Sarah King

Sarah King

4th Great Grandmother

 

Birth Date: 24 August 1798
Birth Place: Cambridge, Washington, New York
Parents: Jonathon Seymour King and Tapenne Tapinsel Coy
Death Date: 25 May 1870
Death Place: Salem, Utah

 

Sarah King Hillman

Sarah King Hillman became a widow at the age of 40. Four living children were listed in Mayhew's obituary: Silas, age 19, Ira King, age 12, Mandana, age 11, and Sariah, age 3. Sarah continued to live in Nauvoo after the death of her husband. The Nauvoo Temple was under construction and Sarah aided in every way that she could. At a funeral discourse given by Joseph Smith in August 1840, Sarah first heard of the doctrine of baptism for the dead. She was eager to perform the ordinance of baptism for her deceased kindred. In 1843, she performed baptisms for her mother and other ancestors in the Nauvoo Temple. Records of these baptisms have proved of great value in enabling her descendants to search out her ancestry.

 

Sometime in 1844 or 1845, Sarah received her patriarchal blessing from John Smith, the uncle of the prophet Joseph Smith. Some of the blessings promised to Sarah Hillman were as follows: "...Thou shalt have sufficient riches for thy needs... Thou shalt be blessed to see Zion established upon the whole land of the United States... and to see a numerous posterity who will mourn thy loss and say, 'Verily a mother in Israel has fallen asleep.'"

 

Sarah continued to live in Nauvoo with her younger children, enduring the increasing persecutions of the Church. On 10 Dec 1845, ordinance work in the Nauvoo Temple commenced. There was great urgency for the Saints to receive their endowments and be sealed to their families before they were forced to flee from Nauvoo. On 24 Jan 1846, Sarah King Hillman received her endowments. She was sealed to her husband, Mayhew Hillman, for eternity, and was married to Libbeus T. Coons for time. On this occasion Sarah must have felt well compensated for the sacrifices made and the work performed during the building of the temple.  Sarah's nineteen-year old son, Ira, crossed the ice on the Mississippi River in February of 1846. He traveled with Brigham Young's company as far as Richardson's Point (located in Van Buren County, Iowa Territory, fifty-five miles from Nauvoo.) He returned to Nauvoo after Brigham Young counseled him to go back and assist his mother and her family to emigrate. In the spring of 1846, he started west for the second time with his mother and siblings. Ira and Sarah stopped at Garden Grove and planted corn and a garden for the use of other pioneers. They did not stop to harvest, but left Garden Grove on July 4th. They traveled to Mount Pisgah, where they stayed for a short time, and arrived at Kanesville (Council Bluffs), about the 1st of August 1848. They they moved to a place called Traders Point, Iowa. This small Branch of the Church was located on the east bank of the Missouri River, south of Council Bluffs, in Pottawattamie County,near the borderline of Mills County.

The Pottawamie Indians had been removed by the federal government a few months before. There were no Caucasion settlements for many miles. President Young deemed it wise that the Saints should hold this land for some time in the interests of emigration. In 1848, Sarah's son, Silas, Libbeus T. Coons, and others searched for land to farm on the Missouri River bottoms. They traveled up Keg Creek and established a settlement. They called the settlement"Coonville". The name of Coonville was later changed to Glenwood, Mills County, Iowa. Sarah, Silas, Ira, Mandana, and Sariah lived there with their families from 1848 to 1851. They organized a small branch of the Church which they named "Union Branch". The Pottawamie census of 1850 listed Sarah Hillman as residing in the household of her daughter Mandana Hillman Dalley. Sarah was fifty-one years old at the time of the census. The Coons family was also listed at a different residence. Libbeus Coons was thirty-eight years old and his wife Mary was thirty-seven, with children ranging in age from two to twenty-two. Sarah and her family resided in Coonville until 1852 when the first presidency of the LDS Church issued a call for "all true believers to gather to Salt Lake." The Pottawattamie lands were vacated, and the organization of the church there was discontinued. Sarah Hillman procured her own team and wagon for the trip west. She and her son, Silas Hillman, and family were assigned to the Twenty First Company under the direction of Allen Weeks. The Hillmans in a small company of ten or twelve wagons left on 10 Jun, two months ahead of the main Weeks company. They arrived at the mouth of Emigration Canyon on 10 Sep 1852. The Hillmans may have departed early because Silas was being sought by anti-Mormon groups who were increasing in numbers and intensity. Silas had been active and vocal in defending the rights of the Mormons in Pottawattamie County. The numbers of "gentiles" had increased as the Mormon emigrants gradually departed to Salt Lake and sold their land to them.

 

The Hillman company crossed the Missouri River at Platteville. They headed up a steep hill on the Nebraska side. As they neared the top, they found that the road had been blocked with trees which were felled by Indians who had a village at the summit. The Indians demanded a toll of the pioneers before letting them pass. That night, Indians crept into camp and stole two horses. Sarah encountered Indians several more times during the treck. Usually they would come into camp begging for food.

 

One frightening incident occurred at the upper crossing of the Platte River, when a group of Cheyenne Warriors encountered the small pioneer band. Sarah and the other women prepared a large feast, which the Indians ate, and then departed. Food for Hillman Company was not a problem, as they found fish, buffalo, and antelope to be plentiful along the way.

 

Sarah drove her wagon most of the way without incident, except when she forded the Upper Platte. The water was very high and the box floated off her wagon. They were able to recover it, and saved everything except for a piece of steel which she was bringing to Ira, who had already arrived in Utah. The Hillmans arrived at the entrance to the Salt Lake Valley on 10 Sep 1852. They rested for two or three days at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, and then traveled to Big Cottonwood where they stayed with her son Ira, and his bride Mary Pryann Petty.

 

Sarah Hillman Coons was living in the 12th ward of Salt Lake City in 1860. It is likely that she purchased a lot with money that she had inherited when her father died in 1857. Her thirteen-year-old granddaughter Fidelia Hillman, (daughter of Silas), was living with her at this time. She supported herself by making gloves. She may have taught this skill to her daughter-in-law, Emily Ann Cox Hilllman, who made beautiful buckskin gloves embroidered with a deep cuff with silk flowers. Sarah's grandson, Ira King Hillman Jr., lived with her from time to time. Ira told everyone what a wonderful person she was.

 

Sarah King Hillman Coons spent the last part of her life in Salem, Utah County, Utah. Libbeus Coons was residing in Salem at this time, as was Sarah's daughter, Sarah Haws, but it is not known with which family she was living. Libbeus Coons, who was a physician, and Dr. Riggs attended her during her illness. She died in Salem on 25 May 1870, of breast cancer, at the age of seventy-one. She was buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery.

 

Her obituary which was published in the Deseret News on 6 Jul(?) 1870, stated, "Sister Coons was with the church in all its driving and sufferings; and, up till the day of her death, was held in high respect by her brethren and sisters as a true and faithful Saint." A numerous posterity mourned her passing and said, "Verily a mother in Israel has fallen asleep."