Sarah Erminnie Bushman

Sarah Erminnie Bushman (Mrs. Henry Fowles) (1869-1947)

The Theodore Turley Family Book, p. 496-497

Sarah Erminnie Bushman was born in Lehi, Utah on March 17, 1869. Her parents, Jacob and Charlotte Turley Bushman were honorable, intelligent people, much respected in the community in which they lived. Sarah was the fifth child of a family of ten. She was a frail girl but was endowed with strong convictions and a will to walk in the path of duty wherever it might lead.

She spent her childhood on the farm at Saratoga. There was a creek winding its way through the farm and she delighted to paddle in its waters. Her mother was much opposed to this and warned her that if she did not stop playing in the water her mother would dunk her; so true to her promise the next time Sarah played in the water her mother pushed her in. There was no more water playing from then on. Her favorite pleasure was to play house with her cousins, and many long summer afternoons were spent in this game trailing long dresses and clumping along in her mother's shoes.

One of her first chores was to drive the cows to and from the pasture and as soon as she was old enough she was set to helping her brother milk. First they would let her "strip" but before long she could squirt the white streams into the bucket with both hands as fast as anyone and she found herself a full-fledged milkmaid.

Her father kept a little account book where he jotted down the price paid for the things bought and quite often would appear "Candy for Sarah." She really was fond of candy but surely she did not eat it all as the family was large. Her father never charged nor went in debt. If he couldn't pay for an item, they went without it. Sarah loved to do housework and at the age of 15 when her mother's last baby was born she took care of her mother and the baby too. Her schooling was very limited as they lived so far away from a school. She loved school and was very sorry when she had to quit.

When she was about thirteen years old she went into the fields to glean wheat and in one year earned enough to buy herself a side-saddle. Her father gave her a riding pony which she called Fanny. She loved horses and could ride very well.

In 1884, President Taylor called her parents along with other families from Lehi to go and settle Northern Arizona. Her brother, Theodore, and she rode horseback and drove the cows to St. Johns, Arizona. They were six weeks on the way. Times grew harder and as things grew worse each year Pres. Taylor released the Saints to find more favorable places to live. Her parents then settled in Fairview, Utah.

Sarah was married on April 19, 1888 in the Logan Temple to Henry Fowles. They had three children, two boys and one girl:

Henry_Harmon was born March 25, 1889.

Jacob Timothy was born Aug. 21, 1891.

Ruby Rosamond was born April 30, 1894.

When in 1898 her husband died, Sarah was left a widow with two children—her oldest son, Harmon, had passed away on Jan. 6, 1892 with diphtheria, being just three years old.

After the death of her mother in 1899, Sarah's father spent his last 17 years at her home, She worked in the Mutual from 1899 to 1904, two years with the North Sanpete Stake and three years in the Fairview Ward Mutual. In 1908 she was called to be the first president of the Fairview Ward Relief Society, a position she held for eleven years. She spent five years doing genealogy research and temple work.

In 1910 she lost her only daughter, Ruby, which was a great trial to her. She had only a son, Tim, left and felt that life would be quite empty unless she had another daughter to take the place of her first one, so she adopted a little girl, Lillian Grace, to have as a companion. Lillian was two years old at the time. It was at this girl’s home that Sarah Fowles passed away.

Though her associates knew she was getting weaker, none realized that the end was so near. Monday she seemed unusually well but during the night she grew worse and in the early hours of Thursday morning, July 17, 1947, she merely ceased to breathe. There was no struggle, no spasm of pain; only the spirit forsaking its mortal tenement, and the body was at rest. She had lived a long and useful life and has now gone to brighten another sphere.