Sarah Pea Rich Witnesses Divine Provision in Frontier Pioneer Life

Sarah DeArmon Pea Rich's autobiography testifies extensively to God's divine provision during the early frontier settlement of Illinois. She vividly recalled her childhood experiences of plenty in the wilderness: 'In the early settling of Illinois the woods were full of wild grapes and nuts of all kinds in abundance, and we would make our amusements profitable, for we would gather nuts of all kinds and lay them up for winter, and the grapes we would dry what mother would not want to preserve.' This abundance in an untamed wilderness was remarkable. Sarah also described the miraculous provision of honey: 'honey was more plentiful, for bees could be found in those times in the trees that were hollowed--there they would go and settle and make their honey.' She documented that her father would harvest significant quantities: 'I have many times seen my father take out a wash tub full of honey in the comb from one bee tree.' Additionally, the family's agricultural provision was divinely blessed: 'father could sell that [sugar from maple trees] to get other things needful for the family.' Throughout her account, Sarah emphasized that the family's survival and prosperity in the wilderness came through God's abundant provision of natural resources combined with diligent family labor. This testimony to divine provision during frontier settlement demonstrates how God sustained the faithful through the abundance of the land.