Life Sketch of George James and Sarah Snow Forsyth
- by Florence (Forsyth) Mercer their youngest living daughter in 1965
Sarah & George
My Great Grandfather, Thomas Forsyth, with his wife and six children sailed from Greenrock Scotland on the ship "COMMERCE". They were 14 weeks and 4 days getting to Quebec. They then took passage up the St. Lawerance river to Montreal.
After many hardships my Grandfather, also named Thomas, married Isabella
Donald in April 1839. They had 7 children, 3 sons and 4 daughters. In
1841 they left the County of Kent in Canada and moved to Gailsburg
Michigan.
My father was born May 23 1844. In 1845 he was very sick and was healed
by a Brother Richards blessing him. They joined the Latter Day Saints
and moved to Salt Lake City in the summer of 1850. His mother died Dec.
23rd 1852 in Salt Lake with her 7th baby. His father married again and
moved to Tookerville (southern Utah) where the family grew to adulthood.
My Mother's Mother, Sally Adams was also born in eastern Canada in May
1825. She was married to William Snow in January 1846 and her first deep
sorrow was the death of her mother in 1848. She and her husband with
their year old daughter came to Salt Lake with the pioneers in 1850. My
mother Sarah, was born in Salt Lake City March 4 1852. When Johnsons
army came in 1858 William Snow and his family moved to Lehi. They were
called to pioneer Pine Valley and left Nov. 20 1865 arriving 5 weeks
later on Christmas Eve. They had encountered deep snow and extremely
cold weather. At night the men shoveled snow and built camp fires and
spread buffalo robes on which to make beds for all. They stayed in Uncle
Erastus Snow's home till they were able to build their own.
Their new home was built of lumber with 2 rooms on the ground floor and 2
upstairs. They ground floor housed Grandma Sally's family of 6 girls
and one boy, an the 2 upper rooms were for another wife, Ann and her
family. Grandpa Snow had 6 wives in all.
Mothers oldest sister, Julia was married to Joseph Cox on New years day
1866 and moved back to Lehi. In those days almost every home had a
spinning wheel, a pair of carders, a reel for making yarn into skeins
and a loom to make carpets. The wool was washed, spun into yarn, dyed
and woven into cloth, then sewed by hand into clothing.
Mother was married to father October 31st 1870 and in the fall of 1879
with 4 children they moved to Loa, Wayne County, Utah. Here father
farmed and raised cattle and Mother had 6 more children, 10 in all, 6
boys and 4 girls. She cooked for threshers, washed on the board, made
dried and smoked meat, whitewashed log walls, made rag carpets, made
home made soap in a large kettle on an open fire in the yard. She made
straw tick beds and her own pillows from down plucked from ducks and
chickens. Father always seemed to bring all the strangers home to eat
and sleep.
Indians who came to the door were given flour, bread, or food of some
kind. Mother taught the 2nd. intermediate class in Sunday School for
over 20 years, was Stake President of the Relief Society and I loved
going with her in a buggy and "Old Mary", the horse, through the country
to visit.
In 1900 Father needed new grazing lands for his cattle and hearing grass
was high in Alberta Canada and they wanted settlers he, with Meeks
Brothers, Him and Will, chartered a rail car, for their cattle, and left
for Canada.
In 1878 before, going to Canada, our oldest brother, George, who was
married, came home with diphtheria and in less than three weeks we all
had it and George, Lucy who was 10 years old, and Donald, the baby, were
all dead and burried in a fence enclosed lot in a bleak cemetery. Then
Mary had typhoid fever and was very sick for 3 months. Loree, George's
daughter fell into the river that went past their 4 room frame home. We
pulled her out and she seemed dead, but Mother just couldn't give her up
so she rolled her on a tub and breathed in her mouth till she started
to breathe. Loree's brother George, was drug to death, at age 5 by a
horse.
In 1902 Tom was on a Mission in England. Bell was married and had moved
to Nevada. Mary, John and Neil were teaching school so Mother, Frank and
I left in the fall for Magrath Alberta Canada. We traveled by train and
when we arrived Father bought a little unpainted 2 room frame home with
a vivid blue door across the street from William Wood's home.
We lived in Magrath with it's friendly people and bitter cold winters.
Mary, Johna and Neil eventually came up too so Father bought the ab
Wallace home west of town. We had 4 rooms, a large barn and finally a
good well from which Brother Larson would come with his horse and a
barrel and hauled water to the towns people.
One winter father and the Meeks boys lost a lot of cattle when the cold
and snow froze them in their tracks.
Finally all the children were married except Tom. Marry married Will
Evens; Neil married Chloe Hatch; John married Jennie Heap; Frank married
Rachael Ackroyd and I married Ammon J Mercer.
Father became sick and had to go to the Hospital, so he and Mother moved
to Bountiful Utah in 1918. They bought a comfortable home at 165 E
Center Street and lived active and happy till Father died on February
6th 1927 and Mother, having cancer, died March 5th of the same year.
{I am assuming that from here on it is Florence's children writing}
We, Florence and family had moved to Bountiful in 1922 to help Mother
and she still lives there. Tom died March 17th 1953 in Bountiful where
he had spent the winters with Florence. Frank and Rachael live in Salt
Lake City, Mary and Will in California, John and Neil and their families
still live in Cardston Alberta Canada.
Mother had many friends because everyone that knew her loved her sweet,
kind, patient, gentle, unassuming spirit.
"AS YEARS GLIDE BY, WITH GIFTS OF JOY AND SORROW,
WE MARK THE DAYS WHOSE BLESSINGS SEEM MOST TRUE.
THE DAY BEST OF ALL IS THE GLAD BRIGHT SPRINGTIME
THAT BROUGHT US TO YOU.
ACCEPT THE LOVE AND HOPES OF HEARS MOST LOYAL,
AMONG THE BEST OF EARTH YOU RANK THEIR PEER;
FOR HEART AND BRAIN HAVE MADE YOU SURELY ROYAL
OUR SISTER DEAR.
YOUR HEART HAS EVERY SOUGHT FOR TRUTH AND BEAUTY,
YOU'VE FOUND THEM WHERE OTHERS FOUND BUT STRIVE,
YOU'VE TAUGHT US HOW TO DIGNIFY OUR DUTY, AND LOVE
OUR LIFE.
YOU MADE THE WORST YIELD UP ITS BEST IN SOMEWISE,
SO THE FRAGRANCE OF YOUR YOUTH CLINGS WITH YOU STILL,
YOUR INFLUENCE SO SWEET, YET STRONG AND LASTING,
AS ROCK CLAD HILL."
