John FORD

                   Birth:  Family records.
1900 Census...Santaquin,Utah County, Utah..
Marriage record also stated age.

MARRIAGE:  Copy of Marriage records in our possession:
Charles Wm. Johnson ,c/o 530 S. 4th St.,LAS VEGAS, NV. 89101.

DEATH RECORD:  Personal and family knowledge.
Cemetery stone in Provo, Cemetery.

CEMETERY INFORMATION:
Ancestry.com      database
Utah County, Utah Cemetery Index 
Results
Sarah G. H. Johnson Ford
02 November 1874
16 September 1957
(Cemetery)  Provo

ancestry.com
Utah Cemetery Inventory
Name: Ford, Sarah G.h. Johnson
Gender: F
Birth Date: 2 November 1874
Birth Place: Goshen, Utah
Death Date: 16 September 1957
Death Place: Provo, Utah
Burial Date: 18 September 1957
Cemetery: Provo City Cemetery
Source: Sexton
Grave Location: Block 15 Lot 44  

DIVORCE:  Copy of record in our possession.

Sarah Celestia Higginson evidently left no records to our knowledge, no letters, no pictures, nothing of this marriage.
Tradition:
The story goes that she married Charles Johnson.  He was not a member of the church as far as we know. They had one child, Valdemar Eldridge Johnson.
We have found no Valdemar or Eldridge names on her side of the family thus far. Have come to believe that there certainly may be those names on his side of the family, which to this point we are still trying to locate.
(5-10-93).  Long ago I found some Valdemar names as a surname in the archives in Salt Lake...Royal names from Denmark, I believe.
Sarah Celestia was ask by her husband to leave the area, but the story goes that she did not want to leave her mother who was sick.  In the divorce record it said he deserted them....I just don't know what really happened between them as we only have one side of the story and there is always two sides.  Grandpa said that he saw his father for the last time when he was only about three or four years old and that he was tall man.  He was not found for the divorce proceedings or not found to be in the state as far as they could discern.

WITNESSESS TO THE WEDDING:
We have done some research on the witnesses to the wedding in Salt Lake City. Charles Johnson told Sarah Celestia that his father (or relatives) was in the judiciary....which may or may not be true.  But, at any rate, George Goodwin was a witness and was a judge in Salt Lake.  Is this the reason they came to Salt Lake to be married...that he had friends here.
We have information that there was an attorney Johnson in the same area of South Dakota for a time where George Goodwin used to live.



	BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF

	SARAH CELESTIA HIGGINSON JOHNSON FORD


Written by Valdemar Eldredge Johson   September 1957
Revised & edited by Eleanor Law Johnson 22 April 2001.

         Sarah Celestia Higginson was born at Goshen, Utah County, Utah, 2 November 1874, a daughter of George Bouncer and Maria Olsen Higginson.  She had one brother, Eugene Bouncer and one sister, Francis Mary Higginson and ten half brothers and sisters.  She was the last to survive in her family.  She was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she was eight years of age and enjoyed the customs of those days.  The family moved to Santaquin, Utah and it was there that she received her schooling and spent her girlhood days.  She was active in the organizations of the church that prevailed at that time and she often mentioned the good times she had with her associates.  At the time of her birth the pioneers had been in Utah only 27 years and the settling of this territory was still in its infancy.  She saw many changes during her life time and was always interested in reading of the things that were transpiring.
	
       On 12 November 1898 she married  Charles Johnson in Salt Lake City.  He was from the Omaha area and a mining engineer in the Tinic Mining District of Eureka, Utah.  One son was born to them, Valdemar Eldridge Johnson, on 8 September 1899 in Santaquin, Utah.  She is found living with her mother and child in the 1900 Census in Santaquin, Utah and her husband is not listed with them. There must have been differences between them and sadly their marriage ended.  The story is told that he wanted to move on and she didn't want to leave her ailing mother.  According to statements she made in the divorce proceedings in Provo, Utah, he abandoned the family.  He was not present at those proceedings and so only one side of the story is known.   Whatever the whole truth is, it is a sad story.   To this day, Charles Johnson remains  a mystery in the family.  Although much research has been done, his true identity is yet to be found. (Year 2001) .

         In 1906 Sarah Celestia married John Ford of Wallsburg, Wasatch County, Utah, a farmer and cattle rancher.  They had one son, Eugene Ford, born 4 June 1910 in Provo, Utah.  At an early date, about 1912 or 1913, she and her husband planned to take up a tract of land in the Uinta Basin which was being homesteaded at that time.  But, their plans did not materialize and they continued to live in Wallsburg until about 1919 when they moved to Provo.  They acquired a home and 61 acres of land near the Utah County Infirmary between Provo and Springville.  They lived there until 1923 when the Provo-Springville Holding Company purchased the land and water rights for the Ironton Works of Columbia Steel Company.  They then moved to 354 South 4th West in Provo (6th Ward), which was her last established home in Provo.
        She was a slender, beautiful woman and possessed a jovial and congenial spirit.  She had some wonderful sterling qualities, among them were neatness and cleanliness.  She was a perfect housekeeper, her home her castle.  She was an outstanding genealogist.  She knew the lives and history of all her kin and she loved to relate their lives and what they were doing and had done in the past.  Her relatives were her most prized possessions, she loved them all.  Her relatives and friends were always welcome in her home.  She was a wonderful cook and she loved to share good food with others.  She possessed the simple virtues of life, she loved picnics and family gatherings, hay-rack parties which were held on the shores of Utah Lake and which were, at that time, the recreation resorts in Utah County.
         She loved to relate how her father was converted to the church in Great Briton through Parley P. Pratt and later came to America where he became on of the first Seventies in the church.  He was with Apostle Pratt preaching the gospel in the state of Arkansas at the time of the Apostle's assassination.  George Bouncer Higginson gave Parley his last drink of water.
          Sarah Celestia was faithful and prayerful throughout her whole life.  She never missed saying her prayers and she taught the principles of truth and honesty and lived them by her example.  There could not be a more devoted mother.  She was grateful for her heritage and she loved this choice land of America.  She loved the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum and she knew and understood their privations and persecutions.  All of the leaders of the church were revered by her.  She never took outstanding parts in the church but she loved the Savior and she understood the eternal principles of the gospel.  She loved the missionary work of the church for she knew what a great part the missionaries had taken in her heritage.
          Her grandfather, Ole Olsen, was one of the first missionaries to preach the gospel in Norway in 1852 and 1853.  He was cast into prison for preaching the gospel.  In recent years she was thankful to have one of her grandsons, Charles William Johnson, fulfill a wonderful mission in East Germany.
         She died Monday morning at about 2:45 a.m. on 16 September 1957 at 290 East Center Street, Provo, Utah and is buried in the Provo City Cemetery.  She is survived by her two sons, nine grandchildren, and two great, grandchildren.
       
Note:  Martin Johnson, a grandson, also filled a mission in New Zealand.  And all of Charles sons and one daughter have filled missions for the church. Another decendant,a 2nd greatgrand son is presently serving a mission in Guatemala.       .