Sarah Catherine Barr Tuttle

Sarah Catherine Barr Tuttle was born 3 March 1865 in Stokes County, North Carolina--just a month before the end of the Civil War. She was the daughter of George Washington Barr and Charlotte Scott Barr.

She claimed that because she was the youngest in her family she was pampered and spoiled. But Sarah worked hard in her father's fields setting out tobacco plants and working with the other crops typical of the area. She also helped with housework and caring for the family. Sarah went to school but did not attend long. She was a good reader but did not care to write. She became an excellent seamstress and quilter--quilting by the time she was 11 years old.

She met Josiah Tuttle who was working as a store clerk and boarding with her older sister, Mary Ann Barr Fulk and her family. They enjoyed the area husking bee dances in which Josiah played the violin, and she became proficient at the step and square dance.

Josiah and Sarah were married 23 December 1880 in Yadkin township when she was just 15 and he was 24 years old. The couple became the parents of twelve children: Hattie Rozella Charlotta Jane, a premature son, Maggie May, Dora Alice, Georgia Josephine, Elizabeth Ann, Eva Catherine, Lillian Irene, William Alexander, Josiah Leland, James Franklin, and Nellie who died in infancy.

Sarah and Josiah listened to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accepted the gospel, and were baptized into the Church on 2 April 1891. Just four days later on 6 April 1891 the couple and their four daughters boarded a train, leaving their family and beautiful North Carolina homeland for Utah to live with the body of the saints. This did not happen on a whim as Sarah's oldest brother Robert F. and his wife Susan had joined in 1884 and emigrated to Utah in 1888. Josiah and Sarah had prepared for the move by selling all that they could including land to get money for the move.

After a six year stay in Salina, Utah the couple settled in Glenwood, Utah in 1897. Sarah was a very hard worker sewing for customers and staying up late into the night sewing by lamplight to supplement their income. She also did all of her family's sewing including the men's pants and shirts. Women's clothing then was dark, long skirted and sleeved with many tucks, pleats and ruffles. The girls said that she hardly ever cut into a new piece of cloth to make dresses for them--they always got made-over clothing. But they always felt good in anything she made. No one heard Sarah complain of her work.

Sarah and Josiah had a happy home full of music, food and fun. Even after their children were grown, they returned often to socialize with one another. Some of Sarah's grandchildren remember her lovingly rocking them in her rocking chair. She died as a great great grandmother at the age of 78 on 28 March 1943 in Glenwood, Utah and left descendants who have grown greatly in number and still value her and their heritage.