WOMEN OF FAITH AND FORTITUDE

TITLE PAGE

PIONEER NAME: Sarah Marinda Smith Mott Burnham

BIRTH DATE AND PLACE: 10 Sep 1846 near Keosauqua, Iowa

DEATH DATE AND PLACE: 28 Mar 1925 Redmesa, La Plata, Colorado

YEAR ARRIVED IN UTAH: 18 Oct 1850 COMPANY: Warren Smith Independent

FATHER: Warren Smith

MOTHER: Amanda Melissa Barnes

WHO MARRIED AND DATE: Stephen Mott 7 Apr 1861

George Franklin Burnham 7 Nov 1862

PHOTO IN FILE: Yes X

SUBMITTED BY: Florence W. Cluff 

ADDRESS: 799 W. Toledo, Chandler, Arizona 85224

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BIOIGRAPHY: SARAH MARINDA SMITH MOTT BURNHAM

SARAH MARINDA was born in Iowa, 1846. Her parents were early converts to the LDS church. They were with the Saints in Nauvoo. They left in JUL 1846 andwere in Iowa when Sarah was born in a lean-to tarp tent during a rainstorm. Sarah only weighed 2 1/2 pounds at birth but the great faith and endurance of her mother, Amanda, raised her to womanhood. Her family journeyed on to Council Bluffs. They were there for four years. WIth her father as Captain of an Independent Co., they began their journey, arriving in SLC 18 OCT 1850. Her mother was left to care for the family herself, so she  taught school, while her sons helped. Due to failing health, her mother moved to Richmond, Utah, where she and the three children lived with relatives and friends, and where Sarah met and married her second husband, George Franklin Burnham, 07 NOV ' 62. He was 23 and she was 16 years of age. They lived in Hyde Park. In SEP 1863 they were sealed in the SLC E.H. [Endowment House] after which they moved to Richmond and built a home, which welcomed nine children into the family.

In 1880, a call came for the family to move to the San Juan River area in southeastern Utah. The journey was long and hard. One camp was flooded by a terrible storm, they lost all of their belongings except their wagons and teams, even loosing the children's shoes and bedding. They settled in Moab, having another child, to Fruitland for child #11, and back to Moab for their last of 12 children. They next settled near Mancos, Colorado and built a two-room log cabin there. She cleaned and did washings for others, walking to the work, but never leaving her children at night. Sarah shared her husband with another wife and her children, but was alone with her own family much of the time. George lost his life ina logging accident 13 SEP 1901. Sarah was also a seamstress, filling her home with handiwork, and making dresses and shirts for her children. She was orderly and clean, both in her home and in the yard. She served where she was called in Church and lived as a widow for 18 years, passing away peacefully at home 25 MAR 1925, age 68. She passed away in Red Mesa, Colorado and is buried there. 

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Page 2 Sarah Marinda Smith Burnham

The family journeyed on to Council Bluffs where they abored to prepare for the journey on to the Valley. They were in Council Bluffs for four years. With her father as captain of a company, they began. Sarah, as the baby, thrived on the love and care of the family through the days and weeks of travel westward, and arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley on the 18th of October, 1850. Her mother was left to care for the family herself, so she taught school, while her sons helped.

During the construction of the tabernacle on Temple Square, the women and girls, including Sarah and her mother, wove thirty-three yards of carpet to put down the aisles of the tabernacle. As a daughter of thrifty, hard-working parents, Sarah learned the value of their examples.

Due to failing health, her mother moved to Richmond, Utah, where she and the three children lived with relatives and friends, and where Sarah met and married George Franklin Burnham, the 7th of November, 1862. He was 23 and she was 16 years of age. They lived in Hyde Park. In September of 1863, they were sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, then moved to Richmond and built a home, which welcomed nine babies into the family. The oldest, a girl, was scalded by a fall into a tub of hot water, resulting in her death as a small child.

In 1880, a call came for the family to move to the San Juan River area in southeastern Utah. The journey was hard and slow over the rough country, and was made harder with the knowledge that they had left parents and loved ones behind, some of whom they never saw again. They camped by a river while George worked on the railroad to earn money for further travel. One such camp was flooded by a terrible storm, and they lost all of their belongings except their wagons and teams, even lost the children's shoes and bedding. They re-grouped and went on to Moab, where the last baby, Delila was born in 1886. But Sarah was never heard to complain.

Then they went on into Colorado, and settled near Mancos, Colorado, and built a two-room log cabin there. Five children had the measles at the same time, but all recovered. The mother was the only doctor they ever knew. She cleaned and did washings for others, walking to the work, but never leaving her children at night.

Sons filled mission callings, and children married. She had taught them well, their lives were full of love, labor, music and the Gospel. Sarah shared her husband with another wife and her children, but was alone with her own children much of the time. George lost his life in a logging accident.

Sarah was also a seamstress, and filled her home with handiwork, and made the dresses and shirts for her children. She was very orderly and clean, both in her home and in the yard. She died peacefully at home and is honored for her noble character by all who knew and loved her. Her death came on 25 March, 1925 in Red Mesa, Colorado, and she was buried there.