Another Great-great-grandmother

The Life of Sarah Elizabeth Ramsbottom Ashworth

Mormon Pioneer

Written by her granddaughter, Jane Nevada Lund Armitstead of Pleasant Grove, Utah

Edited by Lorna Collins

Sarah Elizabeth Ramsbottom was my grandmother. [She was born on 3 September, 1835 in Oldham, England].

Her parents, William Henry and Mary Sykes Ramsbottom, were very strict with their four daughters, Hannah, Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth. At the age of eleven, they started working in the textile mills, twelve hours a day. It was here that Hannah overheard the workers telling of the missionaries in their midst preaching a new gospel, telling of miracles and unusual things. On several occasions, Hannah and her mother slipped away to attend meetings where the Latter-Day Saint Elders were preaching. On one occasion, they witnessed a man named “Lord” ask for a sign. At once, his son began to yell and scream as an evil spirit took possession of him. The Elders ministered to him, rebuking the evil spirit. Almost immediately, he quieted down. The father rose to his feet with a strong testimony, and many were greatly impressed

Sometime later, Hannah joined the church. On March 3 1849, Sarah and her half brother, James Ramsbottom, were baptized. (Sarah’s mother died after several years of ill health when her the youngest child was eleven. James was the son of her father’s second wife, Martha Whitehead.)

At the Mormon meeting, Sarah met an attractive young man, William Edward Ashworth, who was baptized 4 Nov. 1852. They were married 16 April 1854. Their first child [Mary Jane] was born in 1855, at which time they were planning to go to the United States to join the saints. However, they did not move until in 1861 when, under the direction of John Forsgren, they sailed from Liverpool, England. [Their second daughter, Eliza Ann, was born in 1859 and died when she was a month old.]

They endured six weeks of stormy weather where waves almost capsized their ship, The Underwriter, several times. They reach Philadelphia weary but safe. In 1862, they traveled to Florence, Nebraska with 53 saints in the group. All were glad to remain there for the winter, as the weather was so cold.

In the spring of 1863, they purchased a wagon, oxen, and a cow. They traveled in the Ira Eldridge Company to Salt Lake City. In their wagon were ten adults and four children, including the Ashworth grandparents [William Henry and Mary Sykes Ramsbottom]. They arrived in June. They soon went on to Lehi and sometime later to Moroni, in Sanpete County. The Indians became troublesome, and the president of the church advised the settlers to go to Gunnison for a while.

Like all the early settlers, they worked to build homes, places of worship and learning, feed, clothe, and care for their families. [Their third daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, was botn in 1864.]

Sarah told the story of going to her friend’s home, a few miles from Moroni, to get two quilts she had promised to wash for her. She rode part way with her husband, who was going to the mountains to get firewood. She had not gone far alone when she met some Indians. Great fear overcame her, and she prayed for protection. She was surprised when they told her, in their language, they knew where her husband had gone, and finally went on their way. She continued on, arrived at her friend’s home. [They] visited awhile, and [she] started back. She met the same Indians near the same place. In great fear, she concluded they meant to scalp her. She sat on the quilts as prayers again rose in her heart. Again they were answered. She reached home safely. Later, she learned they were friendly Indians.

In 1883, her husband died, leaving her a widow at age fifty-two. In addition to her two children, she raised two other children: her husband’s nephew, William Baxter, and a girl named Minnie Acord. Her daughter, Mary Jane (mother of Jane Armitstead) died 12 December 1893, leaving twelve children. Sarah raised the youngest son, [George] Willard Lund from the time he was three.

Sarah was a faithful wife, mother, grandmother, friend, neighbor, and servant of the Lord. She died 29 January 1927 at the home of her daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Sears, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sarah Ashworth was buried in Spring City, Utah. Her sister, Hannah Gledhill, lived in Gunison and was buried there.

SARAH ELIZABETH RAMSBOTTOM ASHWORTH

By Florence Smith Woodbury

Our Pioneer Heritage—Courageous Pioneers

In the small village of Lezley Brook, Lancashire, England near the large city of Oldham, Sarah Ramsbottom (Ashworth) was born to William Henry and Mary Sykes Ramsbottom on September 3, 1835. At the age of eleven, Sarah became a weaver in a nearby textile mill where she became proficient in her work and was advanced to the job of thread mending after only a year of service. At an early age, the Ramsbottom children became acquainted with Mormonism through attending meetings, and on March 3, 1849, Sarah was baptized. Her sister, Hannah, and brother, James, were also baptized at about the same date. While attending Latter-day Saints meetings, Sarah was introduced to William Edward Ashworth, born September 18, 1830 at Kelrose, Lancashire, England, the son of John and Jane Diggle Ashworth who had been baptized November 4, 1852. Their acquaintance developed into an everlasting affection for each other, and they were married April 16, 1854, moved to Oldham where they set up housekeeping, and continued to work at the textile mills. Their first child, Mary Jane, was born September 29, 1855, and William’s widowed mother, who lived with them, cared for the baby while Sarah was at work.

[In 1859, their second daughter, Eliza Ann, was born. She died within a month.]

After saving since their marriage in preparation to emigrate to the Valley of the Saints in America, the Ashworth family, which included William’s mother and little Mary Jane, sailed on the Underwriter from Liverpool, England, in the fall of 1861. They remained in Philadelphia for three weeks after landing, and left by train for Florence, Nebraska, as the water routes were held at that time by the Southern Rebels.

In June of 1863, plans were finally complete for the Ashworths to leave Florence in the John R. Murdock company on the final phase of the journey to Zion. Sarah was a neat, orderly housekeeper and excellent cook. Even on the trail, she found time to make bread from the yeast start she had brought from England, and to darn her husband’s socks which created envy in another pioneer whose wife, he complained, pulled the holes together, thus casing his feet to become sore as he walked all day.

In late August of 1863, the Ashworth family arrived in the Valley. After resting in Salt Lake and Lehi, they journeyed to Moroni, Sanpete County, where they began their life in Utah in a dugout with a dirt floor. In a year, they settled in a home which was reputed to have the first board floor in the area. In this home, in 1864, their [third] child, Sarah Elizabeth, was born. Later they moved to Gunnison during an Indian uprising, then finally settled in Spring City.

The Ashworths found conditions in Utah very different from those in England, but, after a time, were able to adjust to rugged pioneer life. Sarah felt pride in the accomplishments and adjustments of her frail English husband and encouraged him to greater proficiency in his rural tasks and labors, but the struggle of building a home in a new, untamed wilderness expended his strength. On October 8, 1883, William Edward Ashworth passed away, leaving Sarah a widow at the age of fifty-two.

Mary Jane, Sarah’s eldest daughter, married Marinus Lund on July 16, 1872, and became the mother of twelve children. When Mary Jane died on December 12, 1893, her mother took the three-year-old boy, [George] Willard, to raise and helped care for the other children. Sarah’s second daughter and only surviving child, Sarah Elizabeth, married George Loren Sears on August 12, 1880.

Sarah and William had adopted two children, William’s nephew, Andrew Baxter, and Minnie Acord, whose mother had died when she was very young. These two children lived with Sarah until their marriages.

Sarah kept her small farm, which she operated with the help of the children; but she leased her herd of sheep on shares. From these two sources, she provided for her needs. When she was eighty years of age, she visited in St. Louis with her sister and returned, alone, after completing her visit.

At eight-five years of age, she regained her “second” eyesight, enjoyed her friends, remained keen of mind, and continued to be blessed with a sense of humor.

On January 29, 1927, at the age of ninety-five, Sarah Elizabeth Ramsbottom Ashworth passed from this life and was buried at Spring City, Sanpete County, Utah, beside her husband, William Edward Ashworth.