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Samuel Cox, Sarah Jane Gane and Sarah Marchant Cox
Samuel Cox
Sarah Gane
Samuel Cox
Born: 7 February 1837 at West Cranmore, Somerset, England
Parents: Abraham Cox and Frances Beard
Married: 2 August 1870 at St. James, Middlesex, England
Died: 17 May 1926 at Beazer, Alberta, Canada
Sarah Gane
Born: 17 November 1833 in Shepton Mallet, Sommerset, England
Parents: George Gane and Jane Marchant
Died: 16 January 1915 at Beazer, Alberta, Canada
SKETCH OF SAMUEL COX AND SARAH GANE
His mother, Francis Beard, was born at Pilton, Somerset, February 3rd, 1803 and died the
latter part of April 1852. She was a school governess. She was a partial invalid for
many years and for the last two years had to be carried about. His oldest sister
Elizabeth became a school governess after her mother retired.
In those days it was the custom that the aristocracy, gave the school children a feast
during the Christmas holidays and once during the summer. Each child took a plate, cup,
knife, fork and spoon wrapped in a clean handkerchief and met on spacious lawns or on
the village green and marched to the school house where they ate from long tables piled
with roast beef, mutton, plum pudding, cake, etc., and all sang grace..."Be present at
our table Lord, Be here and everywhere adored, Thy creatures bless and grant that we,
Thy bounty Lord we all may see." After the feast they had games, balloons, fireworks, etc.
As a boy Samuel Cox spent some time with his elder brother Matthew in London who was a
bell-ringer for Big Ben. Boys wages at that time were sixpence per week. He went to
South Wales in 1855 at the age of eighteen to work the coal mines. The shafts were only
about 24" to 30" high. While there he was involved in an accident in which he was badly
crushed and was carried out of the mine as dead. However, he revived but his nose was
broken and his face badly cut. Thereafter he wore a full beard to hide the scars.
After he got well he went to work as a striker at a blacksmiths shop swinging a heavy
sledge hammer and he became very proficient at it and it gave him the necessary exercise
that made him very strong. he sent for his brother Edwin who came and worked with him at
10/Od per week. He met Edwin at the station and they walked nine miles over the mountains
carrying his trunk between them and taking turns carrying his bag. They worked at
Rhymney for some time, then Edwin left and went to Ebbwvale where he got work striking
at 14/Od per week. He then sent for his brother Samuel to join him, and when he got
there the only place he could find to board was with a Latter-day Saint family.
After trying everywhere to find a more suitable place and being unable to find one, he
said, "I don't care what he is and went to board with them in the village of Victoria.
The man's name was, George Gaisford. He was reading the book of Mormon aloud to the
family and of course Samuel had to listen to it. He became interested and invited Edwin
to come and visit on Sunday and they were both impressed. Mr. Gaisford invited them to
go with him to a meeting in the Chapel on the Tump. They had to admit that the sermon
was reasonable and fair minded but were still prejudiced. However, not long afterwards
he was baptized and in a short while, Edwin followed him into the waters of baptism.
They both had new suits to celebrate the occasion.
One evening they went out with an Elder to hold a street meeting. They stood under a
high stone wall and began to sing and pray. They were singing the hymn, "Oh! Babylon",
when someone emptied a pail of garbage all over them from the wall and the crowd gathered
handfuls of dirt and threw it on them, so they had to leave in a hurry. They thought
that was pretty rough treatment, but were ready to go back a few days later when they
held another meeting.
While tracting one man came to the door with a red hot poker and threatened to shove
it down their throats if they didn't clear out. One evening, while out with an Elder
Watkins, a mob led by a minister began pelting them with pieces of sod and clods of dirt.
One large piece landed on top of elder Watkin's head, knocking his high hat down over his
ears. It looked so funny that they had a good laugh, even while running for their lives.
At one time, while trying to hold a meeting in the rain, a gentleman loaned them an
umbrella and opened his windows to that he could hear what they had to say. But at
the first mention of Joseph Smith, he ran out, grabbed the umbrella and slammed the
doors and windows shut.
They held meetings about twice a week and were abused and insulted nearly every time.
One evening they went to the Cardiff Road, climbed up on the pump platform about four
feet high and began to preach. A large crowd gathered and began to shout and jeer at
them. Once man, a doctor, had a walking stick in his hand and tried to hook it around
their feet and pull them off the platform. He caught Edwin, who jerked the stick out of
his hand and threw it away. The crowd got so rough they had to jump off the platform
and fight their way out. Grandfather was struck on the cheek by a rock and received
quite a cut. Their hats and clothes were torn and ruined. Someone threw a rope around
Edwin's neck and they were going to hang him from a lamp post, but grandfather fought
his way to him and hit one of the fellows so hard under the jaw, that he was lifted
entirely off his feet and as he fell he spread his arms and took seven other men down
with him. Then Edwin got the rope off and doubled it in a short length and together
they fought their way clear and got a way. This was the last meeting held there that
summer. Later, they got work in the old Gentry Pit Mines and the seam was 18" to 20"
high. This was in the winter of 1858. His brother Henry came out to visit them while
there, and after some time joined the church and was baptized by Edwin in the early
part of 1859.
Leaving Wales, Samuel went to London where he got work as a wheelwright and while in
these shops he learned carpentering and painting. About 1870, he married Sarah Gane,
who joined the church about that time. on June 12th, 1872, my mother Sarah Marchant
Cox was born and six weeks later they sailed for America. They lived briefly in Ogden,
Utah, where Samuel worked as a builder. He afterwards moved to St. George where he
assisted in building the temple and some of his handiwork is still to be seen. He was
called to settle the San Juan country and was with the group who went through the
Hole in the Rock. After some years of enduring floods and other difficulties they
became discouraged and moved to Price, where he built a home and lived until May 1898
when he moved to Canada. He settled first at Aetna, moving to Beazer in 1905.
Grandmother Cox died January 16th, 1915 at Beazer, and nearly two later in the fall of
1916, he married Marta Ruda, a Swedish emigrant. He continued living at Beazer until
he died May 17th, 1926. During the last years of his life he spent much of his time
making violins and teaching the religion classes in the Beazer school. He always was
an active church worker, particularly in music and drama, and wherever he went some of
his handiwork was left to remember him by.
SAMUEL COX
Samuel Cox was born 7 February 1837 in West Cranmore, Somerset, England, the tenth child
of fifteen children born to Abraham Cox and Francis Beard. Four of these died as young
children having a family of eleven to provide for. Father Abraham kept the post office
in their village and managed the postal service in several villages between Dean and
Shepton Mallet. Abraham was also a cobbler, repairing shoes for his large family and
for others in his community.
Mother Francis was the school governess until ill health forced her to discontinue her
teaching. Her daughter Elizabeth, took her place as school governess. Mother Fanny's
health grew steadily worse, until she was confined to a wheel chair. The family built a
four-wheeled carriage that she could sit in and the children would pull her around the
village for a breath of fresh air. On a lovely Sunday morning on the 25th of April 1852,
she passed away at the age of forty-nine. She was buried in West Cranmore, Somerset.
Her death was a shock to her lovely family. Samuel's brother, Edwin Charles Cox,
referred to his mother's death as the greatest calamity of his boyhood years.
In those days, children went to school at an early age, as they were hired out to work
for the aristocratic class while very young. The Cox children were given work at the
early age of seven years to help sustain the family. Samuel hired out as a footman for
a Doctor Moss at Hill Grove near the city of Wells about four miles from home. Some
jobs paid a six pence a week, which was about 12.5 cents.
At the age of eighteen, Samuel left with a group of local men and went to Wales, where
work was available in the iron and coal mines. Samuel wrote back to his younger brother,
Edwin Charles, telling him of the conditions there and encouraged him to join him in Wales.
They found lodging at the homes of local families as they moved about the southern
mountains of Wales. When they selected better homes for lodging they constantly ran
into Mormon families. At first the weird tales they had heard about Mormons made them
wary of this strange religion, but they were impressed with the families and especially
the personal way they had of praying as though they were actually talking to a real person.
Samuel was the first to join the church. He was baptized 18 February 1857. Edwin was
not so sure at first. They became deeply involved, however, when they saw the
persecutions heaped upon the missionaries and the local members. The local town
square was a good place to have public meetings on weekends, and both of the Coxes
became stalwart supporters of these functions.
One weekend the brothers went with the missionaries and a few local members to hold
such a meeting. The stood up on the platform beside the town pump, about 5 feet above
the ground. Soon a crowd gathered, filled with bitter hostility towards the little group.
Hundreds of people pressed into the square and the tenor of the crowd turned ominous.
Some of the agitators tried to jerk the speakers from the pump platform with their walking
canes. A bitter feud developed, with shouting and cursing, and stones and sticks flying.
One of the mob leaders produced a rope and lassoed Edwin around the neck, jerking him off
his feet. They began dragging him toward a lamppost, shouting, "String the scoundrel up."
Samuel, seeing his brother's plight, charged through the crowd and gave the mobster such
a blow with his fist to his throat that it sent the would be murder sprawling into the
crowd taking seven or eight of the mob with him. Quickly Edwin pulled the rope off of
his neck and doubling it up he made a whip with which he charged at the crowd. With
Samuel at his side, fists flailing they opened an escape route and the small group of
Mormons made it to a back alley. Here they ducked into the safety of the home of one
of the local members. The mob milled around the rest of the night searching for them.
Needless to say, that was their last street meeting for a while.
Samuel married Mary Ann, 15 November 1858 at Tabor Chapel, Bryn Mawr Co of Brecon, Wales.
They had two children, Sarah Maria Cox, born 1 February 1861 at Briarhill, England, and
a son, Samuel Edward Cox. Samuel left to find employment and wrote back to his wife,
but her mother who opposed her daughter's marriage to a Mormon, kept Samuel's letters
from her. Her mother made her think that Samuel had deserted her and thus separated
them. Later, Mary Ann married a Mr. Williams, and the daughter, Sarah Maria Cox was
sealed to Mr. Williams. Sarah came to Utah where she married James Alexander Boyack
and they lived in Spanish Fork. The boy, Samuel Edward, died at sea.
Little is known of Samuel's life for several years. He spent some time with the theatre
on the Shakespearean stage in London, England and continued in the dramatic and musical
fields periodically all of his life.
SARAH JANE GALE
Meanwhile the Lord was preparing his eternal companion, Sarah Gane. Sarah was born 17
November 1833 in Shepton Mallet, Sommerset to George Gane and Jane Marchant. The family
moved to London. When Sarah was four years old she was given the great honor of being a
flower girl at Queen Victoria's coronation. Her father, George Gane, was a palace guard
and marched in the coronation parade carrying a large banner. It was a very hot day and
he suffered a heat stroke and became very ill. He never fully regained his health.
In 1841 Sarah's mother, Jane Marchant Gane, suffered a stroke that paralyzed her. For
the next ten years, Sarah and her sister cared for their invalid mother until her death
on 4 May 1850. In later years Sarah became an excellent midwife and practical nurse.
Much of this talent was developed during the time she cared for her mother.
Sarah's brother, Joseph Gane, was well known in London. He was mayor of Windsor three
times and was in charge of wedding arrangements when King Edward VII, the son of Queen
Victoria, was married in 1863.
After her parent's death, Sarah went to work as a cook in a gentleman's home. She met
the missionaries and was baptized into the church the day after her thirty-sixth birthday,
on 18 November 1869 in London, England. It is quite possible that Sarah was introduced
to the missionaries by her sister Ellen, who was baptized four months earlier on 21
July 1869.
The following year Sarah married Samuel Cox on 2 August 1870. It is also possible that
they met at church in London where Elizabeth's great grandfather, Piere Romeril, was the
Branch President at the time and could have performed the marriage. Their first and only
child was born 12 June 1871 in London and they named her Sarah Marchant Cox, after her
grandmother, Jane Marchant.
The Coxes felt to gather with the saints in Zion, so when the baby was but one month old,
they set sail for America. The captain of the vessel warned them that the baby would
never survive the trip, but they had faith that she would be alright. The ship
encountered a bad storm at sea and many were seasick, but baby Sarah came through with
no problems. The captain said he like to take Mormon groups as they always had a safe
voyage.
Samuel, Sarah, and baby Sarah Cox traveled to Utah by train. They did not have a long
stay in Ogden before they were sent out to pioneer other places in Southern Utah. The
suffered the hardships common to early pioneers. Money was non-existent and commodities
were scarce. Sarah tells of receiving a letter from her brother, Joseph. He inquired
about her life in America and asked if she needed any money. Sarah did not tell him of
her need for money because she remembered how he had tried to borrow her emigration money
to stop her from coming to Zion.
They went to Cedar City and then on to St. George where Samuel worked on the temple.
In 1879 they were called, with other families, on a pioneer mission to settle Bluff, in
San Juan county, to establish peace with the Indians and protect the southern settlements
from bands of white renegades.
Their daughter, Sarah Marchant Cox, was around eight years old when they made the trip
rugged trip to Bluff. The sun and sand was so hot that little Sarah always wore her
sunbonnet. She would run a little way in her bare feet, then take off her bonnet and
stand on it to cool her feet, then run again.
In Southern Utah, doctors were seldom seen and hospitals were absent. Sarah Cox became
an angel of mercy to the sick and injured. She often rode horseback, being gone for two
or three days at a time to serve someone in need. She was an excellent midwife and
practical nurse. There was no night too dark or weather too stormy, no journey too
long, when she was needed.
Sarah took with her to Bluff, a little wood 'Charter Oak' stove to cook on. This was
considered quite a luxury, as most of the people cooked over the fireplaces. Sarah Cox
took that little stove with them wherever they moved and used it the rest of her life.
Later in life, they bought her a modern range, but she preferred to keep her little
'Charter Oak'. They were often in fear for their lives. They not only had to contend
with Indians, but also with all the white renegades who chose that out of the way and
wild country to hid from the law. Whenever they left the settlement, they would dig a
hole in ground and bury their little stove so that the Indians or renegades could not
find it.
The San Juan river was very unpredictable and often washed out the dams that they had
labored so hard to build to irrigate their fields and gardens. Then the water would
wash away their land, gardens and everything within reach. It was very discouraging
and impossible to raise enough food to have what they needed to eat.
Some time later, they were among the first settlers of Price, Utah. Their daughter,
Sarah, grew to young womanhood. At eighteen, she fell in love and married Erastus Olsen
in Provo, Utah. Their first child, Clarence, was born 21 December 1889 in Spanish Fork,
Utah. Erastus and Sarah were sealed in the Manti temple on 21 September 1892. Nine days
later, their second son, Elmer, who was one year old, took sick and died. Three more
children were born in Price: Clara (1893), Gane (1894), and Murrel (1896).
Early in 1898, Erastus Olsen decided he was tiered of trying to get enough water to farm
with, so he persuaded the family, including Grandpa and Grandma Cox to move to Canada.
Before leaving Price, Sarah went to the store and bought among other things, two cans of
baking powder to take with them. The store as giving tickets on that brand of baking
powder just then. Sarah, joking with the storeowner, put her tickets in the box and
hurried home. Some people were buying as many as one hundred cans of baking powder to
try to win the prize, which was a large music box that played twelve different tunes.
The next morning one of the townsfolk rode by and asked Sarah if she was going down to
pick up her music box. On finding she had won, she saw to it that it was picked up
before leaving town. For the rest of her life she treasured this music box.
The 1890's produced mass immigration to Canada, and in 1897 the Erastus Olsen and the
Cox families moved to Canada. Taking their horses and other belongings with them, they
made the trip by train to Lethbridge, Alberta. There was no train from there to Cardston
in those days, so the last sixty miles of the journey had to be mad by wagons.
Their first year in Canada was spent in a little log cabin in Cardston, just east of the
Biglow home. There Charles was born and twenty seven days later, he died. The next year
the families moved to a small farm in Aetna. Grandpa Cox built a little rock house across
the street from the Olsen home. So Grandma Cox to trot back and forth to see that
everything was taken care of. Erastus improved the farm by planting a row of trees
along the windward side. They were all kept busy in the ward. Grandma Cox was president
of the Relief Society. Grandpa Cox led the choir and helped put on plays in the M.I.A.,
where his daughter, Sarah, was Young Women's president. Sarah loved to take part in plays
and to teach young people how to act in the plays.
Three more children were born to the Olsen's: Ray (1900) died when 3 days old, Myrtle
(1901), and Melvin (1903).
The people of Aetna found a true friend in Grandma Cox. She was a devoted Relief Society
president, practical nurse and midwife. Everyone called for her to deliver their babies
and to look after anyone who was sick or had an accident. She never expected any pay
but gave her services to all who were in need of them. She was called on at any time of
the day or night. Everyone thought a great deal of here wherever she went.
The farm was small and land was high priced and difficult to obtain, so in 1905 they
bought 480 acres of land thirteen miles southwest of Cardston (one mile west of Beazer).
This same year, upon moving there, Sarah Cox was at once put in as YWMIA president, and
Erastus was president of YMMIA. Grandma Cox was placed again in as Relief Society
President and Grandpa Cox was asked to lead the choir and be the ward drama director.
Samuel Cox organized Beazer's first Dramatic Company and was the first director. Samuel
and James B. Wright built a stage in the newly built church house in 1907. A backdrop
and side wings were made for the purpose of putting on plays or theatres (as they were
called.) He painted scenery on one side and covered the other side with wall paper.
Under the direction of Samuel Cox began a period of dramatic presentations that kept the
local people entertained and enthused and put Beazer o the map theatrically. They gave
many would-be thespians their turn before the footlights. After playing to the home
audience, the troupe would pack their props and costumes, and go by wagon or sleigh to
some of the surrounding towns. Some of these towns would exchange their plays with Beazer
in return. Beazer's first three act play of record was entitles "Handy Andy".
An interesting incident happened in a play called "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." The night
that Beazer took this play to Aetna, one of the props to be used in the play, a plastic
imitation beer bottle, was forgotten. So a real glass bottle was substituted. The actor,
John Wright, was cautioned to wield it lightly, but he forgot and came down hard with the
usual blow on Horace Brandham's head. Horace dropped like a ton of bricks. Surprisingly,
soon he came up grumbling about his sore head and went right on with his speech. The best
part of all, the audience knew no difference, thinking it was all part of the show.
Grandma Cox was a small woman, hard-working and extremely active. She continued to
practice as a practical nurse and mid-wife, caring for the sick as she had done
everywhere they had lived. She brought more than three hundred babies into this world
without the aid of a doctor. However, when her daughter went into labor with her tenth
child, Carl (1906) she felt very apprehensive and pleaded with Erastus to take her to the
doctor in Cardston. Later a doctor made several visits to Beazer, but could find nothing
wrong, and was astonished when he heard she died.
Sarah Marchant Cox Olsen died from complications of childbed fever three weeks later on
25 July 1906. She was buried the next day in Aetna. Beazer Ward lost a talented actress
and a loving and caring Mutual President. She died at the age of thirty five, leaving
seven living children from twenty three days to 17 years of age.
It was a frightening time for the children. The country was new, and many nights they
huddled in their beds listening to the howling of the wolves. The family had a young
colt and at night they would lock it in the fenced haystack yard near the barn. One
night they lay in their beds listening as the wolves killed the colt right in the stack yard.
After Sarah died, the Coxes continued to live with and care for the Olsen family. The
next year (1907), Samuel bought the east eighty acres of the farm and built a home on it.
Later he moved this home down into Beazer across from the school house so they could be
nearer the school and church, where they were the janitors for many years. They continued
to care for the three youngest children, until the baby Carl became six years old and
Grandma Cox suffered a slight stroke. She was indeed a hard worker and when her friends
cautioned her about working too hard, she had a favorite answer, "When I die, I'll have
the satisfaction of knowing I didn't rust out." The next year she suffered another stroke
that left her bedridden. On 23 January 1915 at the age of eighty one, Grandma suffered a
massive stroke and died. Friends came from far and near to spend the days and nights with
her. Many friends from Aetna came by sleigh to help out while she was bedridden. They
recalled the many days of service that Sarah had freely given. She was indeed a well
loved woman.
It was a very cold and snowy when Samuel built a double cement underground vault for
the two of them. He put a lighted lantern in to keep it from freezing until it was set.
As a young man he had seen the bottom fall out of a casket and the body fall to the
ground. He wanted the best for Sarah. He bought some maple wood and with the help of
his friend, Mr. Cahoon, they built a beautiful well finished casket. The Relief Society
sisters lined it with satin and lace and covered the outside with white velvet brocade.
The handles and breastwork were of finest silver. It was said to be the most beautiful
casket anyone had ever seen. A beautiful resting place for a choice daughter of Heavenly Father.
Samuel used his carpenter tools wherever they were needed. He helped build and paint the
school house. He was the janitor of the church and school. He taught religion classes in
the school for many years. While he encouraged drama and music with the adults, he also
had a spot for the children. He taught them how to make wooden swords and toy canons and
drilled them ready for the Dominion Day parades.
Samuel Cox was a master of the violin and loved to entertain. He took a dry apple box
and shaped and glued the pieces together to fashion a good looking violin. He made toys,
bedsteads, tables, etc. He carved the dog heads on the arms of his easy chair that he
used to sleep in. Eldon remembers seeing him sitting in his chair with one hand over
each dog's head and nodding off to sleep.
Marta Margareta Ruda worked in the Swedish mission office. One of the missionaries
played matchmaker and brought her to Canada to marry Samuel. She spoke little English
and Samuel could speak no Swedish, but she learned the language well for one of her years
and they got along fine. When Samuel married Aunt Marta, Carl, the youngest of the Olsen
children came to live with them for years. She was a very hospitable, accommodating
person and she continued to care for Erastus' three younger children.
Marta was a lovely person and we all loved her. She found it very hard to understand
the careless ways of the people in America. She was a staunch Latter-day Saint and had
taken care of the missionaries in Sweden. She enjoyed going to the temple and was a fine
cook and homemaker. She enjoyed caring for cows and chickens. Marta was the school janitor
from 1927 to 1934 and they say that she kept the schoolroom spotless. She received
$105 in 1927, which was later raised to $150 a year. In he Dominion Day Celebration of
1933, Aunt Martha sang the national anthem of Sweden in Swedish. On the 25th of February
1935, Marta died of heart problems.
Samuel made his own casket many years before he died. At the age of eighty nine,
Samuel Cox died on the 17th of May 1926 and was buried in Beazer, Alberta. His love
and service to all will long be remembered.
Erastus Olsen was much loved for his devotion to his calling as Young men's President.
On 24 October 1910 he was released and then sustained as ward clerk, where he served for
the next twelve years. The years following the death of his wife Sarah in 1906 were
lonely ones for Erastus and on 15 April 1915, he married a widow and long time friend
from Aetna, Johanna Katrina Jensen Scott.
Aunt Hanna was born 14 April 1874 in Hjorring, Denmark. In 1897, at the age of
twelve, she sailed with her parents from Copenhagen to America. They settled in
Spring City, Utah. In May 1897 they left Utah by covered wagon arriving in Canada
six weeks later. Hanna drove the cook wagon all the way. Hanna is the mother of
Vinnie M. Scott Beazer, Winifred M. Scott and Harry J. Byrne, who was killed at age
thirteen in a haying accident.
In 1922 the Olsen's sold their farm to his son, Clarence, who had just brought his family
back from Creston, British Columbia, and then Erastus and Hanna moved into Cardston.
While living in Cardston. Erastus enjoyed walking down Main Street and visiting with
everyone he knew. They attended the temple frequently. He had a fall as he stepped out
of the car one night, and this caused him to have short spells of unconsciousness. The
spells came more often as he grew older, otherwise, he enjoyed good health.
In July 1948, Hanna took a light stroke and was ill for several months. the next spring
they moved back to Beazer into a house beside her daughter, Vinnie Beazer. She lost
the use of her right arm and hand, but was determined to overcome this handicap. She
got a small sponge ball and practiced squeezing it every possible moment and finally
did regain the use of her hand.
Erastus received national notice through an article in the Readers Digest in 1956 in
which he claimed to be the only man living whose father was born before 1800. That
challenge was never refuted.
Erastus enjoyed life, his flowers, and working in the yard. He was honest and always
said that he would rather have someone owe him money, than for him to owe someone else.
As Erastus grew older, concern for his well being increased. In Beazer, he could no
longer walk downtown and visit in the stores. Aunt Hanna did not want him to walk
along the creek for fear of him falling in and drowning, but he often walked the two
blocks to the post office and picked up the mail. One day he turned up missing, and the
community was alerted. A search party spread out over the little village. They
finally found him in a grove of cottonwood trees trying to cut a ring around the bark
of a tree with his pocket knife to kill the tree. He hated with a passion the fluffy
down that drifted from the trees in the springtime and wanted to kill all cottonwood trees.
Erastus was bedridden for several years before his death and was determined to live to
be one hundred years old, but he didn't make it. He died in the Cardston Hospital on
14 December 1957 at the age of ninety four years. He was buried in Aetna beside his
wife, Sarah Marchant Cox.
Hanna continued to live in the home next to her daughter. She was an ambitious,
hard working woman and very independent! One crisp, autumn Saturday, the church
priesthood had just finished sawing up the winter's supply of wood for the church.
Someone mentioned that they should go up to Aunt Hanna's and Vinnie's (also a widow)
and saw their wood for them. The boys had only a handsaw to cut up several loads of
wood, as they had been helping at the church sawing that morning. But Aunt Hanna met
them at the gate. "We do not take charity!" She said, "The boys can not saw our wood by
hand." Bishop Eldon Olsen said, "You and your family have always helped the church and
other people all of your life." Aunt Hanna agreed. Bishop Olsen continued, "How did you
feel when you were helping others?" Hanna answered, "We have always felt good when we
helped other people. We were always blessed." Bishop Olsen said, "But someone always
had to let you help them in order for you to receive those blessings. Right? Well, we
need those blessings now. You don't have the right to deny those blessings to us."
So the wood was sawed and Aunt Hanna stood by with tears of gratitude rolling down her
cheeks. In later years, she expressed her love and appreciation for many acts of kindness
she had received from the ward. Hanna died 3 July 1972 at the age of ninety eight years.
Sources:
1 Story on FamilySearch
History of Samuel Cox as written by his brother Edwin C. Cox and collected by Clarence
Olsen, oldest grandson of Samuel Cox.
Contributed to FamilySearch By virginiaannmaynard1 · 1 August 2014
History of Samuel Cox and Sarah Ganes provided by
Linda Belter, Lethbridge, AB, May 2015
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Samuel Cox, Sarah Jane Gane and Sarah Marchant Cox
Samuel Cox
Sarah Gane