Joseph Smith was born 17 April 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. He was married 8 February, 1863 at Union Fort, Utah (map; see also Union Ward). He died 8 March, 1928. His Father was William P Smith, and Mother was Mary Grimshaw.
Sarah Owens was born 31 July 1848 in Big Cottonwood, Utah. She died 29 March, 1931 at Smithfield, Utah. Her father was Robert Owens and her Mother was Catherine Ann Williams (cemetery marker).
I don't know how they met or anything about their courtship. I do remember my mother saying that his folks didn't approve of the match. They called her a little squaw. She was short with beautiful brown eyes. They loved each other very much.
One summer Grandfather herded cattle with my father, I.W. (Will) Merrill, near Mink Creek, Idaho (see SE Idaho map). They put a fish trap in the creek to help get their food. One morning Grandfather sat down on a log near the creek, he felt something move under him, and got up to see a rattle snake curled up. The snake crawled off. He would not kill it because he said it had not hurt him.
Mother said that when he came home the family always wanted him to cook sour dough biscuits because they were so good!
He had a small farm north of Smithfield (map; see also Smithfield). Once while haying he and his son Joe were sleeping on the ground. Joe went to a dance one night, when he got back and reaady to crawl in bed with his father he saw a rattle snake on father's chest. He was so frightened he did not know what to do. The snake soon crawled off without harming either of them.
Grandfather always raised a good garden and shared it with neighbors.
He took good care of Grandmother. As she became too old to work much he helped her with the cooking and house work. I remember going there one summer, he told my sister and me that we could have anything we wanted from the garden, but we must cook it ourselves, as Grandmother shouldn't be bothered with it. He was friendly with everybody and especially with the neighborhood children. They all loved him.
One winter day he slipped on an icy walk and broke a leg. That healed okay, but it weakened him so that he contracted pneumonia and died. Grandmother lived just three years after he died. She loved flowers and had quite a few in her garden: Sweet Williams, Bachelor Buttons, Daisies, etc., and a big bunch of Ribbon Grass. I loved to walk through the apple orchard when the Red Astrican apples were ripe and the morning dew was on the grass and spearmint. It smelled so good. I could also go into the old log house which was no longer lived in, but used to keep picked apples in and help myself. Everything there was so neat and clean and smelled so good.
Grandmother always welcomed us with a smile and softly spoken words. She always seemed very glad to see us. She made a practice of being with her daughters at the birth of their children. No hospitals were there at that time. Grandmother did the nursing. It kept her quite busy going from one home to another, some were far distances apart. This finally came to an end and she grew too old to work much. After Grandfather died, she stayed with her daughter Sylvia. While staying there she was asked to come to the door to see a pet lamb. She was standing in the doorway when she fell dead.
(Joseph Smith's cemetery marker; Sarah Owens Smith's cemetery marker)