Sarah Elizabeth (Burtts) Beman (1775 - 1848)

Born 17 Jan 1775 in Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut colony

Ancestors

Wife of Alvah Moses Beman — married 18 Aug 1796 in Livonia, Livingston Co., New York

Descendants

Died 29 Sep 1848 at age 73 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Sarah Elizabeth "Betsy" Burtts was born January 17, 1775 in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Joseph Burtts and Elizabeth (Peck) Burtts. She was 21 when she married Alvah Beman (aka Beaman) on August 18, 1796, in Livonia, Livingston County, New York. They had 3 daughters:

Mary Adeline Beman, b. October 19, 1810, Livonia, NY.

Louisa Beman, b. February 17, 1815, Livonia, NY

Artemisia Beman, b. March 13, 1819, Livonia, NY

Sally Betsy Burtts Beman could be called "the Mother of Mormonism" because her three daughters married four of the most-influential early leaders of the newly-founded Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the 1830-40s. The Beman family were early converts to the new religion, having attended "camp meetings" that were very popular in the 1830s America, possibly led by future LDS Apostle Erastus Snow. Their oldest daughter, Mary Adeline, met and married Joseph Bates Noble in 1834 in Livonia, New York. He went on to be LDS Church founding Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.'s personal bodyguard and an LDS Bishop. Their second daughter, Louisa, became Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.'s first "plural wife" when she married him on April 15, 1841, in Nauvoo, Illinois. When Joseph was murdered in July 1844 by an anti-polygamist mob, she was taken in by the next LDS President, Apostle Brigham Young, whom she married September 16, 1844. Their third daughter, Artemisia Beman, married LDS Apostle Erastus Snow, one of the most successful of the early Mormon missionaries both in the USA and in Europe, and the first Mormon pioneer to enter the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah in 1846. All three families (Noble, Young, Snow) remained close during the sisters' lifetime and were among the first LDS pioneers to make the 1,250-mile trek west from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1847/1849.

"Sally Betsy" (Burtts) Beman was too old and in too-poor health for such an arduous journey. She died in Nauvoo, Illinois, on September 29, 1848, with her 3 daughters and their families already heading for "the new Zion". Her husband, Alvah Beman, had preceded her in death by a decade, dying in 1837 in Kirtland, Ohio, an earlier "new Zion" as preached by their spiritual guide, Joseph Smith, Jr., founding Prophet of the LDS Church.

Sources

• http://genealogy.kathihill.com/Person/family_group/234853

• http://www.geni.com/people/Sarah-Sally-Beaman-Burtts/6000000008441405873?through=6000000008441458566 - birth information is wrong.

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=36892222

• Our Pioneer Heritage Vol 1, Brigham Young His Wives and Family

Acknowledgments

• Wikitree profile Burtts-1 was created by Chet Snow, on Monday, December 22, 2014.

• Betsy Burtt Entered by Harry Maltby, Jun 14, 2013 .Thanks to Harry Maltby for this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Harry and others.