SARAH ANN MILNER ROBERTS
29 May 1862 – 15 Jun 1915
Sarah was born in Provo, Utah, the oldest daughter of John Brewitt Milner and Esther Elizabeth Yardley Milner. Sarah attended school at Dusenbeny’s in the old Lewis Hall, where the famed Doctor Maeser taught. Sarah met Benjamin Morgan Roberts, Jr. and, when she was just eighteen, the two were married in 1880. The young couple bought two city lots from her father on first south and fourth east in the center of Provo for the princely sum of fifty dollars. At the time, it was mostly swamp and willows. They both worked hard to clear and drain the place and then proceeded to build a two-room house on the spot, which is where the couple’s first three children were born. Later, three more rooms were added onto the house to accommodate the needs of their ever-growing family. Sarah had a wonderful artistic talent, which she expressed by making clothes for her family, as well as new carpets and quilts to adorn the floors and beds of their modest home. Sarah also cooked for the city and county prisoners in Provo and Benjamin Jr. would deliver the meals to the prison with his team of horses. Sarah and Benjamin Jr. were the parents of fifteen children, twelve of whom survived infancy, including Charles Milner Roberts, their oldest, my great grandfather on my mother’s mother’s side, who was born on 12 Mar 1885.