Sally Knight — Forsaken by Family, Driven by the Mob from Jackson County (1833)

Sally Coburn Knight, wife of Newel Knight, was a devoted early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who experienced profound spiritual conviction and intense physical suffering. Following her marriage to Newel in 1825, she faced repeated heartbreak, including the tragic loss of several children. Despite her own delicate health, she remained faithful after joining the Church in June 1830 in Colesville, New York. She traveled with the Colesville branch to Thompson, Ohio, in 1831 and subsequently to Kaw Township in Jackson County, Missouri. In late 1833, while living in Jackson County, Sally and her family were forcibly driven from their home by violent mobs. This displacement forced them to wander in the wilderness in a state of extreme distress, both in body and mind, as they sought refuge in Clay County, Missouri. Sally never fully recovered from the hardships of this expulsion and the persistent persecution against the Saints. She passed away on September 15, 1834, at Turnham's Landing in Clay County. Church records of the time memorialized her as one who fled to the mansions prepared in the house of the Lord, noting that the tears she shed against those who deprived her of comfort and peace would be remembered at the day of judgment.

Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, Vol. 1, No. 1 (October 1834), p. 12):

Died, in Clay county, Missouri, on the 15th of September, Sally, wife of Newel Knight, aged 30 years. She was a member of the church of Latter Day Saints, and died in the triumphs of faith. She was one of those who were driven from Jackson county, by the mob, last fall; and the tears which she shed, and the prayers which she offered up to God, against those who deprived her of the comforts and peace of her home, will be remembered at the day of judgment.