History of Sarah Ambrosine Crockett Layton

Sarah Ambrosine Crockett, first born child of Edward Hall Crockett and Sarah Rogers Crockett, was born in Petersborough, Northampshire, England on April 12, 1833. Sarah’s father, Edward Hall was born March 9, 1806 in Bourough Fen, Northhampton, England and died January 9, 1892, in Kaysville Utah. Sarah’s mother, Sarah Rogers was born June 4, 1811 in Manthrope, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England and died November 2, 1896 in Kaysville, Utah. They were married on June 10 1832 in St John The Baptist, Peterborough, Northhampton, England.  Ten children, four daughters and six sons, were born to this union.

Sarah Ambrosine, b. 12 Apr 1833, Northhampshire, England, d. 28 Mar 1898, Hunter, Utah

James, b. 27 Jun 1835, St. John Baptist, Peterborough, Northhampton, England, d. 23 Jan 1866

Edwin William, b. 13 Mar 1837, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 10 Oct 1890

Zillah, b. 13 Feb 1839, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 10 Apr 1913, Kaysville, Utah

John, b. 21 Jan 1841, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 1870

Elizabeth, b. 8 Jan 1844, Peterborough, Northhampton, England, d. 3 Sep 1898

Naomi, b. 28 Apr 1846, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 23 Oct 1906

Luther, b. 31 Jul 1849, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 11 Jan 1890

Alma Loren, b. 5 Oct 1850, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 6 Mar 1851

Heber Lorenzo, b. 28 Feb 1854, Spittlegate, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, d. 6 Jun 1879

Her girlhood was spent in Peterborough and Grantham. For twelve years she made her living as an expert needle woman and dressmaker. She met the Latter-day Saint missionaries in Grantham, or thereabouts, and joined the church. She was then called to the Liverpool office where she worked for some time. From the time Mormons were first baptized in England, they were encouraged to immigrate to Utah, called “Zion”, a religious principle taught by the early Church leaders. Sarah decided to go, which made her the first member of her family to come to America.

On Friday, May 11, 1860, Sarah along with 729 other Mormons from Britain, Scandinavia and Switzerland set sail for America on the second voyage for the clippership “William Tapscott”. Elder Asa Calkin presided over the company. His counselors were Elder William Budge and Carl Widerborg. The voyage was stormy and unpleasant, owing to cold and a change of diet, considerable sickness prevailed among the emigrants. During the 35 day voyage there were ten deaths, most of them Scandinavians, four children were born and nine couples were married. Adding to the distress on June 3^rd smallpox broke out among the Scandinavian Saints, seven cases reported, none of which proved to be fatal. The vessel arrived at the quarantine point in the New York harbor on Friday evening, June 15^th. The next day two doctors came on board and vaccinated most of the passengers and crew.  On the 20^th of June, after being detained in quarantine, the passengers were landed at Castle Garden, New York.   

Sarah, along with the other members of the Captain Horton D. Haight Company, crossed the plains with ox teams and like many others walked most of the way. The company arrived in the Salt Lake valley on October 3, 1860 nearly five months after Sarah left Liverpool, England.

Sarah lived for a short time at the home of William R. Smith of Centerville where she did sewing for his family. Later she moved to Kaysville, Utah and made her home with the Horton D. Haight family.

On June 27, 1862 she married Charles Layton in the Endowment House as his second wife in a plural marriage. She and Charles had six children, three boys and three girls.

Henry Charles, b. June 3, 1863, Kaysville, d. November 17, 1864, Kaysville, Utah

Edith Sarah, b. March 3, 1865, Kaysville, d. April 5, 1934, Kaysville, Utah

Christopher Edward, b. September 6, 1867, Kaysville, d. November 28, 1958, Salt Lake City, Utah

Nettie Isabell, b. February 28, 1869, Kaysville, d. December 6, 1884, Kaysville, Utah

Ermine Rozillah, b. December 22, 1870, Kaysville, d. August 10, 1959, Salt Lake City, Utah

Frank, b. August 18, 1875, Kaysville, d. April 1, 1965, Ogden, Utah

Her early married life was like many others of that time, a very strenuous one spending much of her time spinning yarn, weaving cloth and sewing for her own family as well as Charles’ first wife, Betty Bower’s family. Betty was equally busy with preparing food and doing other household duties.

She took a prominent part in church and social activities. Sarah was a very good singer and was a member of the first choir organized in the Kaysville ward. She was also very fond of dancing and other amusement.

Being a very sympathetic person, her most prominent activity was laboring among the sick but spent most of her time among the women delivering babies. As time went on people began to rely upon her to come to their aid. As the result, on March 18, 1893, she qualified for and received a Certificate to practice Obstetrics and midwifery. A profession she followed for thirty years. Much of the time she was the only “doctor” for miles around.  

Note - Doctor William H. Groves, M.D. in whose honor the Dr. William H. Groves L.D.S. Hospital was named, (which is now simply called the LDS hospital), and with six other medical men who were all members of the Board of Medical Examiners signed her certificate. The hospital opened on January 5, 1905.

Her usual route took her all over the northern part of Davis County and because the usual mode of travel was by way of a lumber wagon; her journeys were very long, uncomfortable and at times dangerous. On stormy nights when the roads were so rough that she could not sit on the seat or buckboard, she sat in the bottom of a wagon to keep from being thrown out over the bumpy roads, traveling twelve to fifteen miles to assist in bringing one of God’s spirits into the world. Between six and seven hundred babies were ushered into the world by her without the loss of a single one.  As payment for her services she would receive a sack of wheat, some vegetables or a little pig.

On the fifteenth of February 1883, Sarah and Charles along with his son Charles and his Uncle Christopher Layton made a trip to Arizona in a successful effort to colonize that part of the country. It was very dry and hot so after six weeks they returned to Utah.

In 1886 Sarah, Charles and Charles’ first wife Betty left for England. Sarah and Charles’ oldest living child (the first born died at the age of 17 months) was twenty one and their youngest was nine years of age.

While on their way to England they met a man in New York by the name of James Stevenson. He had lost his wife and was left with three little children. Charles and Sarah invited him to send his children, three girls, to their home in Kaysville. The father took up the offer and sent them to Kaysville where family took care of the children for more than a year without costing the father a thing.

After arriving in England they were set apart as missionaries. Betty went especially to visit a brother and sister. When she arrived she found that they had been killed in an accident just six weeks previously. She was so disappointed that she returned home after a months stay but Sarah and Charles spent one year in that country visiting relatives, assisting the elders and doing missionary work as opportunity presented itself. When they returned from England, Charles built a home for each of his wives in the Fort as they called the residential part of Kaysville.

In the spring of 1888, Charles and Sarah took their family to Alberta, Canada with the intentions of residing there. Charles and Sarah went by rail and the rest of the family went by wagon. They remained until the fall of the year. In 1889 they returned again with a herd of cattle. On arriving they found that a fire had burned through the country. Some of the people that had agreed to buy their land, refused to take it so Charles sold most of it to the Church and returned to Utah. The remainder of their land in Canada was traded in 1896 to obtain some land in Granger and Hunter, Utah.

In 1895, Sarah again went to Alberta, Canada to visit her daughter Edith Sarah Layton Cottrell, (my great-grandmother), and while there she helped in the delivery of Edith’s son and her grandson Ralph Layton Cottrell. When she prepared to return home an extreme cold wave hit that area, but because of promises she had made to patients in Davis County, she attempted to return the sixty-five miles to the station with the thermometer registering forty-eight degrees below zero.  The mail man refused to take her to the station until the temperature went up to eighteen degrees below zero.

She returned home to fulfill her promises and after this time her assisting at deliveries became less frequent but she did go out occasionally. One baby boy that Sarah had assisted in bringing into the world would at a latter date marry her own grand-daughter.

While visiting her son Christopher Edward Layton in Hunter, Utah she took ill and died March 28, 1898 two weeks shy of her 65^th birthday. She was buried in the Kaysville Cemetery.

May 2, 1901, three years after Sarah’s death Charles passed away and was buried along side of her.

Previous histories of Sarah Ambrosine Crocket submitted by Nancy Cottrell Isaacs, written November 20, 1924 by Edith Sarah Layton Cottrell (daughter) and a history written and submitted in 1966 by Edith Elizabeth Knighton Parker (Great-Granddaughter) to the International Society Utah Daughters of Pioneers were used in the re-writing of this history by Allysa Ann Falkner (Great-Great Granddaughter) January 6, 2005