The last few months much of my Sunday activities involve watching BYU TV. Because of my immunity issues I am not able to go to church. So this has been my Sunday worship activity: Music and the Spoken Word, History of the Saints, The Joseph Smith Papers, Discussions of the Book of Mormon, and Discussions of the Pearl of Great Price. All are very uplifting and informative. Recently, on History of the Saints, they were talking about the Saints being driven out of Nauvoo. It was interesting to note that not all the Saints left at the same time. Not all of them camped at the same place. There were Saints camped all over Iowa and Nebraska. Many of them stayed in those little communities for 2 to 3 years. They built cabins and planted crops. They readied themselves to move to the Rocky Mountains. These programs become all the more meaningful when you realize you have ancestors who experienced these times. One such woman was Sarah Pippin Jolley, born Sarah Pippin on 28 May 1812 in Louisburg, North Carolina. In 1829 she married Reuben Manning Jolley. They had 10 children.
Almost every July that I can remember, Grandpa (Charles Cash Rampton, Jr.) would be asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting and tell pioneer stories. And every time he did, he would tell the story of Sarah Pippin Jolley, great-grandmother of Grandma Ethel (Ethel Frances Jolley.)
At some time in her life she wrote a short autobiography. It was not very long, but it gives us some insight into her life and the life she had to endure as a pioneer mother in Utah. Here is her writings:
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Autobiography of Sarah Pippin Jolley
I was born in North Carolina, Franklin County, twenty-five miles east of Raleigh, on the 28th of May 1812, My parents lived there until I was about fourteen years old. Then they came to Tennessee; the western part to
Weekly County. There I married to Reuben M. Jolley, on the 13th of January1829.William G. Jolley was born the 8th of November 1829 in Tennessee. Then Washington L. Jolley was born May 16, 1831 in Tennessee, Weekly Co. R.B. Jolley was born March 16,1834 in Tennessee, Weekly Co. Sarah Ann was born December 18, 1838 in Tennessee, Weekly Co. Marion Jolley was born April 9, 1841 in Weekly Co. Tennessee. Reuben M. Jolley was born in Illinois, Hancock Co. Nauvoo, June 4th, 1843. Joseph was born in Illinois, Hancock Co. Nauvoo, March 24th, 1846. Henry Jolley was born November 28th, 1848, Iowa, Anuran Co. Sarah G. was born in Utah Co. the l7th of September 1862 at Payson City.
We lived in Tennessee, Weekly Co. until 1848. My husband and myself, we embraced the gospel and were baptized on the 18th of February in 1842. The 21st of April the same year, we started for Nauvoo. We lived through the troubles while Joseph and Hyrum were murdered at Carthage jail. My husband and myself were there to behold that bloody scene. I was one that was one in the company that followed the corps to the Mansion, when we all went home and came on the morrow to see them, which was a sight to behold. Then the word came to build a temple. My husband and the boys worked on the temple until it was done. Many days they worked and had nothing to eat but bread and water, but it was good. I did not complain. I had the privilege of going through the temple with my husband, so I was paid in full for all my troubles.
In 1846, we left Nauvoo, crossed the river, on the 5th of May. In Iowa, Anuran Co. there we lived a little over two years. We all were working to get something to come up to the Church. We had traveled around until we had not much to travel with but a large family. We were getting ready to start to Salt Lake when my husband was taken sick. He was sick twenty days and died on the 29th of April 1849. There I was left with ten children, no house nor home; among strangers, a babe in my arms three months old, I was broke up. When he was on his death bed he would talk and tell me what he wanted me to do a little at a time until he told me he wanted, he said he was going to leave me for a while, but he wanted me, as soon as I could, to come to the valleys of the mountains, to the basin of the church and bring the children all with me, so I strive to do so. I have ever born it in mind. I buried him the first day of May, at Keasackway grave yard, Anuran, Co., Iowa. In 1849, 2nd. day of July, my children and me started for Council Bluffs. There we wintered. Next spring, the 6th day of June we started for Salt Lake. In 1850 I had a hard time with my little children, but the hand of Lord was over me and children and all we had with us, Cholera was very bad that year. Two of my children came near unto death, but the Lord seen fit to spare them.
I arrived in the valleys on the 27th of September in 1850. I had not much to live upon, times were very hard for the grasshoppers and crickets had eaten everything up.
Grandfather Jolley came on before we did. When he heard we were coming he met me and the children on Immigration St. He took us to his home. We stopped there a few days. He said he was going to move to Utah County, to a place called Pleasant Grove. He moved there about the 15th of October. Then my boys moved a little house to help to make a fort. On the 20th of December, grandfather Jolley died and was buried at the same place. I then felt as if I was I was lost again, but had to so the best I could.
In 1852, Washington L. Jolley was called to go on a mission to the states to preach the gospel. The Indians proved to be very bad. In 1853 I had. two of my boys shot. One never got over it, the other is living but is a cripple in his right arm.
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Below I will insert the only known picture of her. I assume it was taken near the end of her life. The lines and wrinkles are indicative of the trials she went through. I do not believe that she ever remarried. She was faithful in whatever she was called to do in the Church including settling Pleasant Grove, Springville, Payson, Spanish Fork and St. George. Following the last assignment in Saint George she moved to Moroni, Utah where she spent to rest of her days. Next week I will include her obituary and some other notes about her.
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