Tuesday, April 25, 2017

A Woman Started it All: Sabina Larson Baxter.

Sabina Larson Baxter, Founding Saint
Sabina Baxter
The first name to be recorded in reference to the origins of the church in Sparks is Sabina Baxter. She officially inaugurated the momentum of the branch when she wrote mission President Robison to send missionaries to Sparks to conduct official business of the priesthood.
      There are two confirmed sources that give substantial evidence for Sabina’s historical status: the records of the branch, and Giles Vanderhoof who documented the origins with his presence and personal records. 
Not much is known about Sabina and her family. Given the fact this woman initiated the first Sabbath worship under priesthood authority, it would not be proper to leave her name as nothing more than a mention. Therefore, research of her life was undertaken through public records which afforded a fair amount of material for an introduction.
       Sabina was born in Sweden in 1882. Within 8 months of her birth, Sabina’s parents, who had joined the church, underwent transition from life in beautiful Sweden to the harsh reality of living in the Utah desert. She lived the greater part of her younger years in Ogden.
      Marrying a railroader was common for Ogden brides. Leroy R. Baxter, her sweetheart, was, according to his draft records, of medium height and weight, blue eyes and light brown hair. He fought in the short lived Spanish American war of 1898. By 1904, he was a fireman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Sabina married him in Wells, Elko County, Nevada on May 13, 1905. By their wedding date, he had been promoted to locomotive engineer. He was 25 years of age, Sabina was 22.
     The couple’s first baby was born in Nampa, Idaho in 1908. They named him Alma. The first in a series of unfortunate life's events took place that day; for Alma died the day he was born.   
     In the divine course of events, shortly after their first child was born, Sabina and LeRoy were transferred to Sparks where they would have another baby in September of 1909. He was a healthy baby boy they named Blaine LeRoy.
     Obviously when the Baxters moved to town, Sabina found there were no missionaries or other organization of the church. She took it upon herself to request the missionaries.
       The census records of 1910 reveal the Baxter family rented their home along with a boarder. It also indicates the missionaries, Joseph Harris and George Esplin, were their neighbors. 
Most of the railroader homes in Sparks were small, especially compared to today’s standard homes. Regardless of size, the very first missionary cottage meeting was held in Sabina’s home with 30 people in attendance. It was the first of many to be held in her home.
Faithful Sister Baxter, attended worship services, bore strong, powerful testimony attended with her gratitude for the organization of the branch. She provided the missionaries with vital resources to function. Her devotion was duly noted but her husband’s was not.
Regardless of the fact that LeRoy was born in Utah from Mormon pioneer stock; he was never baptized as a child. Finally in 1914, at the age of 34, LeRoy was baptized, one month after their daughter Marjorie was born in Imlay, Nevada.       
Another transfer to Idaho brought the blessing of another birth in August of 1917. Harry Larson Baxter lived three months before he too died.
The last and final move for the family brought them back full circle. The Baxter family moved to Utah by 1922 where their little 7 year old daughter, Marjorie died and was buried in the Ogden Cemetery.
Trials of the day without modern medical intervention meant a closer look at death than current practice and procedures to sustain life. It is not known if the knowledge of being sealed as a forever family motivated them to enjoy the blessings of a temple marriage or not, but LeRoy and Sabina took their family to the Salt Lake Temple to be sealed together in June, 1920.
Sabina’s life was drawn short when she died of a stomach ulcer at age 49. Faithful to the end, her obituary stated she was a member of the Salt Lake Stake Genealogical Society.
Trouble followed three years after Sister Baxter’s early demise. In 1935, Blaine was employed as a motorcycle police officer in Salt Lake for six months before he died in a horrible high speed chase. While trying to stop an accelerating car in the streets of downtown Salt Lake, he swerved to avoid a car that turned in front of him. Blaine crashed into the wall of a building and died as a result of the injuries he sustained. At age 26, he was survived by a wife who only lived 2-3 years after him, one child, a sister and his father.
One year after Blaine died; there was another traffic accident fatality. LeRoy, Sabina’s husband, died at age 59 of a fractured skull and broken shoulder sustained from an automobile collision in Springville, Utah.
June, a daughter born in 1921, survived seeing her sister, mother, brother and father pass on. She remained single until later in life when she then married. Without having children, she died in 1977
Reunited as a family on the other side, they enjoy the full extent of their devotion to the gospel. More particularly, Sabina’s devoted enthusiasm to establish a missionary presence in the Truckee Meadows. 
  

Picture taken from Sabina’s obituary in the Salt Lake Tribune Aug. 12, 1932

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