Person:Sarah Decker (1)

Sarah Vilate was the 6th child born to the union of Nancy Bean and Zachariah Bruyn Decker. Born on September 10, 1858 in Parowan Utah, where she lived during her childhood and until she was a grown young woman. Sarah Vilate was referred to as "Vate" by her brothers and sisters and enjoyed close family associations as she grew up in Parowan. She was given many responsibilities of care for her younger brothers and sisters and had and especially close relationship with her younger brother, George, for whom she was given particular stewardship.

In an account written by George, he recalled some happenings of his and Vate's early years together. He praised Vate for "as fine a young woman as ever lived." He related how, "a lot of young fellows liked Vate and sounght her company, and when she was about 16, Vate used to be often bewildered about what was duty and what was right." He said that she was being pressured to enter into a life of polygamy and she was interested in younger men. One day he "found her in a reverie," and she said, "Dord," as she affectionately called him, "I'm so miserable." When he told her to "go to dances with the younger fellows," her reply was always, "Oh, I dassent." He said that Vate became very moody during those years when the church leaders and older men encouraged young women to enter into plural marriage, being told that it was the way to be saved and exalted. He said, "I will never forget Lars' and Cornelia's part in leading Vate into polygamy." George had great concern for Vate and he became very bitter because of the polygamy influence.

In March 1876 Lars Mortensen and Sarah Vilate Decker were married, and on January 11, 1877 they were sealed by Wilford Woodruff in the St. George Temple the first day it was open. Sarah Vilate was the second wife of Lars. His first wife was Cornelia Lee Decker, Sarah Vilate's older half sister. Lars was 34 years of age when he married Sarah Vilate and she was 18 years of age--16 years difference. Lars and Sarah Vilate eventually had three sons, Alvarez, Lawrence and Edwin, and five daughters, Ella, Sadie, Kate, Hazel and Myrtle.

It was approximately nine years after Grandfather Lars and Grandmother Sarah Vilate were married, and during anti-polygamy persecution, that Lars moved his first wife Cornelia, and their children to Sanford in Southern Colorado. Cornelia traveled by train. Sarah Vilate followed sometime later, driving a team and wagon with her younger children. An older son had gone with the first family. Food supplies were minimal. Even the team of horses suffered for the lack of food. The trip took Sarah Vilate about six weeks to travel to Eastdale, Colorado, 25 miles from Sanford, where she lived alone with her children. Part of the time her older son spent time in Sanford helping Lars and his first family.

The days in Eastdale were difficult days for Sarah Vilate and her children. They lived in a granary at first, where one of the boys is quoted as saying that the cracks between the boards were so large that you could throw a cat through; and that even the bread would freeze. It was real cold storage for people, as well as for food. Back in Parowan when the Indians came to their home asking for food, Sarah Vilate had been able to share flour with them. Now her family was without and needed help. She had the very real responsibility of rearing 8 children and she resorted to many ways of keeping them fed and clothed.

According to the journals of Hazel Mortensen, Sarah Vilate's family saw very little of Lars, who lived in Sanford. He only came rarely to see his second family. As a result, the children did not know their father very well. He would come approximately once a month in the evening and would leave the next morning after breakfast. At these times of Lars's arrival, he would bring a few groceries for a little store Vilate had in her very inadequate hoem. The store was not very productive and she obtained a couple of cows and would save the cream from the mild and make butter to sell to the Mexicans. She sold eggs from a few chickens and kept a few pigs. In the summer they raised garden vegetables and would put them in a root cellar to use through the winter.

At times, Sarah Vilate went into the country to pick the wool from the dead sheep and from the barbed wire fences where the sheep had left some of their wool when they crawled through. She would take the wool home, wash it, card it and spin it into yarn then knit socks for her sons.

Sarah Vilate obtained a look on which she would weave carpets for other people. The Mexicans would have her weave for them. The material wone into carpets was made from strips of cloth--old worn out clothes that could not be used anymore. They were torn in strips, sewn together, and wound into balls until there was enough to make the right size carpet. It took lots of tearing and then sewing the ends together.

Fuel for cooking and heating required wood with had to be hauled from Ute Mountain. It was a long days journey in winter weather, difficult with team and wagon. Sarah Vilate would go with a son or two, young as they were, leaving early in the morning. It would be late at night when they would get home. Vilate's long skirts would be frozen to her hips from dragging around all day in the wet snow.

The Mormon settlement of Eastdale was like a large family. With church and school activities, as well as Holiday celebrations, many work and play experiences were enjoyed together and helped the families to be united. Musicals, plays, vocal and instrumental programs and speech contests were all part of their culture.

Sarah Vilate's children were taught the dignity of work, and as soon as they were old enough they worked out of their home to sustain themselves.

In 1908 the family moved from Eastdale to Manassa where they first rented a house, and later bought a small log house. Sarah Vilate was not well for a period of time during which she stayed with the family of her daughter, Ella, in Manassa.

As Vilate's children were married she spent time in their homes helping them with their children. She also helped with other families in need, especially at the time of childbirths. Many endearingly called her "Aunt Vate."

She was loved by her children and grandchildren. "Grandma was an ambitious woman. She was always busy either helping around the house or piecing a quilt top. She wanted to feel useful and wanted to contribute in anyway she could. I remember she was the bread maker in our home for a long time and she made the best bread you could ever eat. She pieced a lot of quilts- she spent a lot of time quilting them. She was a beautiful quilter. Grandma was as clean as a pin. Her hair was always clean and combed. I can't remember ever seeing her in a soiled or dirty apron. She was kind and patient. I can't remember her scolding or getting after us kids, and I'm sure we needed it at times."

“Grandma was always so pleasant looking and I loved the twinkle in her eyes and the sound of her laugh when something tickled her. She had pretty white hair that she pulled to the top of her head. During the flu epidemic in the fall and winter of 1918, so many people were sick and dying in Manassa. Grandma didn’t get the flu and she went from house to house nursing the sick. There were no doctors in Manassa so they had to rely on home remedies. My mother was near death with the flu and Grandma Mortensen helped nurse her back to health and how Grandma worked to comfort Gerri, who was only 3 months old. “ Compilation of quotes by Elwood Mortensen Haynie.

1.   Family Search. 1880 United States Census and National Index. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2001)
   Disk 35.

   Parowan, Iron, Utah Page 361B

   Age 21, Keeping House