Sariah (Johnson) Stevens
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Sariah Agnes (Johnson) Stevens (1863 - 1945)

Sariah Agnes Stevens formerly Johnson
Born in Panguitch, Garfield, Utah Territory, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married 10 Nov 1881 in Fruitland, San Juan, New Mexico, United States.map
Descendants descendants
Died at age 81 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United Statesmap
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Profile last modified | Created 20 Jun 2011
This page has been accessed 421 times.

Biography

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:

  1. Agnes Melissa Stevens 1883–1965 [1]
  2. Abbie Mabel Stevens 1885–1914 [2]
  3. David Johnson Stevens 1887–1968 [3]
  4. Benjamin Earl Stevens 1889–1974 • KWZ7-CZG ​​
  5. Myrtle Stevens 1891–1894 • KWVH-PNL ​​
  6. Casandra Stevens 1894–1894 • KWVH-PJX ​​
  7. Walter Ellis Stevens 1895–1939 • KWD4-T9X ​​
  8. Irvin Wells Stevens 1898–1964 • KWCK-YTR ​​
  9. Owen Cowley Stevens 1905–1968 [4]

Sariah Agnes Johnson, My Grandmother by Florence Stevens Strate

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]

Sources

  1. * Find A Grave: Memorial #69417063
  2. * Find A Grave: Memorial #49459914
  3. * Find A Grave: Memorial #8686478
  4. * Find A Grave: Memorial #88160762
  5. * 1890 Manifesto (also known as the Woodruff Manifesto or the Anti-polygamy Manifesto)
  6. * [1] Family Search Memory]
  • "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNC1-33L : 12 April 2016), Sariah Johnson in household of Sarah M Johnson, Utah, United States; citing p. 15, family 118, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,111.

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

  • "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNSL-Z6Z : 15 July 2017), Agnus S Johnson in entry for Benjn F Johnson, 1880; citing enumeration district ED 86, sheet 246D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d), roll 1338; FHL microfilm 1,255,338.

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

  • "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9VC-QDM : accessed 6 May 2019), Agnes S Stevens in household of Sarah M Johnson, Mesa Precinct Mesa town, Maricopa, Arizona Territory, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 32, sheet 22B, family 434, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,046.

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

  • "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8P6-HS5 : accessed 6 May 2019), Agnes J Stevens in household of Guy C Wilson, Salt Lake City Ward 1, Salt Lake, Utah, United States; citing ED 86, sheet 10B, line 29, family 241, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1865; FHL microfilm 1,821,865.

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

  • "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X47G-XZR : accessed 6 May 2019), Agnes Stephens, Cincinnati (Districts 340, 395-576), Hamilton, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 454, sheet 15A, line 27, family 297, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1810; FHL microfilm 2,341,544.

Agnes Stephens Head Female 67 Utah Owen Stephens Son Male 25 Mexico Robert Newman Roomer Male 29 Utah

  • "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VT4Z-4LS : 14 March 2018), Guy C Wilson, Ward 4, Provo, Provo Election Precinct, Utah, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 25-49, sheet 17A, line 23, family 372, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4220.

Guy C Wilson Head Male 76 Utah Melissa S Wilson Wife Female 56 New Mexico Agnes J Stevens Mother-in-law Female 78 Utah

  • Find A Grave: Memorial #87046536 Sariah Agnes Johnson Stevens (23 Oct 1863–28 Apr 1945)
  • "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964", database with images, FamilySearch [2], Agnes Johnson Stevens, 1945.
  • "Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849-1949," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQ47-WMG : 29 July 2017), Agnes Johnson Stevens, 28 Apr 1945; citing Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, Management and Archives, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 4,120,562.
  • "Utah Deaths and Burials, 1888-1946," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F858-PZ9 : 10 February 2018), Agnes Johnson Stevens, 28 Apr 1945; citing Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, reference cn 813; FHL microfilm 26,578.




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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Sariah by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Sariah:

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