HISTORY OF SARAH ANN WRIGHT BROADHEAD
Sarah Ann Wright Broadhead was born a daughter of pioneers James Brigham and
Sarah Jane Chappell Wright, in Nephi, Juab Co., Utah on the 7 December 1867.
Her parents lived two blocks from the Fort in a home built of adobes with a
large fireplace where her mother did all her cooking. Sarah Ann disliked fireplaces
the rest of her life. When she was two weeks old, she was taken with her mother
into the fort as Indians had began making trouble again. Her father was one
of the guards.
Her schooling started in a one-room school with an older woman as teacher. There
were no desks. They sat on benches with a book, slate and a slate pencil on
their laps. This school was built a short distance from the fort.
She was sent to Sunday School regularly and baptized when eight years old. Also,
rebaptized at the age of fifteen, a form of practice in those early days. Elder
Paxman president of the Juab Stake, confirmed her and promised her many things
that came to pass during her life. She never forgot the wonderful testimony
of the Gospel that she received at that time.
Sarah Ann Wright was quite tall and beautiful with her dark brown hair and brown
sparkling eyes. In the Logan Temple she was married to James Morris Broadhead
of Nephi, on 9 April 1885. He was a rancher and mixed farmer on Four Mile Creek,
four miles south of Nephi. There they lived all the time except for a few winter
months at their home in Nephi.
When she was eighteen years old, she was chosen to a Relief Society teacher
and drove her own one -horse buggy into Nephi to make her monthly visits to
the members of her district and to attend the Relief Society meeting every week.
In those days there were no parent classes in Sunday School. However, James
and Sarah Ann attended every Sunday School with their children.
They had five children - three boys and two girls. Mary Jane, James Seth, Elva,
Edward Parley, and Jesse. Baby Seth passed away at the age of three months.
Mrs. Broadhead, as well as her husband, was a lover of music. They bought an
organ so that their oldest girl, Jennie, could take music lessons. Her music
teacher was an uncle,
Charlie Morris. Mrs. Broadhead kept her children well dressed, had pictures
taken of them and took them to important affairs like a circus, parades and
jubilees.
In 1898 they sold out and moved to Canada. The mother and four children came
by train and the father traveled by ox team and covered wagon, reaching Alberta
in the spring of 1899 and immediately settled on a homestead three miles south
of Beazer. Mrs. Broadhead experienced the hardships of pioneering in the west:
the weather conditions, losses in crops and livestock, poor prices, traveling
fifteen miles to Cardston and fifteen back in wagons and buggies and exposed
to all kinds of weather. The children rode horseback three miles to school and
it was a struggle to send them regularly because of the weather.
There were advantages of course-plenty of good pasture, hay, water, wild fruits,
wild meats, good gardens of vegetables, dairy products, poultry and eggs. The
best food one could ask for. As soon as the new home was finished, trees shrubs,
flowers and lawn were planted. Mrs. Broadhead was ambitious and strived for
higher standards of living. She stacked grain, milked cows, raised chickens,
raised a good garden, made butter and got 25¢ a pound for it which was
considered a good price.
Two more boys were added to the family- Grant Morris and Glen David. In spite
of all the hard work, Sarah Ann Broadhead found time to sew, knit, embroider,
crochet, read, study her church lessons, and drive a team on the buggy six miles,
round trip, weekly to attend her Relief Society meetings. She was first chosen
as second councilor in the Relief Society to Pres. Sarah Jane Wright on 20 March
1902 and set apart by Bishop Mark E. Beazer. In 1913 on the 14 September, she
was chosen as first councilor to Pres. Ellen Beazer. When the Relief Society
was reorganized the 3 July 1922, Sarah Ann Broadhead was made President. She
was at one time the Primary President and also a teacher in the Sunday School
for years.
She acted as midwife in emergency cases, and nursed the sick and helped the
needy. Her heart was filled with gratitude that her two sons Grant and Parley
had the priviledge of fulfilling honorable full term missions to England and
Eastern Canada respectively.
She took much pleasure in her musical family. All could sing and play some instrument.
Jennie the organ, Elva the accordion and harmonica, Parley the violin, Jesse
the drums, ant the saxophone, and Glen the piano. The boys formed an orchestra
and furnished music for dances in Beazer as well as for dances in all the surrounding
communities for years.
Sarah Ann Broadhead was greatly interested in Temple work, securing many ancestral
names for baptisimal and ordinance work. She spent some winters in Cardston
attending temple sessions as well as riding in from the ranch whenever possible.
Some time after being left a widow, her husband's sister, Mary Alice, became
ill with a lingering illness. Mrs. Broadhead immediately went down to Nephi,
Utah and nursed and cared for her until she passed away.
Although troubled with arthritis for many years she was always busy and keenly
interested in world affairs. She was Relief Society magazine agent until the
time of her death, just two months before her eightieth birthday. She passed
away six weeks after suffering from a stroke on the 10 October 1947.
These two poems were her favorites
HERE IN LIFE
Tis a little journey this we walk,
Hardly time for murmurs or much talk,
Yet we learn to quarrel and to hate,
Afterwards regret it when too late.
Now and then tis sunshine, sometimes dark,
Sometimes care and sorrow leave their mark,
Often there is laughter - often tears.
Sometimes there are losses felt for years.
Yet we walk the pathway side by side
Where many others have lived and died.
We can see the moral - understand
Yet we walk not always hand in hand.
Why must there be friction and regret,
Words and deeds we oft try to forget,
Why must there be hatred, greed and strife,
Do we need such shadows here in life?
Tis a journey soon gone by –
Let's be friends together ere we die.
FRIENDSHIP AND FLOWERS
There are too many hearts that are hungry
For expressions of love never said,
There are too many lives that are blighted
For the lack of kind words, till they're dead.
What use are the flowers and the friendship
When life's ebbs and flows are all spent.
There are too many hearts that are aching
For words and for flowers not sent.
Oh give me kind words while I'm with you
Don't wait till my ears cannot hear.
And cheer my sad heart with your flowers,
They may keep back many a tear.
It does not cost much to give kindness,
Just an act of the will on your part,
But you know not the joy it will give me
Nor the warmth it will give to my heart.
The flowers that are grown in your-garden
Though it be but a tulip or two,
Will be dear to the heart of a loved one
When he knows they are offered by you.
Yet friendship is greater than flowers,
It's fragrance more lasting and true,
But give them to me while I'm living,
Don't wait till I'm dead ere you do.
A TRIBUTE TO MY MOTHER - by Elva Beazer -
My mother was a rather tall, well built, handsome woman, with brown eyes and
hair. She was strong and robust always enjoying excellent health and neat in
personal appearance. Mother was a good manager, a quick, capable, industrious,
thrifty worker inside or outside.
She was a splendid cook, dressmaker, housekeeper, gardener, poultry raiser,
needlewoman and dairywoman. She loved music and sang soprano, chorded on the
organ and piano, and accompanied her husband accordion playing. They played
for all the dances in the early days free of charge, even hauled their organ
around to the homes where the dances were held.
She was a steady, faithful church and community worker, holding important positions
such as president of the Relief Society and Primary, and was councilor and teacher
in the other organizations. She was always prayerful, an honest tithe payer,
greatly interested in Temple work, securing many ancestral names for baptisimal
and ordinance work.
She was an honest woman in all her dealings, steadfast in her convictions, was
a good reader and read the scriptures and church section of the Deseret News
to her family. Together with Father, they taught their children the Gospel.
Every one of their children has been through the temple. Mother was always willing
to help in times of need and sickness, several times acting as midwife in emergency
cases. She was a natural born nurse, efficient, kind, sympathetic, patient,
never tiring in her efforts to give relief or ease pain.
Our parents tried to give us children as many advantages as they could afford
in those early days considering where they were situated. They sent two sons
on missions. Some were given music lessons both vocal and instrumental. Several
boys were sent to agricultural college.
Mother was very practical about leaving this earth. Realizing that her usefulness
here was over, she was anxious to join her husband and loved ones on the other
side. She possessed a strong sense of duty and had tried to do her best on earth
and she was not afraid to die. The longer I live, the more I appreciate the
good life and character of my beloved mother