husband. Frederick was gone for nearly 3 years. He came home in 1896, bringing with him seashells he had collected from the beaches in Hawaii and bananas, the first the family had ever tasted. Sarah Jane’s youngest daughter Polly was born in March of 1897. In April of 1898, Sarah Jane and Martha were cleaning house. Sarah Jane threw the rag carpet over the clothesline, then she doubled up with pain. The next day, Uncle Sam Shaw came to the house with a covered wagon. They put Sarah Jane on a cot in the wagon. Her children stood by the wagon and watched as they began to drive away to take Sarah Jane to the hospital in Ogden. Sarah Jane raised up to look at her family. “Don’t worry, I will be all right,” she said. She looked at Martha and told her to take care of the baby. Dr. Rich in Ogden operated on her. She had an ovarian tumor that weighed 30 pounds. It had burst and the infection had spread throughout her body. She died that day on April 28, 1898 at the age of 37. From that time on, Martha (who was just 15) became the family’s mother. She raised the children, including little Polly who was only 1 year old. They continued to live in the family home in Pleasant View. Frederick lived with his first wife in North Ogden, but would check on the family about once a week and would help provide for their support. The little family also depended greatly on their Barker grandparents, and on the kindness of neighbors and friends to help them out. The children, of course, were devastated by the loss of their mother, but continued on in faithfulness and diligence to live together in love and harmony.