Sarah Emily Young (1841-1926)

By Guy L. Black

Sarah Emily Young was born on August 11, 1841, in Gibson County, Tennessee.  Her parents, Alfred Douglas Young and Anna Mundine Chappell, soon moved the family from Tennessee to Utah, where they were living by 1850.

When Sarah was barely a teenager, her childhood was snatched from her.  On March 3, 1855, March 13, 1885 or March 13, 1856, in Provo, Utah, when she was only thirteen or fourteen years old, Sarah became the second wife of William Franklin Ivie.  William’s first, and only legal wife, was Sarah’s sister, Malinda.

Under today’s laws and standards, Sarah’s husband would have at least been guilty of felony unlawful sexual activity with a minor for taking such a young bride (in addition to possible criminal prosecution for polygamy). Certainly, society would condemn his conduct today.

However, in the mid-1800s in Pioneer Utah, such marriages were far too common.  Children were forced to grow up much earlier than today.  Not much consideration was given to a young girl’s right to wait until she was sufficiently mature to make an informed decision about her choice of a mate.  Such was Sarah’s fate.

William moved his newly minted wife to Mount Pleasant, Sanpete County, Utah.  Not later than age seventeen, Sarah was already expecting her first child, a daughter, referred to on the 1860 Census as Amelia.

A steady stream of children followed.  By 1870, Sarah had children ranging in age from twelve to two.  The 1870 Census shows that the family had moved to Scipio, Millard County, Utah.  Sarah’s children at that time were:  Emily Anner Ivie (probably the same child who was identified as Amelia in 1860), age twelve; Martha A. Ivie, age ten; Rosabelle Ivie, age eight; Thomas Edwin Ivie, age six; Arthur Ivie, age four; and Russell J. Ivie, age two.

By 1880, two more children had joined Sarah’s growing clan—Susie and Estella, but all three of the Sarah’s oldest daughters had left the house before 1880. Following in their mother’s footsteps, the three oldest daughters, Emily, Martha, and Rosabelle, all married while still young teenagers.

A final child, Wilbert, was born in 1880, giving Sarah a total of nine children.  Shortly after Wilbert was conceived, Sarah’s husband died, on May 4, 1880, while suffering from acute abdominal pain.  Wilbert was born six months later.

Sarah raised the children by herself.  In 1902, her older sister and sister-wife, Malinda, died.  By end of 1905, Wilbert, the last of the children, married and left home; and Sarah was living by herself, at age fifty-four.

Sarah lived for nearly another twenty-one years, until she died on January 23, 1926, at age eighty-four.  She was not buried beside her husband, as that spot was already taken by her older sister.  Instead, she was buried by herself, a few yards away from her husband, with a small grave marker—a poignant example of her subservience and obscurity as a second wife.[1]