Parents: Benjamin Franklin Johnson 1818–1905 and Sarah Melissa Holman 1838–1901. Marriage: 3 February 1856 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States
Marriage: 10 November 1881 Fruitland, San Juan, New Mexico, United States. David Alma Stevens 1859–1947 and Sariah Agnes Johnson 1863–1945
Children:
Sariah Agnes Johnson Stevens My Father’s Mother Sariah Agnes Johnson Stevens was my father’s mother.
She was born on Oct. 23, 1863 in Santaquin, Utah. She was married to David Alma Stevens in 1881 when she was 18 years old. David Alma Stevens was a polygamist who ended up marrying two additional wives, but she was his first wife. She was the mother of nine children, all born about two years apart during a twenty-two year period from 1883-1905. Her first three children Melissa, Mabel, and David were born in Fruitland, New Mexico. Later she had my father, Benjamin Earl in Mesa, AZ. The last five were born in the Mexican Mormon colonies of Colonia Dublan and Colonia Juarez. Of the five children born in Mexico two died as small children, with the rest living to adulthood.
After the Manifesto against polygamy [5] a man could only have one living wife in the United States, so they separated because she wanted to live in America. She lived with father and mother on Oxford Street for several years, but I was so young I just don’t remember much about her at that time. Later she moved back to Salt Lake to live with her daughter.
I never really knew her well until I went to B.Y.U. It was there that she lived with her oldest daughter, Aunt Melissa, who ran a boarding house, and I boarded there. She helped Melissa with the cooking. When she wasn’t busy cooking she loved to read in the corner of the big dining room. She also liked to do genealogy. I was busy in college but got to know her somewhat during that time. She was a loving woman who loved my father and he showed his love for her as he tried to help her in many different ways. She was about 5’ 10”, not thin or fat. She had a bad hip; maybe because she fell or was injured. She was in constant pain and always used either a cane or crutch. She was a valiant lady who lived and loved the gospel. She died in 1945 when she was 82 years old.
At her funeral it was said that “..she was a woman of very high ideals and sound principles. “ Bishop Wilbur Sowards related that when Agnes’ grandson introduced her to him the young man said, ”Bishop, she will be an asset to your ward. She will pray for you.” Bishop Sowards continues saying that the next time he met with Sister Stevens she was ill and he was called to administer to her. Agnes said, ”Bishop, I prayed for you and now I want you to pray for me.”
Bishop Sowards had a store only half a block from where Agnes lived with her daughter and son-in-law. It was the practice of many people to take a short-cut through the Bishop’s store leading to the street. Quoting Bishop Sowards: “One day Sister Stevens came to the back door of the store and said to me, ‘Can I come in this door too?’ She had an accident and was crippled. She would come in, and if there were no customers in the store, she would say, ‘Well Bishop, who is sick in the ward? Can you tell me---have we any sickness in the ward today? If so, who are they? Where do they live?’ She would ask those questions and would answer immediately, ‘ I want to visit them.’
“I noticed that sister going along the sidewalk, crippled as she was, into the home of sick or aged persons. She would go into the homes of non-members as quickly as she would go to the homes of our members in times of sickness and trouble. “Every few days she would come and want to know what more she could do. Where she could go to help someone. She would come to me and say, ‘Bishop , I want to help you, just to relieve you of some of the responsibility you are carrying.’ She would do it by visiting the sick. “I remember distinctly her last visit to that little store. It was there over that counter that we had many wonderful talks and many problems and questions were discussed. She came in and laid her papers on the counter and said, ‘I’m leaving you Bishop and I want to settle my affairs. I am wondering if I have paid all of my tithing, all of my fast offerings, and all of my ward maintenance?’ On that occasion she was there to settle her affairs as far as the church was concerned and settle them she did.
God bless her memory! “She was a noble character….with a good family. They just can’t find any better families, they’re clean, their eyes are clear. They have faith in mankind, faith in the Lord, their God. I am thankful to have known her, thankful to have known her love. Many lessons, I have learned from her. “The life she led and the lives of her family have been an inspiration to me. If there were no other reason, nothing in this whole world that could have been said of her---knowing her offspring, her sons and daughters, her grandsons and granddaughters as I do--- I would say a tree is known by its fruit.” ....[6]
Sarah M Johnson F 33 Ohio Benjamin Johnson M 13 Utah Brigham Johnson M 11 Utah Heber Johnson M 9 Utah John Johnson M 6 Utah Sariah Johnson F 6 Utah Sarah Johnson F 4 Utah Cassandra Johnson F 2 Utah
Benjn F Johnson Self M 62 New York, United States Mary A Johnson Wife F 39 New York, United States Violate E Johnson Daughter F 20 Utah, United States Harriet N Johnson Wife F 46 Pennsylvania, United States Wm S Johnson Son M 18 Utah, United States Emma J Johnson Daughter F 14 Utah, United States Marquis L Johnson Son M 12 Utah, United States Sarah M Johnson Wife F 44 Ohio, United States Brigam M Johnson Sister F 21 Utah, United States Heber F Johnson Son M 19 Utah, United States Agnus S Johnson Sister F 16 Utah, United States John Angus Johnson Son M 16 Utah, United States Maliss S Johnson Daughter F 14 Utah, United States Cassaandra Johnson Daughter F 12 Utah, United States Lionel Johnson Son M 10 Utah, United States Ellis H Johnson Son M 8 Utah, United States Victoria Johnson Daughter F 6 Utah, United States George A Johnson Son M 2 Utah, United States Susan A Johnson Wife F 38 Illinois, United States Susan C Johnson Daughter F 22 Utah, United States
Sarah M Johnson Head Female 63 Ohio Ellis H Johnson Son Male 26 Utah George Johnson Son Male 21 Utah Agnes S Stevens Daughter Female 36 Utah Melissa Stevens Granddaughter Female 17 New Mexico Mabel A Stevens Granddaughter Female 15 New Mexico Earl Stevens Grandson Male 11 Arizona Ellis Stevens Grandson Male 5 O Mexico Ervine Stevens Grandson Male 2 O Mexico
Guy C Wilson Head Male 55 Utah Melissa Wilson Wife Female 36 New Mexico Elizabeth Wilson Daughter Female 17 Mexico Guy C Wilson Jr. Son Male 15 Mexico David S Wilson Son Male 12 Mexico Owen M Wilson Son Male 10 Mexico Mable Wilson Daughter Female 7 Mexico Woodrow S Wilson Son Male 4 Mexico Agnes J Stevens Mother-in-law Female 56 Utah Owen C Stevens Brother-in-law Male 15 Mexico
Agnes Stephens Head Female 67 Utah Owen Stephens Son Male 25 Mexico Robert Newman Roomer Male 29 Utah
Guy C Wilson Head Male 76 Utah Melissa S Wilson Wife Female 56 New Mexico Agnes J Stevens Mother-in-law Female 78 Utah
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Sariah is 21 degrees from Herbert Adair, 19 degrees from Richard Adams, 17 degrees from Mel Blanc, 23 degrees from Dick Bruna, 19 degrees from Bunny DeBarge, 25 degrees from Peter Dinklage, 18 degrees from Sam Edwards, 15 degrees from Ginnifer Goodwin, 19 degrees from Marty Krofft, 14 degrees from Junius Matthews, 13 degrees from Rachel Mellon and 18 degrees from Harold Warstler on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
J > Johnson | S > Stevens > Sariah Agnes (Johnson) Stevens
Categories: Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake City, Utah | Latter-day Saints | LDS Mexican Colonias