| Notes |
- !CENSUS 1851AUGUSTUS SEELEY TIME LINE
BORN IN NEW ENGLAND
9 APR 1760 JOINED THE NEW YORK PROVINCIAL TROOPS IN QUEEN?S COUNTY NEW YORK DURING THE FRENCH AND INDIAN SEVEN YEARS WAR. LISTED HIS OCCUPATION AS A HATTER. HIS SON JOSEPH LATER STATED THAT HIS FATHER HAD SERVED UNDER JEFFERY AMHERST DURING THE SEVEN YEARS WAR AND IN THE CORPS OF CAPT. JAMES CAMPBELL DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. ?AUGUSTUS WAS ON THE UNITED LOYALIST LIST FOR LANCASTER TWSP IN UPPER CANADA AND WAS CALLED GUSTUS.? ROBERT SEELEY, OTTAWA, CANADA.
1760/1 MET AND MARRIED MARY BRISBIN WHO WAS BORN IN IRELAND.
2 JUNE 1761 MUSTERED IN NEW YORK PROVINCIAL TROOPS IN ALBANY COUNTY NEW YORK.
FIRST CHILD, MARGARET BORN IN ALBANY CO. IN 1801 LISTED IN THE ELIZABETHTOWN CENSUS AS MARGARET WICKWIRE WITH LABRORIS AND FOUR CHILDREN: PHILIP, MARY, LABRORIS JR AND JANE. IN 1804 CENSUS LABRORIS WAS MISSING.
LISTED IN LOYALISTS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AS LIVING IN SARATOGA
CARRIE BORN IN ALBANY CO. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE CARRIE CAME TO CANADA. NOTHING MORE IS KNOWN ABOUT HER.
JAMES BORN IN ALBANY CO. LISTED IN 1801 CENSUS AS SPOUSE OF ELIZABETH (MANHARD) WITH 4 CHILDREN: DAVID, MARY, JANE & ROBERT. JAMES SERVED WITH AUGUSTUS DURING REVOLUTIONARY WAR. AT AGE 16 HE ENLISTED AS A PRIVATE IN ROGERS CORP, IN HIS FATHERS OLD UNIT. (AUGUSTUS WOULD HAVE BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH COL. ROGERS DURING THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR). RECEIVED LAND IN LANCASTER ALONG WITH SIR JOHNSON AND HIS SCOTS. HOWEVER HE SETTLED IN ELIZABETHTOWN. MRD 1ST ELIZABETH MANHARD - CHILDREN: DAVID, MARY, ELIZABETH, JAMES JR, JANE, LEWIS, MRD 2ND MARY POLLY - CHILDREN: MARGRETT, JOSEPH, PHILIP, AUGUSTUS, ANNA & PEET. SERVED IN WAR OF 1812 IN THE MILITIA, WAS TAKEN PRISONER AT THE BATTLE OF LUNDY?S LANE, DECLARED HE WAS A CRIPPLE BECAUSE OF SEVERE COLD CAUGHT WHILE ON HIS ESCAPE FROM THE U.S.
RUTH BORN IN ALBANY CO. IN 1801 CENSUS LISTED AS SPOUSE OF SAM JUDSON WITH THREE CHILDREN: LEWIS, SAMUEL & ABIGAIL. BY 1807 THERE WERE OTHER CHILDREN SILUS, LABEUS, ANNA & REBECCA.
JANE BORN IN ALBANY CO. 1801 CENSUS LISTED JOHN & JANE ELLIOTT WITH JOHN JR. BY 1807 THERE WERE THREE MORE CHILDREN: JANE, SARAH AND CLARINDA.
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20 OCT 1774 MARY BAPTIZED IN SCHAGHTICOKE PROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. IN 1801 CENSUS SHE IS LISTED AS SPOUSE OF JOSEPH FAULKNER FOUR CHILDREN. INTERESTINGLY, THE CHILDREN'S NAMES WERE ELEANOR, WILLIAM, AUGUSTUS AND MARY - HIS PARENTS/HER PARENTS.
5 FEB 1776 ELIZABETH BAPTIZED IN SCHAGHTICOKE PROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. MARRIED SAMUEL NICHOL.
14 SEP 1777 WHILE LIVING AT OLD SARATOGA AUGUSTUS AND SON JAMES WERE HIRED ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHER LOYALISTS TO HERD GENERAL BURGOYNE?S CATTLE AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA.
16 OCT 1777 GEN. BURGOYNE, REALIZING THE LOYALIST TROOPS WERE SURROUNDED AND ADVISED THEM TO ESCAPE AS HE WAS GOING TO SURRENDER THE NEXT DAY. MANY DID ESCAPE BUT AUGUSTUS & JAMES DECIDED TO STAY AS MARY AND THE GIRLS WERE TOO YOUNG OR WEAK FOR THE HAZARDOUS TRIP NORTH. AUGUSTUS & JAMES WERE CONFINED TO A CAMP BUT ESCAPED AFTER TWO WEEKS.
AUGUSTUS, ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHERS PETITIONED THE CROWN FOR LAND IN LANCASTER, GLANGARRY, UPPER CANADA. IT IS LIKELY THE GROUP HAD KNOWN EACH OTHER DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. BESIDES AUGUSTUS AND JAMES THE LIST INCLUDED JAMES YOUNG, THOMAS BAIN ROSS, JACOB SNYDER AND JOHN SNYDER.
14 APR 1779 ANNIE BAPTIZED IN SCHAGHTICOKE PROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. PROBABLY BORN IN SARATOGA. LISTED IN 1802 CENSUS WITH SPOUSE DAVID LAKEN.
16 NOV 1780 SARAH BORN IN ALBANY CO. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT AUGUSTUS LIVED IN SCHAGHTICOKE SO IT MAY BE ASSUMED ALL OF THE CHILDREN WERE BORN IN SARATOGA. IN 1801 CENSUS SHE AND JOSEPH WERE LIVING WITH AUGUSTUS AND MARY. SHE WAS MISSING FROM 1802 CENSUS WHICH ESTABLISHES MARRIAGE DATE TO HAZARD WILCOX JR WAS 1801 OR 1802.
21 MAY 1783 JOSEPH BAPTIZED IN SCHAGHTICOKE PROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH. GRANTED LAND NEAR LAKE GANANOQUI. HE LIVED AT HOME WITH AUGUSTUS AND MARY UNTIL 1807 WHEN HE WAS LISTED IN CENSUS LIVING WITH SISTER ANNY, HER HUSBAND DAVID LAKINS AND THEIR 2 CHILDREN.
DURING THE WAR OF 1812 HE WOULD BE TRIED FOR DESERTION & TREASON. HE TALKED HIS WAY OUT OF THE CHARGE BY TELLING OF HIS FATHER?S HIGH VALUES ON LOYALTY. HE SAID THAT NO MEMBER OF THE FAMILY WOULD EVEN THINK OF ANYTHING BUT LOYALTY TO THE CROWN. HE STATED THAT HIS LOYALTY WAS INSTINCTIVE, INSPIRED BY THE ATTACHMENT OF FAMILY. HE RECEIVED A CONDITIONAL PARDON MILITARY C SERIES: C166 P 53 APR 1814, LETTER LT. GEN DRUMMOND TO N. FLEET. SEE ALSO " MCMILLAN DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHIES BY S. STEWART WALLACE.
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14 JUN 1784 SARAH BAPTIZED IN SCHAGHTICOKE PROTESTANT DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH.
AUGUSTIN LISTED IN THE ELIZABETHTOWN CENSUS. OTHER SELEE (SIC) HEADS OF FAMILIES WERE JUSTUS AND PEET. ALSO LISTED WAS WICKWIRE (MARGARET) & FALKNER (MARY).
1 SEP 1797 AUGUSTUS RECEIVED HIS 3 LOTS IN LANCASTER.
AUGUSTUS, MARY, JOSEPH AND SARAH LISTED IN ELIZABETHTOWN CENSUS. OTHER SELEE HEADS OF FAMILIES INCLUDED JOSEPH, JUSTUS AND JARED.
16 JULY 1804 AUGUSTUS SOLD LOT 20 IN LANCASTER TO JACOB SNYDER AND LOT 21 TO JOSEF SNYDER.
16 APR 1807 AUGUSTUS SON JAMES SOLD LOT 25 IN LANCASTER TO JOHN MCLENNAN.
1804 CENSUS LISTED ?FAM NO? 272, MARY SELEE AND JOSEPH SELEE.
1808 ELIZABETHTOWN HEAD OF HOUSE CENSUS LISTED MRS SEELY LIVING ALONE NEAR JOSEPH SEELY, JOSEPH FALKNER, AND DAVID LAKEN,
AUGUSTUS DIED IN ELIZABETHTOWN, UPPER CANADA.
OCT 1873 PROXY BAPTISM BY JOHN HENRY WILCOX. ENDOWMENT HOUSE, (GS SER. NO. 183385), BOOK D, PG. 377, #17314.
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APRIL 2001
STATE OF UTAH
!HISTORY
SARAH ?SEELEY? WILCOX
BORN 16 NOVEMBER 1780
DIED 9 OCTOBER 1856
?RELIC OF HASSARD WILCOX?
BY
ALBERT ANTRELL
CORRECTIONS BY KARL L. WEILER AS NOTED
A THIRD GREAT GRANDSON
NOTES FOR SARAH SEALEY
1 JAN 1980 PAGE1
BIRTH-BUR-DEATH: AFN:1CTF-X0; MANTI CEMETERY RECORDS; FAMILY HISTORY OF SARAH? THE LIFE OF A PIONEER WOMAN FROM HER 21ST TO 76 TH YEARS, BY
ALBERT ANTREL.
HISTORY: THE FOLLOWING IS THE HISTORY OF SARAH BY ALBERT ANTREL.
IT IS NOTHING IN NEW ENGLAND OR ANY OTHER PART OF THE ORIGINAL 13 COLONIES TO FIND CHURCHYARD HEADSTONES DATING BACK TO THE 18TH CENTURY. BUT THEY ARE CONSIDERABLE LESS ABUNDANT IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN AND GREAT BASIN WEST, NEITHER OF WHICH WAS VERY SETTLED BEFORE THE 1840?S AND 1850?S (THE 19TH CENTURY).
THIS WAS ONE OF THE REASONS THAT I FOUND THE MARKER OF SARAH WILCOX SO REMARKABLE IN THE CEMETERY AT MANTI, SANPETE, UTAH. SARAH?S GRAVE LOOKS COMMON ENOUGH AMONG ALL THE REST OF THE PIONEERS. NOTHING TO BE EXCITED ABOUT; A SIMPLE COLITE STONE, PEELING BADLY IN LAYERS AFTER 124 YEARS. (NOTE KW1: IN 2001 THE STONE IS GONE AND A SMALL FLAT MARKED STONE HAS REPLACED IT.) SARAH DIED ON OCTOBER 9, 1856. THE STONE READ; SARAH WILCOX, RELIC OF HASSARD WILCOX, BORN NOVEMBER 16, 1780, DIED OCTOBER 9, 1856.
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SHE WAS 76 YEARS OF AGE AT HER DEATH. NOTHING SO UNUSUAL THERE EITHER, EXCEPT THAT IN HER DAY, AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY WAS PROBABLY 40 YEARS LESS. BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING ABOUT SARAH THAT REACHED BEYOND THE COMMON, THE ORDINARY. GEOGRAPHY AND A PARADE OF MEN AND EVENTS OF 1780 BEGAN CROWDING AROUND HER GRAVESTONE.
INEVITABLY, SARAH WILL BE 200 YEARS OLD ON NOVEMBER 16, 1980, AND POSSIBLY THIS MAKES HER THE OLDEST WHITE RESIDENT OF UTAH, ALIVE OR DEAD! BUT THERE WAS MORE TO IT THAN A LOCAL RECORD.
IN THE YEAR OF HER BIRTH, 1780 THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION WERE MUDDLING ALONG, TRYING TO GOVERN 13 UNRULY, JEALOUS ATURE 34 YEARS OF AGE WHEN THE TREATY OF GHENT ENDED THE WAR OF 1812 ON CHRISTMAS EVE 1814.
THERE IS A LITTLE CONFUSION IN THE RECORDS WHERE SHE WAS BORN, WHETHER IN EXTER, RHODE ISLAND OR IN ALBANY, NEW YORK. WHICHEVER IS TRUE, SARAH?S FEET FIRST PLODDED WESTWARD THROUGH THE MOHAWK VALLEY IN 1801, HAVING MARRIED HAZARD WILCOX JR. IN ALBANY. IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY IN 1801, THERE WERE STILL SOME ECHOES OUT OF THE REVOLUTION AND EVEN A FEW OUT OF THE EARLIER FRENCH AND INDIAN FRACAS OF HER FATHER?S DAY.
LYING BESIDE SARAH IN FAR-OFF UTAH IS HER OLDEST DAUGHTER AND FIRST-BORN, MARY WILCOX LOWRY. MARY WAS BORN IN ?OSSEWAGOTCHA?, (SAYS THE INSCRIPTION ON HER STONE) COUNTY IN ?UPPER CANADA? IN 1802. OBVIOUSLY, SARAH AND HAZARD HAD EMIGRATED TO CANADA THROUGH THE MOHAWK VALLEY TO THE NIGRA RIVER AND INTO WHAT IS NOW SOUTH-EASTERN ONTARIO.
ALBANY IS SOUNDLY LOCATED GEOGRAPHICALLY AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE MOHAWK AND HUDSON VALLEYS, AND IN 1801 IT?S 3000 PERMANENT RESIDENTS PROBLY STILL SAW OCCASIONAL CHARACTERS IN? LEATHERSTOCKINGS?. UP THE MOHAWK LAY THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERATION AND ENGLISH CANADA. MUST THERE BE ANY QUESTION THAT IN 1801 SARAH AND THE MOHAWK AND THE SENECA, THE ONADAGA THE HURONS ON HER MIND? ONE MAY WELL WONDER WHETHER EVEN THE NAME TECUMSEH WAS NOT KNOWN TO HER.
IN THE CASE OF SARAH AND HAZARD, THEY WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO A GRANT OF LAND IN CANADA, GIVEN TO THEM BY THE BRITISH FOR SERVICES RENDERED TO THE CROWN BY HAZARD?S FATHER, HAZARD WILCOX SR. (NOTEKW2: COPIES OF THIS LAND GRANT IS ENCLOSED). THE SENIOR WILCOX WAS A CAPTAIN IN BRITISH-AMERICAN LOYALIST MILITIA, AND HE WAS KILLED IN THE BATTLE AT WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK IN 1776, WHILE IN PURSUIT OF THE REBEL GENERALS, WASHINGTON AND MCDOUGAL. HAZARD SR. IN OTHER WORDS WAS A ?TORY?, AND NOT ONLY A ?REDCOAT?, BUT A CAPTAIN OF ?LOBSTERNECKS?. (NOTEKW3: THIS IS
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DOCUMENTED IN THE BOOK NT WHEN HIS FATHER DIED IN BATTLE FOR THE CROWN, AND HE NEVER KNEW HIM. HAZARD, JR., WAS A FARMER, AND LIKE MANY FARMERS IN THE 13 STATES, HE WANTED GOOD , NEW LAND TO START HIS MARRIED LIFE ON, A DESIRE TO BE REALIZED IN UPPER CANADA, THANKS TO GREAT BRITAIN.
SARAH BORE FIVE CHILDREN IN UPPER CANADA, HER FIRST-BORN BEING MARY, AND ALL FIVE WERE BORN IN ERNESTTOWN, OSSEWEGATCHIE COUNTY. THE WILCOX?S REMAINED FRONTIER CANADIANS FOR 10 YEARS, BUT ON THE BRINK OF THE WAR OF 1812, HAZARD WILCOX MADE A DECISION. HE REMOVED HIS FAMILY BACK INTO AMERICAN TERRITORY AND EMIGRATED FARTHER WEST TO MARION COUNTY, MISSOURI. FOUR MORE CHILDREN WERE BORN THERE. IN 1820, FOR VAGUER REASONS, HAZARD AND HIS FAMILY MOVED AGAIN THIS TIME TO CARMI, WHITE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. A SET OF TWINS HAD BEEN BORN AND DIED IN MISSOURI, AND A SECOND SET WAS BORN IN CARMI, OF WHICH ONE DIED AT BIRTH. SHORTLY THEREAFTER THE WILCOX?S MOVED ONCE MORE. THIS TIME TO BENTON, SALINE COUNTY, ARKANSAS. HERE IN 1824, HAZARD DIED AT THE AGE OF 49, LEAVING SARAH WITH FIVE CHILDREN SHE HAD BORNE HIM IN ALL (KW4: PROBATE WILL SHOWS HAZARD DIED IN 1831) SARAH GAVE BIRTH TO HER LAST CHILD, JOHN HENRY OWEN WILCOX, AND SHE SAW HER FIRST-BORN, MARY, MARRIED TO A KENTUCKIAN, JOHN LOWRY, SR. ONE OTHER DAUGHTER, HER NAMESAKE, SARAH, HAD ALSO MARRIED, LEAVING HER WITH SABRA, AGE 14, AND TWO SMALLER CHILDREN, THE ONE A CHILD OF THREE NAMED CLARISSA JANE, AND THE OTHER THE RECENTLY-BORN BABY, JOHN HENRY OWEN.
SARAH WAS ESPECIALLY CLOSE TO HER DAUGHTER, MARY WILCOX LOWRY, AND WHEN MARY AND JOHN LOWRY JOINED THE MORMON CHURCH IN 1833, THERE IS NO CLEAR RECORD OF ANY OBJECTION ON SARAH?S PART. IN FACT, IN TIME THE TWO YOUNGEST OF SARAH?S CHILDREN WERE ALSO BAPTIZED INTO THAT DENOMINATION. AS FOR SARAH IN 1833 SHE WAS 53 YEARS OLD, BOTH BAPTIZABLE AND MARRIAGEABLE AS A WIDOW, BUT SHE SHOWED NO INCLINATION FOR EITHER. (KW5: NAUVOO TEMPLE RECORDS SHOW SARAH COMPLETED HER ENDOWMENTS. I BELIEVE SARAH JOINED THE CHURCH WITH HER CHILDREN.)
WHETHER BEFORE 1847 SHE HAD JOINED THAT CHURCH OR NOT, HOWEVER, SARAH WENT ALONG WITH THE LOWRYS ON THEIR LONG TREK TO UTAH. SHE WOULD BEEN 67 YEARS OLD ON HER LAST WESTWARD MOVE.
SOMETIME AROUND 1850 WHEN SARAH WAS ABOUT 70 SHE ARRIVED IN THE SANPETE VALLEY OF CENTRAL UTAH TO BE WITH MARY W. LOWRY. HER SON WAS MARRIED IN 1848 IN SALT LAKE CITY. IT IS LIKELY THAT HE AND HIS WIFE ACCOMPANIED SARAH TO THE? SANPETE FORT? (MANTI), BUT DID NOT REMAIN THERE. THOSE ARE THE ?BARE FACTS?. THEY ARE RECORDED OR SURMISED FROM GENERAL HISTORIC BACKGROUND.
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NOT MUCH IS KNOWN ABOUT SARAH PERSONALLY; ABOUT HER APPEARANCE, HER PERSONALITY OR HER TEMPERAMENT WE KNOW NOTHING. THERE ARE GROUNDS, HOWEVER, TO ASSUME HONESTLY THAT SHE WAS AT LEAST STRONG, HEALTHY AND PATIENT. A FEW VITAL FACTS ALSO KNOWN FROM RECORDS, CAN BE ADDED.
HER FATHER?S NAME WAS AUGUSTUS SEELEY, OR ZIEGLY, AND ALTHOUGH FROM EXETER, RHODE ISLAND HIMSELF, HE SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN OF GERMAN EXTRACTION. HER MOTHER WAS MARY BRISKIN, OF BRITISH DESCENT. ACCORDING TO THE CRUMBLING INSCRIPTION ON HER GRAVESTONE, SARAH WAS THE DIED OF ?PARALYSIS?, AND THAT IN HER LAST MOMENTS SHE WAS ATTENDED BY HER DAUGHTER, MARY WILCOX LOWRY. THE NAME OF ?JOSEPH WILCOX? HAS SOMEHOW, MYSTERIOUSLY, MADE IT INTO THE MANTI CEMETERY RECORD WITH NO OTHER INFORMATION OTHER THAN A BURIAL PILOT NUMBER(UNIDENTIFIED BY ANY MARKER) THERE IS NO OTHER INFORMATION ABOUT ?JOSEPH WILCOX?. ONE OF SARAH?S TWINS, BORN IN MISSOURI IN 1814 WAS NAMED JOSEPH, BUT FAMILY RECORDS SHOW HE DIED THE YEAR HE WAS BORN.
SARAHE INTERTWINED WITH ALL THREE IN SOMEWAY, BUT AFTER 1854 SHE PROBABLY LIVING IN JOHN LOWRY?S HOUSE UNDER THE NORTH WALL OF THE BIG FORT. THE TREELESS VICINITY WAS AS DIFFERENT FROM CANADA, MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS (AND CERTAINLY IN CONTRAST WITH RHODE ISLAND AND NEW YORK) AS A PLACE COULD BE. IT WAS AN ARID LANDSCAPE OF SAGEBRUSH AND BUNCHGRASS. WAGON RUTS WIGGLED AND WOVE THEIR WAY BETWEEN THE SAGE FROM DESTINATION TO DESTINATION WITHOUT DELINEATED STREETS. FOR SARAH THE SANPETE FORT WAS ONLY ONE AND THE LAST OF SEVERAL FAR FLUNG OUTPOSTS IN WHICH SHE SPENT HER LIFE?S BLOOD AFTER LEAVING THE CIVILIZATION OF ALBANY IN 1801.
HER LIFE WAS CHARACTERISTICALLY AMERICAN IN ITS RESTLESSNESS AND IN ITS NEAR-ROOTLESS NESS. THE FARMER?S WIFE, LIKE THE FARMER, MOVED WITH THE TIDE OF WESTWARD AGRICULTURAL EMIGRATION. TO CONTACTS WITH THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS OF HER PARENT?S TIME, THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR OF 1812 AND WESTWARD EMIGRATION, IN THE 1830?S, SARAH EVIDENTLY ADDED CONTACTS WITH THE MORMON PERSECUTION AND EVENTUALLY WITH THE MORMON EMIGRATION INTO THE DESERTS OF THE FAR WEST. SHE WAS NOT BAPTIZED, EVIDENTLY, UNTIL 1857, ONE YEAR AFTER HER DEATH, WHEN, OF COURSE, IT HAD TO BE DONE AT THE FOOT OF THE HILL WHERE THE MORMON CHURCH IN 1877, WAS TO ERECT A TEMPLE. IT
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WAS NOT ALTOGETHER UNFITTING OR UNSYMBOLIC THAT SARAH?S COMPANY IN THE GRAVEYARD WAS MORE RED THAN WHITE.
IT IS NOT CLEAR THAT SARAH WAS PERSONAL SECURITY EVEN BEFORE 1801, CONSIDERING THE PROXIMITY OF A PRISTINE WILDERNESS. IF IN HER LIFE SHE WAS NEVER CONCERNED WITH INFLATION, UNEMPLOYMENT, DRUGS AND LUNG CANCER, SHE FACED PROBLEMS OF RAW SURVIVAL DAILY INSTEAD. THERE IS NOW WAY TO CONCLUDE SHE EVER KNEW MUCH COLONIAL GRACE.
HERS WAS NOT COMFORT IN A LEISURELY MOUNT VERNON OR AN INTELLECTUAL MONTICELLO, NEITHER WERE HARVARD AND YALE, VITAL IN HER NEW ENGLAND ANCESTRY. HERS WAS A LIFE THAT FEATURED RIGOROUS PHYSICAL DEMANDS ON MUSCLES AND NERVES IN THE PRIMEVAL.
SHARH HEWED WOOD AND HAULED WATER PROBABLY NOT MUCH LESS THAN THE STONE-AGE SQUAWS IN THE FOREST OR THE MOUNTAINS THAT SURROUNDED HER. SHE MET THE INDIAN FROM THE WYANDOT OF THE GREAT LAKES TO THE UTE OF THE GREAT BASIN. SHE WAS PRESENT IN JOHN LOWRY?S HOUSE, ALONE, WITH HER GRANDDAUGHTER, MARY LOWRY, WHEN
THE ?HAWK-OF THE MOUNTAINS,? WAH-KA-RA, STRODE UNANNOUNCED INTO THE ROOM AND RAPTUROUSLY ASKED THE TEENAGE MARY TO BE HIS WIFE. WHEN MARY REFUSED, AND LIED ABOUT HER REASONS, SARAH WAS STILL THERE AND TENSE, AND POSSIBLY LOOKING AROUND FOR A FIRE POKER OR AN IRON FRYING PAN, (AS SO MANY FRONTIER WOMEN WERE KNOWN TO DO WHEN INDIANS APPEARED SUDDENLY IN THEIR HOUSES), WHEN HE DROVE HIS STEEL TRADING-POST KNIFE ANGRILY INTO JOHN LOWRY?S HOMEMADE TABLETOP.
THE ONLY THINGS THAT CHANGED FOR SARAH WHEN SHE CROSSED THE PLAINS ON HER BIGGEST TREK OF ALL, ONE OF A THOUSAND MILES FROM COUNCIL BLUFF TO THE GREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY, WERE THE NAMES OF THE INDIAN TRIBES AND THE CLIMATE.
IT APPEALS TO HUMAN COMPASSION, EVEN AFTER 124 YEARS, TO KNOW THAT MARY WILCOX LOWRY, HER FIRST ?BORN AND ONE OF HER ?UPPER CANADIANS,? IS STILL BY HER SIDE, 200-YEAR-OLD MOTHER?S SIDE IN ARID UTAH. MARY SURVIVED HER MOTHER BY ONLY THREE YEARS AND DIED HERSELF IN 1859, AT THE AGE OF 57.
SARAH?S GRAVESTONE CRUMBLED TO THE GROUND LAST SPRING (1980), AND AS THOUGH IN SYMPATHY, SO DID MARY?S. AS SARAH?S IDENTITY PEELS FROM HER STONE COMPLETELY, PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE MAY BOTHER TO WONDER, ?A REAL OLD ONE. WONDER WHY SHE CAME.? UNANSWERED THEY WILL GO BY THE BIRTH DATE ON HER STONE?. THE IROQUOIS? THE REDCOAT BETWEEN UPPER CANADA, MISSOURI AND ILLINOIS, BUT IN 1856, SHE LAY DOWN IN ETERNITY IN AN OLD UTE BURIAL GROUND WITH ONLY ONE OUT OF THE TWELVE TO HOLD HER CALLOUSED, WRINKLED HANDS.
WHEN SARAH WAS BORN THERE WERE STILL ELEVEN YEARS BEFORE THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TOOK OFFICE, AND THERE WERE ONLY 13 STATES, ALL IF THEM EAST OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. WHEN SHE DIED IT WAS DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 14TH PRESIDENT, FRANKLIN PIERCE, AND MR PIERCE WAS PRESIDENT OF 31 STATES, SIX OF THEM INCLUDING CALIFORNIA, BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI.
THE FRENCH USUALLY HAVE SOMETHING POIGNANT TO SAY ABOUT ALL EARTHLY GAMUTS: TOUT CASSE, TOUT LASSE, TOUT PASSE. ? EVERYTHING BREAKS, EVERYTHING WEARS OUT, EVERYTHING PASSES AWAY.? SOMETIMES THAT IS A CONSOLATION. IT IS ALWAYS TRUE, AND AND IT IS ALWAYS FINAL.
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1780 - 1856 (75 years)
