Sarah Ann Browning Lang Bunker

Sarah Ann Browning Lang (Bunker)

Sarah Ann's parents heard the gospel, were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and had moved to Nauvoo.

At seventeen, she married William Thomas Lang on 29 May, 1847. At the time of crossing the Plains, her parents, her own little family, and Edward Bunker's family were traveling together. They came across a dead body which they thought should be buried. As many were stricken with cholera, they realized the body they had buried was a victim of cholera. Eighteen of their company died.

After they arrived in Salt Lake Valley, they moved on to Ogden and settled on adjacent lots. They had cleared their land, fenced it, and built their home when William Lang died. Sarah needed help providing for herself and her two young children.

Edward bunker, her husband's dear fried, asked his wife for permission for the plural marriage to care for Sarah Ann and family. They were married on 26 Jun, 1852.

Shortly after her marriage, Edward was called on a mission to England and was gone for four years. The summer before he returned, they had suffered the hardship of grasshopper which devoured everything green and left very little for man or beast. This was followed by the "Hard Winter of 1855" with its bitter cold and tremendous snows. On his return trip, he was to lead the Handcart Company across the Plains in 1856 which was a long arduous trip. He arrived safely, but his health was very poor.

He was elected a member of the City Council of Ogden and was made Bishop of the Second Ward. The received word about the Johnson's Army and moved as far south as Payson, Utah, where they remained until it was safe to return to their homes. In April of 1861, Edward married a third wife, Mary Mathieson McQuarrie.

At the General Conference held in October 1861, President Young called them to relocate with their families to the Cotton Mission in Southern Utah.

After Sarah moved to Santa Clara, she kept herself busy taking in sewing, waiting upon the sick, carding, spinning, weaving cloth for her own use and for others. The people were not only asked to support themselves, build roads and common buildings; but they were asked to contribute money, commodities, and labor to bring the telegraph to the virgin river Basin, as well as the St. George Tabernacle and the County Courthouse.

In 1877, they moved to Mesquite area and started a settlement called Bunkerville. The United States Marshals were trying to stamp out polygamy, so it was necessary for them to move to Arizona, to Old Mexico, and to California. Sarah stayed in Delta with some family.

Sarah had a strong testimony of the gospel. She followed the LDS Migration, crossed the Plains, helped in the settlement of several towns, and sacrificed a great deal for the cause. She was a faithful and loving mother of a large family who pay tribute to her for her faith, loyalty, courage, her example, her pioneer spirit, and the great heritage and legacy of commitment she left them.