Every once in a while you find Mormon history recorded in places that are far distant, in both geography and time, from where most Mormon history tends to be recorded. Here’s an example of that, an article published in the Birmingham Mail, of Birmingham, England, on 31 December 1925.

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Wonderful Recovery After Accident

“One of the last living links with the pioneer days of Mormonism, when emigrants to Utah and its famed Salt Lake City crossed the prairies in covered ox-drawn wagons which took months to complete the journey, has been severed with the death at her home, 110 Alcester Road, Moseley, of Mrs. Sarah Jane Bryden, at the age of 78.

“Though Mrs. Bryden was never actually a Mormon, her parents were adherents of Brigham Young, the Mormon ‘Apostle’, and they emigrated to Utah with their family as members of a large party of converts in 1853 under the leadership of Joseph W. Young, brother to Brigham. During the long cross-prairie journey, full of hardships and perils, a serious accident befell Mrs. Bryden, who was then only six years of age, and her recover after prayer by the elders of the party was looked upon as little short of miraculous.

“The family set out from Liverpool in the sailing vessel Elvira Owen on February 15, 1853, and arrived at New Orleans, a journey which now takes about a week, six weeks later. It was not until October 6, more than seven months after landing in America, that they reached Salt Lake City. During the weary months of the interim they were crossing, at almost a snail’s pace, the 2,000 miles of country which separated the port from their destination.

“Mr. Bryden has many cuttings and pictures collected by his wife reflecting life in Salt Lake City, and her subsequent return visit there. He also preserves a host of reminiscences recounted to him by Mrs. Bryden.

Crushed Under Wheels

“A scar across Mrs. Bryden’s head, which was just concealed by her hair, remained as the only testimony to the wonderful recovery, about which she was often heard to speak. The manner of the accident and the cure was as follows: –

“The oxen wagon, one of a long, uneven train, on which Mrs. Bryden and her brother, then little children, were riding was so heavily laden with freight that the tops of the packages came level with the sides of the vehicle and left no protecting barrier. While the two children were playing about on the surface one of the wheels jolted into a deep rut and the little girl (Mrs. Bryden) was thrown off at the front, directly in the path of the wheel. The driver did not notice what had happened and went on, with the result that the wheels passed over a portion of the child’s head.

“‘Then,’ in Mrs. Bryden’s own words to an American interviewer some years ago, ‘the people in the party did what no other people, I think, would have done, out in the plains alone, and far from medical aid. They picked up the little child and, finding that part of her head was crushed almost to a pulp, portions of the brain being visible, all the elders of the wagon train gathered round and submitted their case to God, in whom they believed and trusted. They prayed for the little girl and then, with their hands, anointed her and urged her head, as best they could, back into place.’

“The little one lived, and before the end of the long trek she was playing as before with her brother on the wagon top.

Left Penniless

“Mrs. Bryden’s father was so enthusiastic a convert to the creed of Brigham Young that he, like many others at the time, sacrificed his all to follow his belief. His father threatened him that if he went to Utah he would leave him penniless, and he was as good as his word when he died soon after his son’s emigration.

“There was a strange and tragic sequel. Three years later a sister, feeling pity for her disinherited brother, wrote to say that if he would return she would make amends of their father’s severity; and for the sake of his family the father again undertook with them the arduous journey and returned to England and to their native Shropshire.

“The sister bought for him a farm near Wem, but before the deeds were complete she died and the family were left helpless, the father dying soon afterwards. later, Mrs. Bryden’s mother with two sons and a daughter returned to Utah, and the mother died there at the ripe age of 90, while two other sons and another daughter (Mrs. Bryden) remained in England.

“In 1908 Mrs. Bryden paid a return visit to Salt Lake City, of which she said that she ‘had never seen another city quite so beautiful,’ but even the fact that she had relations in Utah and that her parents were Mormons did not gain her the much-desired privilege of seeing the inside of the famous Mormon Temple, the electric lighting of which was undertaken by her brother. She was told that she ‘was not nearly good enough!’

“Incidentally the White Star liner, Republic, in which Mrs. Bryden crossed to America in 1908, sank on the next voyage. Once more her guiding star was watchful!

“Mrs. Bryden had a great respect for the Mormon community. Much that had been written and said about them, she declared, was greatly coloured. They were a very good-living people. She was herself a member of the Church of Christ and a vice-president of the Mrs. George Cadbury Afternoon Women’s Class.”

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A follow-up to that account was published in the same newspaper on 1 May 1926:

From Utah

“Another letter this week from America hails from Salt Lake City, Utah, and is from Mr. E[phraim].G[eorge]. Holding, who writes:

“‘In your issue of December 31, 1925, you published an article on the death of a Mormon pioneer at Moseley, which was wonderfully correct … The lady referred to was Sarah Jane Holding, my sister, and wife of Mr. James J. Bryden, of Birmingham. The brother referred to in the article is myself. I was riding on the wagon by her side when she fell out with her head right in front of the wheel and it passed over her. If there ever was a miracle performed on a human being there certainly was one performed on her. I was only four years old, but the fright so planted it on the mind that I well remember it.

“‘My oldest brother (who resides in London was crossing the plains in 1853 when the wagon passed over the small of his back, and the same thing happened to him going back over the plains in 1854.”