Family: George Eli Holyoak / Sarah Green

T H E    H O L Y O A K    F A M I L Y    A N D    T H E    J O S E P H    J A M E S    F A M I L Y



Compiled by William F. James, great, great, great grandson of Joseph James



This history contains quotes from the following articles:



Gleaning the Holyoak Field, by Minnie Carlisle
Sarah Holyoak James, (no author listed)
Four-Generation Sketch of Holyoak History, by Joseph Holyoak, additions by Chad Nichols, 4th great grandson of George Holyoak, Sr.
History of Henry Holyoak, (author unknown), additions by Chad Nichols
A Short Sketch of the Life of George Holyoak, Sr., by Thomas K. Holyoak, additions by Chad Nichols


The number of the article will follow each paragraph or section that is quoted. Occasionally, sentences may be reworded to make them fit in right. This will be noted. Anything written by me will be followed by (WFJ).



THE HOLYOAK FAMILY



Having been asked to glean the pages of the past for a history of George and Sarah Green Holyoak, I will begin with the words of their youngest child, Hannah. “My parents were prosperous farmers and truck gardeners. Quiet, industrious, religious, and methodical in their habits, and trained their children so thoroughly in those principles that governed their lives that none of them ever deviated therefrom.” (1.)



George Holyoak was born January 17, 1799 at Yardley, England. His wife, Sarah Green, was christened at Mosely, Warwick, England, July 16, 1797. (1.)



…George Holyoak [was the] son of Isaac Holyoak and Ann Bird, and Sarah Green [was the] daughter of Daniel Green and Mary Hipkiss. (2.)



The Holyoak name was derived from a large grove of oak trees near Birmingham that was considered to be holy. (2.)



George and Sarah had eight children. (WFJ)



William, born 12 April, 1825 in Yardley, Warwickshire, England. (2.)

Mary, born in Solihull 25 March, 1827. (2.)

George [Jr.], born in Solihull 1 September, 1829. (2.)

Ann was christened in Yardley 3 February, 1832. (2.) Her birth is given in the

early church record of Birmingham as January 6, 1832. (1.)

Daniel Eli, christened in Yardley 27 1834. (2.) Sorry, the month is missing in this

article. (WFJ)

Sarah…was born August 4, 1835 in Kingsnorton, Warwickshire, England…(2.)

Henry, born in Yardley 5 March, 1839. (2.)

…Hannah, born 25 March, 1841 in Yardley. (2.)



Daniel Eli died at the age of 5 years. (5.)



The Holyoak family lived in what was called “Rose Cottage”, in Yardley Wood, a suburb of Birmingham. Climbing roses almost covered the house, the yard was full of beautiful flowers, and the grass was green almost all year. From this lovely home and beautiful surroundings, the children inherited a love for flowers and beauty. (2.)



Their oldest son, William,… at the age of eleven [approx. 1836- (WFJ)] was “bound out” to learn the butcher’s trade. This was during the reign of Queen Victoria. Young William’s heart yearned for the green grass and the climbing roses that grew about his home,… and he just couldn’t like the butcher’s trade. At thirteen [approx. 1838- (WFJ)] he was again set at learning a trade. This time, however, it was learning the trade of harness making from his uncle, John Green. This had more of an appeal, and he remained with his uncle until he was twenty-one years of age. (1.)



About the time their youngest child was born, they learned of a new religion. This new religion was being taught by missionaries from America. People were talking about it. In fact, there had not been so much interest in religion in all of England since the reign of King Henry the Eighth. For George and Sarah Holyoak, this new religion had a strange appeal. It was different from the usual doctrines of the day. It had such a ring of truth, yet it was so simple and easy to understand. The unanswered questions no longer haunted their minds. After much study and prayer, George and Sarah were convinced that this new religion was the true and tried teachings of the Lord revealed anew, and they asked for baptism at the hands of the missionaries. They were baptized June 24, 1841, and began to plan for the time when they could join the body of the Saints in Zion. (1.)



William was baptized in May 1846. (1.- reworded)



Romance captured young William, and he lost his heart to a sweet young girl named Martha Green. They were married in the Church of England, on the outskirts of Birmingham. William and Martha owned and operated a grocery store. Martha ran the store, and William worked in a harness factory. After a time, Martha’s health failed, and he took her to his parents’ home. There was born their little son, Nehemiah. [Approx. 1848- (WFJ)] Three days later, Martha passed away. The loving arms of George and Sarah Holyoak reached out and took their little grandson, and cared for him as their own. (1.)



The youngest child, Hannah, was baptized when she was eight years of age. [Approx. 1849- (WFJ)] Because of ridicule by both adults and children alike, she was not permitted to go to school as her former associates were. (1.)



William…sold his store and went to Lemington, where he learned the tanner’s and plasterer’s trades. While there, he met and married Sarah Wilkins. …They were married December 27, 1849, and began to prepare for their voyage to America. When the forty-sixth company of Saints left England January 10, 1850, William Holyoak and family were among the passengers. Jeter Clinton was president of the company. They sailed on the ship “Argo”. The “Argo” arrived at New Orleans March 8, 1850. (1.)



George Holyoak, Jr. sailed on the ship, “Ellen Maria”, leaving England February 1, 1851. (1.) [#5 says the ship’s name was “Ellen Marie”, and it departed February 2 with 378 Saints. The information in #5 contradicts #’s 1 & 2, and says that the whole family was on this ship, but it was probably just George Jr. Anyway, this ship arrived in New Orleans on April 6, 1851. From there, the company took a steamboat up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, arriving there on April 16, 1851. From there, they went to St. Joseph, Missouri. (WFJ- from 5.)]



April 1851 found the people of England much excited. The government was going to take a census. Doubt and suspicion ran wild as people recalled the “Doomsday Book of William, the Conqueror”, and were afraid that this census would mean more taxes. Many refused to open their doors when the census taker called. Not so with George and Sarah Holyoak. When the census taker called at No. 92 Mosely Wake, Green Common, Yardley, England, George Holyoak was aged fifty-two. His occupation was given as an agricultural laborer, and his birth place was given as Yardley. His wife, Sarah, aged fifty-three, and was stated to have been a laundress, also born at Yardley. Their daughter, Sarah was fourteen years of age, and listed as a house-servant. Henry was also born at Yardley, and was twelve years of age, and listed as a hostler. Their youngest child, Hannah, was ten years old, and Nehemiah was three. (1.)



…George [Jr. was on his] way to America at this time, and their oldest daughter, Mary… was perhaps married to John Knowles at this time, and had a home of her own. Ann, their second daughter, was probably away at work… On April 10, 1853, she was transferred to the Bristol Road branch of the church. She is stated on February 2, 1853 to have gone to the valley of the mountains. This is perhaps meant to have been February 22, 1854, because this is the date of sailing for the ship, “Windermere”. (1.)



George Jr. met Eliza Moore in St. Louis, Missouri. They were married in 1853. (3.)



The Seventy-second company of Saints sailed on the ship, “Windermere”. There were four hundred seventy-seven Saints on board, including George and Sarah Holyoak, and their children, Ann, [Sarah,] Henry, Hannah, and [William’s son] Nehemiah. The company was in the charge of Elder Daniel Garn. The captain was Fairfield, and among the passengers were seven ex-presidents of conferences, namely Abraham Marchant, Robert Menziers, Job Smith, John T. Hardy, John A. Albiston, J. Long, and Graham Douglas. (1.)



The “Windermere” sailed from Liverpool on February 22, [1854], and arrived at New Orleans April 23, 1854. During the voyage, the wind was contrary, and often there were heavy gales that interfered with their progress, but at the end of five weeks a favorable wind set in, and the ship made a thousand miles in four days. Fifteen days after leaving Liverpool, the smallpox broke out on board the ship, and spread rapidly as the vessel approached the tropics. Thirty-seven passengers and two of the crew contracted the disease. The malady was suddenly checked by prayer. When they reached New Orleans, eleven patients were sent to Luzenburg Hospital through an agreement with the health officers at the port. Elder Long and five others were selected to remain at New Orleans to attend to the sick until they were sufficiently well to go forward on their journey from New Orleans. The rest of the company continued the journey from New Orleans on the 27th of April on board a steamboat and arrived at St. Louis a few days later, then went on to Kansas City. (1.)



When they got to St. Louis, they were quarantined with cholera. It was in July 1854 that they started across the plains with another company of Saints who had been waiting for them to get out of quarantine. (2.)



Hannah Holyoak, in her history, states that they were nine weeks on the water. After arriving at New Orleans, they took a steamboat up the river to St. Louis, where they were delayed because of the death of a sister. This sister may have been Mary Holyoak Knowles, as her death date is given as May 1854. (1.)



Having inquired, I have been told that as the family was sailing, a romance had blossomed between Ann Holyoak and Joseph James. They may have married, as there were six marriages, six births, and ten deaths on board the ship. At any rate, Ann and Joseph were separated by the death of Ann, which is given on the family group sheet as August 1854. Later, Sarah Holyoak was married to Joseph James, and Ann was sealed to him for time and eternity. (1.)



Joseph James was born February 29, 1830 in Halse, Somersetshire, England. (WFJ)



The trek across the plains was long and weary, and as they were on the plains of Nebraska, their hearts became more weary than their feet. They were called to sorrow for the death of their wife and mother, Sarah Green Holyoak (1.), and also their daughter and sister, Ann Holyoak. They died from mountain fever. (2.- reworded) They were sewn in quilts and put in a hastily dug grave, and covered with dirt. This was a very sad occasion to leave their loved ones like this and hurry on. The family never forgot this as long as they lived. (2.) George Holyoak and his children, Sarah, Henry, Hannah, and [grandson] Nehemiah lifted their tear stained faces unto the hills from whence cometh strength, and they plodded on to the west. (1.)



The family suffered all the usual hardships of not having enough food or water, and having sore feet from walking. They were in constant fear of Indian attacks. After a long and tiring journey, they arrived in Salt Lake City [on] 30 September, 1854. They came with the David Jones and Darwin Richardson companies. (2.)



In a covered wagon, wearing a freshly washed calico dress for her wedding gown, Sarah married Joseph James [on] 2 October, 1854. They were married by Elder Sykes. Here Sarah had to part with her beloved family, as they were called to go to the valley of Little Salt Lake, now Parowan, to help colonize that community. Here the motherless family settled and endured the rugged life of pioneers. (2.) George and his son, Henry, and daughter, Hannah,… were joined by William and his family,… the family of John Knowles, and George Holyoak Jr. [and his wife] Eliza Moore. (1.)



Hannah married at the Christmas party, December 25, 1855, to William LeFevre, a young English convert, who had also crossed the plains and settled at Parowan with his mother. (1.)



Nehemiah went to live with his father. When he grew older, he married Sarah Ann Harper. (1.)



After the family settled in Parowan, George Jr. volunteered to go back to Omaha to help bring a group of Saints across the plains. With this group of Saints was Miss Elizabeth Ann Ferguson, traveling with her aunt and uncle from England to Salt Lake. George [Jr.] courted her, and finally persuaded her to marry him when they reached Salt Lake. They had some opposition from a Mr. Wright, but finally won out. They were married in the Salt Lake Endowment House on Oct. 9, 1866, and made their home in Parowan. After the manifesto, George [Jr.] obtained a divorce from Elizabeth Ann to comply with the laws of the land. He continued to support her, and after the death of Eliza, they were re-married in a civil ceremony with a daughter standing witness. (3.)



NOTE: When polygamy was being practiced, a man had to have the permission of his first wife to marry a second wife. So he wasn’t sneaking around or anything. (WFJ)



In 1863 and later, he [Henry] made three trips back East with ox-team for freight and immigrants. In 1865 on January 29, he married Sarah Ann Robinson, daughter of English immigrants. She was born in Nauvoo, Illinois, December 22, 1842, and came to Utah with her parents settling in Paragonah. (4.)



When the church called colonizers for San Juan, the Henry Holyoak family was among those who were called from Parowan, 1879-1880… They were all winter on the road, making road as they went. They were with the company that went through the “Hole in the Rock”, because they got off the course that had been set, thinking to find a shorter route. Holyoak’s wide wagon marks are still on the walls of the ravine where the stone had to be chiseled away to permit it to go down through. Stakes in the rock to hold brush are also in evidence. This is known as, “Hole in the Rock”. (4.)



With all his children married, George was left alone. However, he found companionship with Ann Gunn, widow of John Gunn. She had joined the church in London in 1854, and came to Utah with her family of six sons and two daughters. Her husband, John Gunn, had died in 1838 at Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, and she had reached Utah in 1860. They lived at Parowan until she was 84 years and seventeen days old. After a lingering illness, she passed away, February 6, 1878… Three years later, October 27, 1881, George Holyoak passed away from this life. His earthly work was finished. He had been faithful to the end. Perhaps, if we could have been with him at the end, we might have looked on all that he loved, and all that he looked forward to, and with satisfaction have used the words of the Savior when he said, “IT IS FINISHED”. (1.)



JOSEPH JAMES AND SARAH HOLYOAK JAMES



(All of this section will be quoted from #2, “Sarah Holyoak James”, and I will add in some information from my family group sheets.- WFJ)



Sarah and Joseph started their married life with no worldly goods except what few clothes they had. Joseph walked to Farmington, where he got a job. Sarah followed as soon as she could get a ride. Here Sarah and Joseph worked for their board and room through that very severe winter. As soon as the weather was good, Joseph went north to Ogden. Here he met Samuel Sniffield, a widower who needed someone to keep house, and care for his motherless children. Joseph sent for Sarah. She got a ride with some folks going farther north. She reached Ogden late at night, and stayed with the Thomas Jenkins family. The next day, she was reunited with her husband. They lived with the Sniffield family. Sarah kept house, cooked, and cared for the motherless children until that fall when Mr. Sniffield remarried.



Joseph had acquired a small lot on Wall Avenue between Grant and Lincoln. Here he built a sod room with a willow and dirt roof, and dirt floors. He made a bedstead of poles fastened together and covered crosswise with willows. He worked for enough straw to fill a tick for a mattress. A chest that they brought from England served as a table, and stools were made out of slabs. They only had one camp kettle to use for the cooking, washing, and all other household purposes. They also loaned it to neighbors. This was Sarah’s first home. It was here in this sod room with a few additions that Sarah bore six of their thirteen children:

Joseph Henry, born 22 October, 1855

William Francis, born 30 April, 1857 [my great, great grandfather- we have the

same name- WFJ]

George Richard, born 4 May, 1859

Edward Benjamin, born 11 December, 1860

Charles Willard, born 5 September, 1862- [9 Sept. on my records- WFJ]

Sarah Hannah, born 20 September, 1864



[Joseph and Sarah’s other 7 children were also all born in Ogden. I will list them now, according to my family group sheet. (WFJ)]

Mary Elizabeth, born 17 June, 1866

Abinadi, born 28 March, 1869

Moroni, born 28 February, 1871

Frederick, born 22 February, 1873

Heber, born 24 December, 1874

Hyrum Robert, born 23 February 1878

Harriot, born 14 January, 1881



The year 1861 was a very trying time for this good family. The hardest thing for them was the death of their baby, Edward Benjamin, who was only nine months old. They never had enough to eat, and they suffered severely from the cold. The children were bare footed and often cried for bread. The crops were washed away with high water. Joseph rented another farm, and when the crops were ready to harvest, the grasshoppers came and destroyed everything again. This was a bad winter for everybody.



When the Ogden tabernacle was being built, Joseph became so exhausted from hunger, he couldn’t go on. He sat down in the shade of a tree and fell asleep. When he woke up, he saw a very large bird coming down towards him. It came very low, and dropped a fresh ear of corn at his feet. He thought that it was the best food that he had ever eaten. As he ate the corn, a voice seemed to say, “This is a sign that you will never want for food again.” This promise came true. This was a very marvelous thing, as no corn had yet been raised in Utah. When he returned home, Sarah came to meet him to tell him he could get some flour at Taylor’s Mill. It was very late at night when he got home with the flour, but Sarah made some bread, and woke the children up to have something to eat.



Sarah was very anxious to go to Salt Lake for the semiannual conference. They had only one ox, and it was lame, so Joseph thought that it would be impossible for them to make the trip. But Sarah was determined to try. She worked hard all summer making hats, spinning yarn, and knitting stockings. She also worked for a man that wove cloth, and gave her cloth for her pay. Joseph raised broom straw, and made the first brooms by hand in this area. He also worked for combs. They would trade these things for other things they needed. By borrowing the neighbor’s ox, which was very lean, they were ready for the trip by the first of October. Their wagon was made of slabs put on the running rears for a wagon bed. Picture in your minds them heading to Salt Lake to conference in this kind of wagon, with one lean ox, and one lame ox. They took with them all the things they had made and worked for to trade for things they needed. In Farmington, they traded some combs and brooms for fruit. Sarah saw to it that every seed and pit was saved. How thankful they were that they had saved these seeds and pits, for they proved a lasting blessing and benefit to them. With these seeds, and their six acre lot on Wall Avenue, they started an orchard, which was the first best orchard in Weber County. They obtained from the mountains small fruits and vines, strawberries, raspberries, sand cherries, [and] gooseberries, which Joseph cultivated and grafted, and they bore a large and as good a crop as the regular berries and grapes. In 1869, the railroad arrived, and soon after, they had sale for milk, cream, and fruit, which also helped build up ! the city of Ogden. Real hard times were over, and [they] were able to assist those in need.



[Joseph died 19 November, 1893- WFJ]



Sarah died 25 October, 1916, and was buried by her beloved husband in the Ogden Cemetery.