Rachel Arbon Johnson

RACHEL ARBON JOHNSON
by
Donna Hansen Woodward

Rachel Arbon was born May 2, 1843 in OffetDaisy, England to William Arbon who was born June 2 1816 and Elizabeth Hardwick who was born August 10, 1824.

Rachel was the oldest child of William and Elizabeth. She had one sister, Louisa and four brothers, Joseph William, Phillip, Isaac Amos and Frederick.

Many missionaries stayed at the Arbon home while Rachel was a young girl. One of the missionaries who stayed in her parents home was from Grantsville, Utah which no doubt influenced Rachel’s parents choice of residence when they arrived in the Valley of the Saints and settled in the Grantsville area. When Rachel’s parents joined the church she was only seven years old so Rachel was raised most of her life with the gospel as a major influence. The desire to go to Zion became very strong for Rachel’s parents and they made plans to leave England, but a lack of funds slowed their progress. In 1864, Rachel left her home in England with help from the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company, and traveled with other members of the church to the Salt Lake Valley. Rachel borrowed $65.70 from the Perpetual emigrating Fund to help make her journey to the land of Zion a reality and the help prepare a way for the remaining family members to come to Zion. When she arrived in Salt Lake she worked as a maid for a Danish family. Here it was that she met her future husband, Lars Christian Johnson, a convert from Denmark.

Rachel married Lars Christian Johnson December 28, 1865 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. I am sure Rachel probably wished that her mother and father could have been there to witness the great blessing of Eternal bonds made that day for their oldest daughter.

Rachel and Lars had seven children together. They were: Lars William who was born June 4, 1867; David who was born May 6, 1870; Elizabeth Hardwick who was born November 4, 1872; Rachel who was born October 17, 1873; Sophia who was born September 25, 1875; Charles “W” who was born December 20, 1877; and Frederick who was born September 20, 1880. Rachel’s first child Lars was born while she and Lars where still living in Salt Lake. Her next two children were born in Skull Valley, Utah which is west of Grantsville, just over the mountains. This is where her parents lived and it is likely that she had gone home to her mother to have her babies since there is no indication of Rachel and Lars ever living in Skull Valley. The four remaining children where born in Richmond, Utah where Rachel and Lars had made their home.

When Rachel and Lars’ son Frederick was three months old Rachel died. It was December 26, 1880 in Richmond, Utah and Rachel was buried in a lonely grave in the Richmond Cemetery. Lars sent the younger children to live with relatives until he remarried three months later. Frederick lived with his grandfather and grandmother Arbon in Skull Valley, Utah until he was eleven years old.