Sarah Emma Jenkins

   Ancestral File Number: 20G8-CH.

  General Notes:

SARAH EMMA JENKINS CRANER (1842-1880

Sarah Emma Jenkins has the distinction of being a Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, baby. She was born there 5 Oct 1842, the second daughter of Edward and Hannah Eliza Barber Jenkins. Sarah joined an older sister, Mary Ann, who had been christened 18 Jan 1839 in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England. Sarah's parents were living in or near Mathon, Worcestershire England, in 1840 when Elder Wilford Woodruff arrived in that vicinity as a missionary bearing the glad news of the restored gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Edward and Hannah Eliza were among the over 600 people which Elder Woodruff baptized there during the summer of 1840. They soon went to Liverpool, England, took passage on the ship "North America", and began the 5,000 mile journey to Nauvoo, Illinois, on 6 Sep 1840, the second ship of English converts to leave that country. Sarah was born about a year after their arrival in that beautiful city located on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Edward was a carpenter by trade and was soon put to work helping in the construction of the Nauvoo Temple which the saints were anxious to complete. He worked there through their first winter in Nauvoo, and in the summer Edward became ill with consumption, or tuberculosis as we now call it. By the time Sarah was born, her father was confined to bed, and quarantined as his disease was infectious. He was only well enough to hold her once, at which time he commented, "She is a pretty little thing." Edward died three months after Sarah was born, on 24 Jan 1843, in Nauvoo and is buried there. This left Hannah and two little girls, a three year old and a three month old to be cared for by the saints of the city and their ward.
Sarah's young life in Nauvoo was one of being cared for and protected by those who loved her. She was not quite two years old when the saints' prophet/leader, Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum, were martyred, much too young to know what was going on except as a witness to the sadness and tears of her mother and others. The first real adjustment for Sarah to make when she was about three years old was to welcome a "father" into the household. Her mother was married in 1845 to a young man, John Rowberry, who was also from Mathon, Worcestershire, England. John had arrived in Nauvoo with the first group of emigrating saints, just a couple of months prior to Sarah's parents. Since Sarah had never known another father, one can imagine the love that she would have given him.
Sarah Emma and her family were among the early ones to leave Nauvoo when persecution began to be severe, in the spring of 1846. The family went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and there they were blessed with a baby brother, Joseph A. Rowberry. Two years later another brother, John Edward, was also born in Council Bluffs. Finally, John Rowberry and his young family were ready to begin their trek west to the Salt Lake Valley in 1849. By this time Sarah is six years old and required to do her share to help with the household chores.
As the company traveled toward the Platte River in Nebraska, the wagon train came into what the pioneers called "Dog Town". Here the prairie dogs could be seen popping their heads out of their holes and barking as the wagon train went by through their territory. The little girls probably got a laugh out of that sight. In this area large herds of buffalo had roamed, so children and mothers used their aprons, skirts, or buckets if they were available to gather the "buffalo chips" as the dung was called, with which to build their fires.
One of the many miracles which this wagon train witnessed was the arrival into camp of three antelope, which came into the corralled wagon area. The animals stood and looked at the women as if they were amazed, giving time for some men to get their guns and kill the antelope, which they dressed and cooked for the supper meal. One of the campers remarked, "The Lord is on our side; he sent those animals into our camp. He knew we needed them." All enjoyed the feast of fresh, tasty, tender meat for several nights, and they were free with their thanks to the Lord for providing for them.
Finally Echo Canyon was their camping place and all knew that the worst part of their journey was still ahead with two mountains to climb and the creek in Emigration Canyon to be crossed eighteen times. On Sunday morning, 28 October 1849, President Brigham Young with others came to welcome this new company who had camped at the mouth of Emigration Canyon overlooking the valley for the night. Apostle Benson was instructed to take his company into the city, with him to camp on the temple lot and the rest of the group to scatter throughout the city at the homes of those good saints who would give them a place to bathe, a warm meal, and a bed for the few days they would be there.
Sarah Emma with her mother, father, sister and two young brothers did not stay in Salt Lake for very long. In December of 1849, the Rowberry family was sent with Apostle Ezra T. Benson and others to Tooele valley to make their home. Home then became a sagebrush and willow fort and there were only two other families there when the new pioneers arrived. It would have been with some excitement that Sarah would have welcomed a new little sister into the family in 1850 named Permelia (Emma). The winter was one of lots of snow and hardships for this family. After one such severe storm, Sarah's father had to shovel two feet of snow from the door before a fire could be started.
Within a short time, John built a home for his family and soon opened a store in one room of the house. Sarah and Mary Ann would have been a big help in that enterprise, along with their mother. John immediately became involved in the church and community activities as he was appointed the first Bishop of Tooele and later became the Probate Judge as well as a representative to the legislature. This would mean that the father of the house would be gone a lot of time so the older girls were depended upon to help their mother in care of the children as well as the store and post office which was also established in their home. Another sister, Eliza, came to bless this family on 29 Feb 1852. By this time a 24 foot square community building was built where the children could go to school and church meetings could be held, as well as many social activities that might happen in this growing community.
Sarah Emma turned 10 years old on 5 Oct 1852, but it was not a happy birthday for her. Two days before, Sarah's mother, Hannah had died, leaving Mary Ann and Sarah along with John to care for the younger children, the baby being just eight months old. Hannah was just 39 years old, but the toil of pioneer life had taken its toll. Unless one has gone through that hardship, one cannot imagine the loss of mother to one so young as Sarah was at that time.

At about this time, a young man from Warwickshire, England, came to Tooele by the name of George Craner. George went to work for John Rowberry and helped him with his many enterprises. He became a friend of the family as he worked for John when they helped to build the mud wall around the city for protection from the Indians and as they built the dirt sidewalks along each street. George worked extra hard to earn his board and room. He did acquire a lot and would spend his evening going to the canyon to get logs to build a home for himself and his family when they should come.
In the meantime, George Craner had succeeded in gaining the needed funds to send to his parents and family for their immigration to the Salt Lake Valley. John Rowberry was his benefactor and helper in this endeavor. He had built a home ready for them to occupy and anxiously awaited their arrival. Little did he know until they arrived in Tooele, that his father, George Benjamin Craner, had died in Kansas City and had been buried near Council Bluffs, Iowa, but his mother and four brothers and sisters completed the journey, arriving in October of 1854.
George Craner
George and Sarah had begun a courtship by this time, and on 1 Jan 1857, they were married with Bishop John Rowberry, Sarah's step-father, performing the ceremony. Sarah was just two months over 14 years of age at this time, and George was 27 years old. She moved into George's home with his mother and other family members. Gradually the other members left the home for marriage, but Sarah's mother-in-law, Elizabeth Craner, lived with them until her death in 1869. George was a good provider, an enterprising young man, and a stalwart in church and community activity. Sarah supported him in his work and soon became a mother to their first child, George, on 27 Oct 1857.
George and Sarah journeyed to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City in September 1859 and were endowed and sealed together as husband and wife on 10 Sep 1859.
A second child, John Jenkins Craner, was born 5 Apr 1860, and their first daughter Eliza Elizabeth (named after their two mothers) was born 6 Mar 1862. By now George and Sarah had a large orchard to care for as George was the first to plant and raise peaches in Tooele. They also had currants and apples. George brought the first hive of bees into the valley to help with pollination of the fruit crop. He was considerate of his wife and to help her in her duties as wife and mother, bought the first sewing machine in the community for her.
George and Sarah had nine more children born to their marriage: Edward, 20 Apr 1864, Emma, 20 Sep 1865; Joseph, 15 Nov 1867; Mary Ann, 25 Mar 1870; Harriett, 1 July 1872; Martha, 2 Jun 1875; Sarah "P", 17 Sep 1876; Emeline "B", 24 Feb 1878; and Clara, 10 Feb 1880. Of their twelve children, only four lived to marry and have posterity, George, John Jenkins, Eliza Elizabeth, and Mary Ann. Edward died at age 18, Emma was 16 months old, Joseph drowned at age 24, Harriett lived to age 8, Sarah lived 5 months, Emeline lived 5 months, and Martha and Clara each died the day she was born. All the children were born in Tooele, Tooele, Utah.
Sarah paid the supreme sacrifice for giving life to these twelve, when she died just four days after her last child was born on 14 Feb 1880, at the young age of 37 years from complications due to childbirth. She had five little girls to greet her as she passed through the portals of mortal existence.
As she served her family and community, she and her husband donated food to the poor and needy. She was always faithful and did her duty as far as could be done. Her life's work seemed to be entirely that of a real mother, not having time with a growing family to engage in public work, but she did what she could in service to her church.
As posterity, our gratitude goes out to this faithful Pioneer woman. She left a legacy of hard work, courage and faith, as well as quiet service and loving care to those around her even though her own burden seemed impossible to bear. Many are the descendants who rise up to call her 'blessed.'

Sources: History of George Craner by the Craner Family, My Pioneer Ancestors, by Sheri Bowen Libutti, Gina Bowen King, and Dayna Bowen Simons History of Tooele County, Ref 979.243 H2d Jenkins and Craner Family Group Records in poss of Addie L. Stevens
History of Hannah Eliza Barber Jenkins Rowberry, by Addie L. Stevens, 1998 Ledbury Parish Register, Hereford, Eng., FHLC film 992,306 1813-1856 Mathon Parish Register, Worcester, Eng., FHLC film 1,040,017, 1813-1943 1842 Hancock Co., Ill, tax list 1842 census of Nauvoo 2^nd Ward, WRF pt 3 (Charles Jenkins) Correspondence, Linda Werts, 3015 SE 59^th Ave., Portland, OR 97206, (Charles descendants) Church Emigration of 1849 The Millenial Star, 1849, "Letters from America" by G. A. Smith and E. T. Benson Pioneer Henrietta E. C. Williams story, member of Company Five Sarah Emma Jenkins family history by Lucy B. Forsberg in poss of Addie L. Stevens "Together ForeverLewis John Bowen and Adelaide Honey, by Merlin John Bowen. ¹

  LDS Information:

Baptism: 21 May 1849

Endowment: 10 Sep 1859, Endowment House

Sealed to Parents: 10 Sep 1859, Endowment House

  Noted events in her life were:

• Alt. Baptism: LDS Temple Baptism, 4 May 1957.

• Alt. Endowment: LDS Endowment, 7 Jun 1957.

• Alt. Seal to Parents: LDS Temple Sealing, 4 Nov 1957-17 Mar 1971.

She was sealed to her spouse on 10 Sep 1859 at Endowment House. (George Craner was born on 1 Jun 1829 in Maxstoke, Warwickshire, England, christened on 28 Jun 1829 in Maxstoke, Warwickshire, England, died on 17 Jul 1904 in Tooele, Tooele, Utah, USA and was buried on 19 Jul 1904 in Tooele, Tooele, Utah, USA.)