Sarah Ann Bushman

Sharing our Links to the Past by Wally and Frances Gray

This biographical sketch of the life of Sarah Ann Bushman Rhodes, written by her brother, Martin Benjamin Bushman, in 1916, was found written in the Temple Record Book of their father, Jacob Bushman, pp. 6-10 ( FHL # 673266, item 11). It is retyped here by Ann Laemmlen Lewis, May 2007. Spelling and punctuation from the original have been retained.

A Short Biographical Sketch of Sarah Ann Bushman, Mrs. Alonzo D. Rhodes, 1833-1917, By Martin Benjamin Bushman, her brother

Plus a sketch by Newbern Isaac Butt

This biographical sketch was written by Martin B. Bushman as a token of respect for his sister. This entry appeared at the end of the sketch and was placed there by Martin Benjamin Bushman.

A Short Biographical Sketch of Sarah Ann Bushman Rhodes, Daughter of Martin and Elizabeth Bushman:

Sara Ann was born January 9th 1833 in Bart Township Lancaster county Pennsylvania, US. Her Father was of German descent her Mother came from Switzerland. She was the fourth child of a family of ten, six boys and four girls. Her father was a farmer. Therefore in her early life she learned to take care of the farm home and help to take care of the children. Her schooling was very limited on account of her parents moving away from her native state when she was only nine years old. They moved to the state of Illinois. The journey was over one thousand miles and was made with horse team and wagon and took a long time and was very tiresome. They arrived at Nauvoo, Illinois and united themselves with the Mormon people to which the family belonged having joined that church in their native state.

Her father rented a farm and the family again took to farming and every thing prospered with them in their new home. She was able to attend school again and to join the young people in her new home. But her good time was not to last long for the people that lived in that country around the Mormons at Nauvoo got jealous of them because they ware getting along a litter better than they were. So they killed their Prophet and drove the saints from their homes.

Then she with her parents had to leave this home and most every thing in it. They also left their grain in the shock standing in the field. They put a few thing that they needed most into their wagon and bid their fair city good bye and fled from their enemies into the state of Iowa. In passing through that state they suffered much with the cold and hunger. She had two sisters die on that journey the first on October the 12, 1846. They had to bury her without a coffin. One week later she had another sister die and was buried by the road side. That was a very trying time for her and her parents. They never had the privlige of seeing their grave again. They continued their journey with sad hearts. a

After several weeks more of bad roads and cold weather they arrived in the western part of Iowa and located at a little place called Highland Grove near Council Bluffs. It was here that they endured much hard ship and suffered for want of proper food and clothing. Her Father or elder brother went into the neighboring state to get work so they could get food and clothing for the family. They worked there most of the time for four years to get an outfit to come to Utah where they wished to go.

Sarah Ann made herself useful all this time helping her mother take care of the home and the children. She was a great help to the neighbors in time of sickness. She also taught the village school when only sixteen years old. At that age she was almost like a woman on account of the hardships she had passed through. She was honest, true and chaste in all her ways and tried to do good to all she chanced to meet.

In the spring of 1851, her father had sufficient means to go to Utah. On this long journey of one thousand miles she took part in camp life with willing hand and cheerful heart. There were many things that happened on that journey to try the nerves of any person. On one occasion when about five hundred miles on the journey, the wife was getting their meals. There came into camp two hundred Indians riding on their horses. Their faces painted red and their guns in their hands they demanded a number of beans and a lot of flour for the privilege of going through their lands. The company had to yield to their demands for there were enough of them to kill the whole company in a short time. But after talking to them a long time they got the Indians to take a less amount. There were many beating hearts and silent prayers while the Indians were there. And many other things they had to try them, the rivers to cross and mountains to climb and much rough roads to pass over before they got to their end.

The last morning before they got to Salt Lake City the mother was heard to say we are eating the last morsel in our possession. So they arrived with only the team and wagon that had brought them safely through. They were nearly five months on the journey. They stayed one week in Salt Lake City where kind friends administered to their wants, then went south thirty miles to a place called Lehi. Her parents obtained a small log cabin to live in through the winter. Her father obtained work from the earlier settlers gathering their crops so he obtained enough provisions to see the family through the winter. He cut sufficient grass for hay to feed their cattle through the winter. Sarah Ann as usual always found something to do assisting those that needed help and soon found friends among the young folks of the village and attend the primitive parties. The dress and surroundings were very crude to what it is now but they enjoyed themselves and were happy.

She was at the age when girls generally think of getting married and had a number of beaus. but like so many of the other girls in those days they married the man of their choice even if he had another wife. She knew that the prophet Joseph Smith had received a revelation that a man could marry two or more wives and not sin. So she accepted the hand of Alonzo D. Rhodes who then had a wife. They were married by Brigham Young at Salt Lake City, May 25, 1852. Her husband provided her with a home. It was a very modest one but it compared favorably with other homes at that time which generally consisted of one room. The furniture was home made and of a primitive style. The cooking was done over a fire place in a stew kettle fry pan and a bake skillet. Their home was about one mile south of Lehi.

They staid there until 1854 when on account of the Indian trouble the houses were all moved into the fort, one house being placed against another forming into the fort. She lived on the east side line. The next year there was another change and the fort was laid out in lots. Each block was twenty two rods square and eight lots to the block and four rods streets between the blocks. When she moved onto her lot they erected a good adobe house and was made more comfortable with cook stove and better furniture and sufficient means to make herself and children comfortable. Some years later they moved onto a small farm one mile east of her then home. She seemed to love the farm where they could raise their could raise their fruit vegetables and grain also have cows, pigs and chickens to make herself and children comfortable, for they had passed through many trying scenes.

She has seen her husband go into the mountains in the dead of winter at the risk of his life to save the lives of the emigrants that were coming to Utah. She has had him go after the wild Indians when some of the men were shot down by the red men. He was county sheriff and often times he would have to follow criminals long distances in all these trips. She would never know if he would come back alive but he always returned unhurt. She has passed through all the hardships in building up Lehi from the beginning up to the present time, but by her frugality and good management she always had sufficient to eat and to clothe herself and her large family. S he was the mother of twelve children. Six boys and six girls nine are now living, and all of them are the best of citizens where they live.

Her husband has now been dead twenty two years. She is now 83 years old and still quite healthy for one of her age she still lives in her old home and loves to care for her cow and chickens and always keeps her house clean and tidy and loves to have her children and friends come and visit with her.

This short biographical sketch was written about 18 months before her death that a few incidents of her life might be preserved for posterity to read. She examined it and pronounced it correct and was pleased that it had been written. Her health was was quite poorly the last few months of her life she suffered a great deal of pain but was a later-day saint with the hope of a glorious resurrection. She was 84 years five months and nine days old when she died. She had 12 children 80 grand children 110 great grand children and 2 great great grand children making a total of posterity at her death of 206 thirty one of whom who were dead. She died June 18th 1917.

Another Sketch Bushman Family History by Newbern I. Butt

Compiled for the Bushman Family History Committee by Newbern Isaac Butt, The Bushman Family, Originally of Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain States, Provo, Utah 1956., p. 54.

Sarah was nine years old when the family made the first long trek from Lancaster County Penn. to Nauvoo, and was thirteen when they left Nauvoo for Western Iowa. Therefore she was thoroughly drafted into domestic duties while she should have been in school. The hard work under improvised conditions gave her a domestic maturity, frugality and ability as a good manager which she could have secured in no other way. From her mother she learned the fundamentals of nursing and sympathy which aided in making her the “good Samaritan” of the pioneer communities in which she lived. To help relieve the poverty conditions in which the family were living in Western Iowa, she taught school at Highland Grove in 1850-51, and during the summer of 1850 when she was only 17 years old she went to Missouri to earn what she could as a domestic servant.

These experiences undoubtedly gave her the thoughtfulness for the welfare of others which made her such an ideal friend and hostess of young and old alike. She was popular with the young men, but happened to make the 1000 mile trip across the plains in the same company as a young married man who gained her love, and to whom she was married the year after their arrival in Lehi.

Her husband provided her with a separate home south of Lehi, but they were later forced by danger from Indians to move inside the Fort in a house which was part of the East Wall. After the danger was over, she lived in two other adobe homes built by her husband, the second one East of Lehi where she could help raise her own garden, fruit and livestock for a family of 12. She was a widow for twelve years, and at her death, June 18, 1917, she had 80 grandchildren, 112 great grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.

Sarah was married May 25, 1852 in Salt Lake City, by President Brigham Young, to Alonzo Daniel Rhodes, son of Erie and Eunice Wright Rhodes. He was born 12 September 1825 at Fowler, Trunbull County, Ohio. While in Nauvoo, Alonzo was a drummer in the Nauvoo Legion, and he knew the Prophet Joseph Smith as well.

In Lehi he was one of the well-known violinists who played for dances. In 1854 he served in the Tintic Indian War and 1857 in the Echo Canyon War. Late in 1856 he was one of the men who went to help rescue the unfortunate handcart company where so many perished.

He was police of the Lehi Fort in 1853, and was elected Marshall of the town from 1854 to 1871 when he resigned to devote his whole time to farming and other duties. He, with others, financed and constructed the first toll bridge over the Jordan River west of Lehi and built some of the more important canals and roads in the neighborhood. He was arrested in a polygamy raid at Lehi, Dec., 23, 1888. His death occurred at Lehi, 8 July, 1893. Their children were all born in Lehi:

Alonzo Daniel, b. 17 April 1853; m. Harriet Elizabeth Stewart

Elizabeth Emira, b. 10 April 1855; d. 6 Nov 1885; m. Jos. Simpson Barnes

Sarah Ann, b. 4 March 1857; d. 4 Feb 1844; m. Shadrick Empey

Martin Elmer, b. 8 February 1859; d. 21 Nov 1928; m. Louisa Elizabeth Childs

Alva Benjamin, b. 25 February 1861; d. 8 Dec 1862

John Franklyn, b. 12 April 1863; d. 7 April 1944; m. Mary Elizabeth Ashton

Elsie Maria, b. 12 March 1865; m. George Briggs

Lois Liddelia, b. 6 August 1867; m. 1. Joseph Briggs; m. 2. A. Amundres

Marcellus Albert, b. 6 August 1869; m. Amanda Hodge

Bertha Salome, b. 27 October 1872; m. Wm. Henry Neibaur

Lorena, b. 9 September 1875; m. John M. Smith

Jacob Wilson, b. 24 May 1881; d. 25 May 1883

Alonzo had married 1st, 14 September 1843, Barbara Kearns, daughter of Henry Kearns and Barbara Pickle, by whom he had:

Lamyra Amanda, b.23 December 1844

Julia Ann, b. 29 September 1846

Henry Erie, b. 4 September 1848

Alverana Barbara, b. 20 August 1851; m. Hyland D. Wilcox

Ellen Marie, b. 8 July 1853; m. Jacob Nelson

Adeline Malissa, b. 11 October 1855; m. Mathias Peterson

Sarah Lavina, b. 8 March 1857; m. Henry Houre

Clarissa Elizabeth, b. 2 September 1859

Rosa Bell, b. 21 December 1861; m. Theodore Green

Lagrand, b. 13 May 1863

Alonzo married 3rd, Sarah Jane Lawrence, daughter of John Lawrence and Rhoda Sanford. By this marriage the following children were born:

John, b. 30 April 1859

Daniel R., b. 30 August 1860; m. Beula Adams

Rhoda, b. 6 April 1862; d. 23 July 1864

Olive, b. 12 March 1864; m. Henry White

Henry, b. 11 July 1866

Amos, b. 24 December 1869; m. Susan Ann Riley

Elberta, b. 5 October 1874; d. 26 February 1881

©1998-2007 Wallace F. and Frances M. Gray. This web page may be freely linked. To contact us send to grayfox2@cox.net Their home page is http://www.geocities.com/wallygray25/index.html

Note: Burial: 6/21/1917

http://person.ancestry.com/tree/1109001/person/24426987940/facts

GEDCOM Note

James has 1 ox no wagon and 250 lbs of meat. These pages were researched in the late 1990's while preparing for the Morgan/Tanner and Hodge/Rhodes family reunion to celebrate installing new headstones in the Lehi Cemetery on 21 June 2003. Unfortunately, we can't recall where (BYU library?, SLC Family History Library?) or who we received these pages from, yet hopefully, this information will be helpful in further research to these ancestor's descendants. Elias Albert BUSHMAN's daughter Margaret Ann BUSHMAN's handwritten notes Standing:Martin Rhodes, John Franklin Rhodes, Marcellus Albert Rhodes. Seated: Alonzo Daniel Rhodes, Sarah Ann Bushman.