SKETCH OF JANE SHARP RAWLINS
Jane Sharp, my great, great grandmother, was born 22 March 1794 in Tennessee the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Sharp.
She married James Rawlins, son of Charles and Eustacie Gregory Rawlins. She together with her husband embraced the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of L. D. S. becoming a member in the early years of the church. She and her husband both received a patriarchal blessing under the hand of Patriarch John Smith, at Nauvoo, Illinois, and she was told her lineage was "same as thy companion."
During the persecutions of the Saints she endured many hardships and so when the church leaders announced the plan of a westward journey, she and her family eagerly prepared to be among the first to leave.
They traveled west in the Andrew Cunningham Co., which was part of the third division to leave in the year 1848 under the leadership of Willard Richards. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 19 Oct. 1848. In this group were sixteen members of the Rawlins family as follows: James age 54, Jane Sharp age 54, Sarah age 31, Lucinda age 29, Elizabeth age 27, Leah age 21, Millie Jane age 17, Elva Ann age 14, Nelson age 11, Joseph Sharp age 25, Mary Ellen F. age 21, Nancy Jane age 3, Harvey McG. Age 23, Margaret E. F. age 18, Margaret E. an infant.
After arriving in Salt Lake Valley they decided to settle in Big Cottonwood locality where they lived for four years, then to Spring City for six years.
She was the mother of ten children: Sarah, Elizabeth, Joseph Sharp, Harvey McGalyard, Leah, Millie Jane, Elva Ann, Nelson and Charlotte Melvina.
She was active in the church and very typical pioneer mother and wife, enduring many hardships and trials
She died 5 April 1858 at Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake County.
(Sketch written by Ina Danielsen Burton. Read in Camp Womanho.