Sarah Jane Angell Tolman

Sarah Jane Angell, with her parents, suffered many hardships in Missouri and Illinois. Her father, being almost penniless when they left Ohio, had to borrow $5.00 from a Saint and sell some of Sarah Jane's Sunday clothes to purchase a horse to carry what belongings they had left to the persecuted land of Missouri. Their stay in Missouri was very short. They and other Saints were driven from the state. Polly, ill from exposure, had two small children at this time. Seven weeks later they arrived on the west side of the Mississippi River.

The Angells found shelter at Will Travis' farm near Quincy, Illinois. They remained there for two years. In 1841 they again moved to the Church headquarters at Nauvoo. Truman Angell again worked with his might on the Temple. He, with Orson Hyde and a few others, gathered in the Temple on 30 April 1846, and privately dedicated it.

Truman Angell again turned to the West. Leaving his family at Winter Quarters, he crossed the plains with the First Company and returned to Winter Quarters with some of the brethren. Three of the children died while in Winter Quarters, leaving only two of their six children, Sarah Jane, Age 13, and Mariah, age six. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley soon after the Seagull Miracle in 1848. The mother, Polly, was sick and bedridden most of the journey.

After they arrived in the valley, Sarah Jane met Benjamin Hewett Tolman, a son of stalwart New England ancestry. Their acquaintanceship turned to love, and they were married for time 2 January 1851. They were among the first settlers of Brigham City. On 15 March, 1853, a son was born to them and named after his father. Sarah Jane's happiness wasn't to last. In 1857 her husband died leaving her with two baby girls, Emma Mariah and Polly Jane, and her small son only four years old.

A widower, Jarvis Johnson, who had five children, and Sarah Jane with her three, were married for time in 1860. With Brother Johnson acting as proxy, Sarah Jane was sealed for all eternity to her first love, Benjamin Hewett Tolman. To Sarah Jane and Brother Johnson, seven children were born including two pairs of twins. At the birth of the second pair of twins, Sarah Jane and Peter, on 21 Mar 1869, Sarah Jane Angell Tolman Johnson departed this life.

She was a very "faithful daughter, wife and mother," lived the life of a Saint, and died in hopes of a glorious resurrection. She shall receive her reward.