Willie and Martin Handcart Companies Stories / Vignettes ******************************************************************

Transcription

1 Willie and Martin Handcart Companies Stories / Vignettes Note: Most of this information was put together from the book Tell My Story, Too by Jolene Allphin. She has graciously granted wards and stakes permission to use these stories without copyright concerns. There are many (many!) other stories in her 547-page book. When Alice Brooks was fourteen years old, she and her step-sister used to sneak out of the house to attend the Mormon meetings. While her parents were not supportive of her religious choice, after much coaxing from their daughter, they allowed her to be baptized. Immediately she began making plans to immigrate with the saints to Zion. She worked as a weaver in a cotton mill for seven years to earn money to immigrate. The night before Alice was to leave for Zion, she went to spend the night with an LDS family. When her father found she was gone, he went to the home she was staying at and demanded that she return home. She tearfully informed him that she would never return home. He sought a policeman to force her to come home (although by this time she was of age at that time in her life) When her father was unable to find a policeman, he demanded that she return all her clothing, which she did but she still did not change her mind. Alice bore her testimony at the last Fast and Testimony meeting before leaving England for America. After she spoke, an individual in the congregation stood and spoke by the gift of tongues, after which another member provided and interpretation of what was said through the same gift of tongues. The prophecy was that Alice would reach Zion through much tribulation. She was promised that she would become a mother in Israel and that her last days on earth would be her best. This promise strengthened Alice many times during her difficult journey. During a particularly difficult part of the journey, when things were at their most desperate, the handcart saints were called together for prayer and asked if they were willing to die if the Lord so willed it, or if they were sorry they had come.

2 They all answered that they were willing to die if the Lord so willed it, but they were not sorry they had come. Almost at the same moment they saw Joseph A. Young, one of the rescuers, riding up on a white horse. He was hailed at his arrival as an angel. Fulfilling the prophecy that was made through the gift of tongues in her last Fast and Testimony meeting in England, Alice did indeed become a mother in Israel she was the mother of five sons and five daughters. In further fulfillment of that prophecy, Alice had better health from middle age until her death at the age of 80 than she had in her younger years. When she passed away, it was reported that she died quietly and quickly as a snuff of a candle. Ephraim Hanks was an adventurous lad. When he was a teenager, he left home and worked on the Erie Canal, and then he joined the navy and saw many interesting places in the world. When he returned home several years later to his family in Ohio, his brother Sidney introduced him to the restored gospel, which he accepted. He was instrumental in the rescue of the saints in the Martin Handcart companies. In the fall of 1856, Ephraim was spending the night at an acquaintance s home. After he went to bed, but before he was asleep, he heard a voice say to him: The handcart people are in trouble, and you are wanted; will you go help them? He turned to the where the voice was coming from, and saw a man in his room. Ephraim answered, Yes, I will go if I am called. The man in his room repeated the same question two more times. Each time, Ephraim responded that he would go if he was called. When he got up in the morning, he told the friend he was staying with, The handcart people are in trouble, and I have promised to go out and help them. The next day as Ephraim was sitting in General Conference, Brigham Young made his famous call for the people to go help the handcart saints. Though several of the brethren around him said they could be ready in a couple days, Ephraim said, I am

3 ready now! and the next day was headed into the mountains to find and assist the saints. Ephraim Hanks was invited by an angel to assist the handcart saints of the Martin Handcart companies, and he responded immediately. Within just a few days of the beginning of his journey, a terrific snowstorm descended in the mountains in which he was traveling; over the course of three days, so much snow fell that he and his fellow searchers could not get the wagons through. Concerned for the handcart saints, Ephraim decided to press on alone, so he borrowed a horse to ride and one to pack things on. One night as he was traveling alone toward the Martin company, the thought occurred to him about how warm a buffalo robe would be against the cold night, and that he would like some buffalo meat. So he prayed, and asked Heavenly Father to send him a buffalo. No sooner had he finished his prayer than he looked up and saw a buffalo within 50 yards of him. He shot the buffalo, skinned it, and used the skin to sleep on to protect him from the snow on the ground. He also packed the meat to give to the saints when he found them. The next morning as he was riding along, he came across a herd of buffalo. He thought this was strange, since buffalo weren t normally around in this part of the country during the winter. But he felt impressed to shoot one, which he did. He butchered the buffalo, adding meat to the pack on his pack horse. Before evening, Ephraim came upon the ragged and starving members of the Martin Handcart company. Many of them crowded around him when they saw the meat, and he told them to take what they needed. He said within five minutes, the hundreds of pounds of buffalo meat that had been on his pack horse were gone. Little did Ephraim know that one of the brethren of the Handcart company had prophesied that when their food rations were running low, they would feast on buffalo meat. And of course they did! But that was not the only time as Ephraim stayed with the Handcart company as they continued toward Salt Lake City, numerous times they came across buffalo, which he shot and which was eaten by the handcart saints.

4 Ephraim Hanks was invited by an angel to assist the handcart saints of the Martin Handcart companies, and he responded immediately. Not only did Brother Hanks provide much-needed food buffalo meat from buffalos he shot he also provided hope and healing. He reports that when he arrived in the Martin Handcart company camp, the greater portion of his time was spent in providing priesthood blessings to the members of the company. Many of them were healed under his hands and administrations. He said: I had joined the immigrants, and I spent days going from tent to tent administering to the sick. Truly the Lord was with me and others of His servants who labored faithfully together with me in that day of trial and suffering. The result of this labor of love certainly redounded to the honor and glory of a kind and merciful God. In scores of instances when we administered to the sick and rebuked the diseases in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sufferers would rally at once; they were healed almost instantly. I believe I administered to several hundreds in a single day; and I could give names of many whose lives were saved by the power of God. Ephraim provided one example of someone whom he had blessed. A Sister Dobson asked him to administer to her son, Thomas who was very sick, and his friends expected that he would die that night. Ephraim went to him, and before giving him a blessing, he asked Thomas, Will you believe the words I tell you? He said, Yes. Here is what happened in Thomas s words: I wore out my shoes on the way, and had to make a good many miles of it on foot; my feet froze and it was no small task hobbling over the rough roads wheeling a handcart. Brother Eph Hanks promised me the first pair of shoes that came to camp. But my feet had swollen so that nothing would fit them. Tommy, says Eph, it s too bad; but there s no shoes for you; and the best I can do is to wrap you up in this piece of cotton. Now, I tell you what you do. Stand up and sing the handcart song and I promise you in the name of Israel s God, your feet shall be made whole. That night I was awakened by a sound of fiddling. A couple in our company got married and the camp was celebrating with a dance. I hobbled out to the fire and stood there listening to the

5 music. Tommy, said one of the brethren in a joke, why don t you get up there and give us a jig. Now I come from Lancashire, and maybe you don t know what that place is known for is dancing. I d known how to clog dance ever since I could remember and when that man told me to dance I got out there and danced as I never had before. That was the last of my lame feet. George Frederick Husley was 19 years old when he and his 44-year-old mother left their native England for Zion. As they were preparing to leave Iowa City with their handcarts as part of the Martin Handcart company, some local people warned them that if they left this late in the season, they would starve out on the prairies. George expressed his concern to his mother, a woman of tremendous faith. She considered George s concern, so asked him to wait while she went off into the woods to pray. As a result of her prayer, Heavenly Father provided an answer in such a manner that both she and George were certain they should make the journey, and that they would arrive safely. George said, I told her then that we would go to the valley at all hazards because I was satisfied all would be well. But the trek became more and more difficult. Just before the rescuers arrived, George reported that the weather had turned so cold that on two consecutive nights, the two men who slept on either side of him in his tent died during the night. George became convinced that he was going to die. He said, I became so despondent with weakness that I longed for death and tried to hide myself from the company that I might die, but one of the brethren returning back for something, found me sitting behind the rock where I had hoped to die. He took me along with him for a day before we caught up with the company. I was permitted to sleep in a wagon that night.the next day we were permitted to see and enter the valley (November 29, my birthday). George did not know the name of the man who rescued him from certain death. In later years, quite by accident, George finally learned the name of the man who rescued him. His granddaughter, Clarissa Housley Talbot, wrote about it:

6 There was an occasion when both of my grandfathers were at our home. They got to talking about the old days. Grandpa (Marshall) Allen told of his trips back along the trail to meet and help other companies of pioneers. He said one time Brigham Young called him along with other men to go out on horseback to meet the stranded handcart companies. Grandpa though it was very foolish and was going to tell Brigham Young that he would not go. That night, when he was in the act of prayer, it was made known to him that he was to go. After riding for some time many of his fellow companions became discouraged and turned back, but he pressed forward.about noon one day, he found these desperate, starving handcart souls. Thinking there may be more behind them, my grandfather rode on for some distance. He said, As I was riding, I saw a dark spot upon the hillside and when I stopped to investigate, I found a young man. He was so cold and hungry that he had slipped away from the others in his company. He had hid himself on the hill and was praying to die and that the wolves would come and eat his body. I wrapped that young man in a blanket and put him on my horse. At this point, Grandpa Housley (who had been listening with rapt attention) said, Your horse had one white foot and a white star on his forehead and your blanket was bright red plaid. Grandpa Allen turned pale and asked, How did you know that? Grandpa Housley replied, Because I was that young man. I am sure it was because of the prayers of my mother that I lived until you found me. Margaret Dalglish was a Scottish Saint who joined the Willie Handcart company. Margaret suffered the privations and hardships of the trek with the other members of the Willie Company, but perhaps she was able to demonstrate the feelings of all in her actions as quoted in Remember: The first of the rescued reached Salt Lake City on November 9, a day of tears and thanksgiving. For many days afterward, the others came straggling in, some riding the wagons, some still grimly hauling their

7 battered carts, still defiantly on their own legs. Margaret Dalglish, that gaunt image of Scottish fortitude, dragged her pitiful handful of possessions to the very rim of the valley, but when she looked down and saw the end of it, with safety of the City of the Saints, she did something extraordinary. She tugged the cart to the edge of the road and gave it a push and watched it roll and crash, tumble and burst apart, scattering down the ravine the last things she owned on earth. Then she went on into Salt Lake to start a new life with nothing but her gaunt bones, her empty hands, and her stout heart. George Padley was born in England near the end of 1835, so he was 20 years old when he joined the Martin Handcart company for the trek to Salt Lake City. He was a tailor. While in England, he met and fell in love with Sarah Franks, whom he fell head-over-heels in love with. Sarah Franks embraced the gospel at the age of sixteen in her native England. Initially, her parents objected to her membership in the Church, but they eventually came to gain their own testimonies of the Gospel. While Sarah and George were in love, they decided they would not get married until they could make it to Utah, where they could be married for time and all eternity. The journey was initially a delight for the two lovers, and they spent many hours in discussions and pleasant times during the beginning miles of the trek. They were recognized by other members of the Martin Handcart company as sweethearts, and they could often be found talking and discussing what their future in Salt Lake City would be like. In addition to the rigors of the trek, George took his place in standing guard during the night time, and helping others cross the rivers that needed to be crossed. The trek was difficult for both George and Sarah, and both became quite ill. George eventually passed away in Martin s Cove. But the love story for Sarah Franks and George Padley doesn t end there. Sarah was nearly inconsolable at the thoughts of George s body being placed in a shallow grave, where wolves would shortly be able to dig up and devour his body. She

8 used a heavy shawl provided to her as a gift by her mother to wrap George s body. Then his body was placed in a tree, where other pioneers who came by in the spring could give George a proper burial. During the 1990s, President James E. Faust, a member of the First Presidency, heard of the story of Sarah Franks and George Padley. He was moved to tears, and said that their story had to be one of the great love stories of the western migration. Sarah s and George s story was portrayed in the recent movie 17 Miracles. Tamar Loader was very sad when she left England because she had been unable to convert her sweetheart. When she left for America, her sweetheart remained in England. Tamar was 28 years old when she joined her family to emigrate to America. One night, while on the plains of America, after much grieving, she had a dream. She told her mother that she had dreamed that her sweetheart came and stood beside her and he seemed so real. But he was not alone. Another man was with him in the dream the sweetheart finally faded away but the other man remained. When, with the rest of the members of the Martin Handcart company were finally rescued from their months- and miles-long ordeal, one of the rescuers was Thomas E. Ricks. When Tamar first saw Thomas, she took her mother by the arm and said, Mother that is the man! that she had seen in her dream. Tamar married Thomas Ricks (he is the man that Ricks College was named after now it is called BYU-Idaho). Patience Loader was 29 years old when her family decided to come to America. Her father had worked for a wealthy man in England for 35 years, by when he and his large family (eight daughters and four sons) joined the Church, he was fired, despite over three decades of loyalty to his former employer. Patience almost didn t make the trip to Zion with her family. Her family had gotten settled on the ship that was to take them all to America. Since the ship was

9 not scheduled to leave until the next day, Patience decided to spend the night with a married sister. When she got to the docks the next day, the ship was just getting ready to depart. Her family was standing on deck, looking frantically for her. When she arrived, there was but one thin plank remaining that connected the ship with the dock. One of the crew men asked Patience is she was willing and able to walk the plank. She said she was, and did so with the help of two of the members of the crew. Patience survived the trek to Zion and had many interesting and spiritual experiences. Shortly after beginning the trek, Patience s father, James Loader, got sick and died. The trek after that was very difficult. Many times that she and her sisters, brother and mother feared they would either starve or freeze to death. One one occasion, shortly before the Martin Handcart company was rescued, while she was pulling her handcart through deep snow, a strong man appeared to her. She said, He came and looked in my face. He said, Are you Patience? I said, Yes. He said, I thought it was you. Travel on, there is help for you. You will come to a good place. There is plenty. With this he was gone. He just disappeared. I looked but never saw where he went. This seemed very strange language to me. I took this as someone sent to encourage us and give us strength. That evening, Patience and her family were met by the rescue party. Ann Jewell Rowley was a woman of great faith! She reported the following in her journal: We were members of a religious body called the United Brethren. Before our first child was born, we were privileged to hear a man named Wilford Woodruff proclaim a new Gospel message. We really went to hear the man because we were curious and because we had heard that the Church of England had sent a constable to arrest him, but this man had converted him instead. Then the church sent two spies who were commissioned to sit in on the meetings and report

10 back. They too were converted, so the church dared not send anyone else. We all wanted to hear this astonishing man. We had only to hear him once and William and I knew with all our hearts that he was offering us a priceless treasure. We accepted his offer and were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All but one of the 600 members of the United Brethren were baptized at that time. Ann s husband died before the family could emigrate to Zion, but Ann was determined to take her seven children and go to Salt Lake City, where they could all be sealed to her husband. They traveled with the Willie Handcart company. Late during the trek, Ann was distressed to see one of her young sons cut a piece of rawhide from their handcart, place it on a stick and roast it to get all the hair off of it so he could eat it. Ann began to pray for assistance. Here is what she said: There was a time when there seemed to be no food at all. Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God s help as I always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage. They were not large, and were so hard they couldn t be broken. Surely, that was not enough to feed eight people. But five loaves and two fishes were not enough to feed 5,000 people either but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So, with God s help, nothing is impossible. I found the biscuits and put them in a Dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God s blessing. Then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. Elizabeth (Betsy) Cunningham was 12 years old when she and her family left Scotland to emigrate to Zion. They joined the Willie Handcart company. Her parents, James Cunningham and Elizabeth Cunningham, had great faith. Before

11 leaving Scotland to emigrate, they were promised in a blessing that all the members of their family would survive the trek if they were faithful. Late in the trek, Betsy s mother went to wake her up in the tent. To her terrible dismay, she discovered that Betsy had died. The ground was so hard that they could not dig a grave for Betsy, so they wrapped her in a blanket and left her by the side of the trail. Betsy s heart-broken family continued on to catch up with the rest of the Handcart company. Night was falling, when Betsy s mother suddenly remembered the blessing they had been given by a servant of the Lord, and his promise that ALL their family would reach Zion if they were faithful. With faith in the Lord s servants, Elizabeth headed back to find her daughter, despite the protests and even ridicule -- of her friends. She found her daughter, and brought her back into camp, where she worked to try and warm her up. Nothing seemed to work. She called for some hot water to place on her neck. As they were bringing the hot water over, some of it fell on Betsy s foot, and it caused a quiver to go up her limb. This encouraged Elizabeth and she continued to try to revive Betsy. Her faith and efforts were rewarded Betsy revived, and survived the remainder of the trip. Betsy went on to be the mother of 13 children, and also raised 3 step-children. All because of the faith her mother had in the promises of a servant of the Lord. George Cunningham was 15 years old and was a member of the Willie Handcart company. He and his family left Scotland to join the emigration to Salt Lake City. George was very excited to arrive in America. He said: How well I remember the first step I took on American soil! How thrilled I was to be in the land of the free the land of promise! I had been taught to believe it was the land of promise blessed above all other lands, and although only a boy of fifteen years, I felt like thanking God for the blessing I received!

12 When the Willie Handcart company was struggling the most, near the end of their journey, George related the following story: While laboring under those trials and afflictions I lay down one night and fell asleep. I dreamed a dream, that morning had come, the storm had subsided some and that we had started out on the road. I thought that I saw two men coming toward us on horseback. They were riding very swiftly and soon came up to us. They said that they had volunteered to come to our rescue and that they would go on further east to meet a company which was still behind us and that on the morrow, we could meet a number of wagons loaded with provisions for us. They were dressed in blue soldier overcoats and had Spanish saddles on their horses. I examined them, particularly the saddles, as they were new to me. I also could discern every expression of their countenance. They seemed to rejoice and be exceedingly glad that they had come to our relief and saved us. At last morning came, it had cleared somewhat and I think that the snow was 18 inches deep on the level where we were. The weather was very cold. We made some very large fires with willows which were abundant at this place. Everybody stood around the fires with gloomy faces, as if in a death trap, when all at once flashed into my mind my dream of the previous night. How joyfully I related my last night s dream in detail. My mother told them that she knew it would come true, as I was promised that gift in my blessing. And to our great pleasure every word was literally fulfilled. I can recollect that I was in the lead of the crowd, feeling quite inspired by my dream. At the approach of the rescuers I roared out: See! See them coming over the hill! They told me I was a true dreamer, and we all felt that we should thank God. We soon met the wagons with provisions and were very kindly treated and all felt to thank God.

13 James Barnett Cole was one of the rescuers. He joined the first rescue party as it came trough Ft. Bridger. He was traveling with William H. Kimball. One night, while on his way to rescue the handcart companies, James dreamed he would meet his future wife among the stranded Saints. He was even shown what she looked like. In his dream, she had a fur cap and a green veil tied over her cap to keep the wind off, and she was very beautiful. He told his dream to William Kimball, who said, We will see no beautiful girl with a fur cap and a green veil in those frozen Saints. As they approached the snow-bound camp of the Willie Handcart company, it looked like an Eskimo village. The snow was very deep and paths had been made from tent to tent. When the people caught sight of the train of rescuers coming, many shouted and cried and embraced James Cole and William Kimball. As they rode into camp, William Kimball saw one of the Willie handcart women wearing a green veil over a fur cap. He turned to James Cole and said, Brother Jim, there is your dream girl. Brother Cole invited her to get in his wagon, but she declined, saying, No, I don t know you. The young woman s name was Lucy Ward. She must have eventually decided she knew James well enough, and she agreed to ride in his wagon. They must have hit it off, because before they reached the Salt Lake Valley, they paused at Ft. Bridger long enough for William Kimball to marry them. They eventually had eleven children. Margaretta Unwin Clark lived in England. One day, while she was returning home from work, she heard an LDS missionary preaching on a street corner. She said the the missionary dressed more like a common laborer dressed in his best clothes than a minister. However, the words that he taught that day and in subsequent meetings hugged to her heart, and she was such a fervent believer that her mother and three sisters also embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ.

14 Margaretta befriended a young orphan girl, Marry Ann Biddle Farmer, and asked her parents if they would take her in which they did. Mary Ann also became a member of the Church and she also made the trek to Zion. The day after her 28 th birthday, Margaretta boarded a ship for America. She insisted on being lashed to the ship s rigging in the brow of the ship so she might experience the full rise and dip of the waves so she could overcome her sea sickness quickly. Upon arriving in Iowa, Margaretta became a member of the Martin Handcart company, and endured all the hardships and privations of that company. Once the rescuers arrived, Margaretta was placed in the wagon of Anson Call. Her son, Willard Call, wrote: While the loads were being arranged, Margaret awaited in Anson s wagon gnawing at a frozen squash which had been intended for his horses. When Anson saw the situation through the back of the wagon he knew that she was freezing to death. In his rough vernacular, acquired in the West he told her of her condition and she replied: Oh no, Sir, I have been cold but I am comfortable now. When he took her by the hand, she said, Hold on, Sir, my hand is a bit sore, you hurt it. As she struggled he said, I calculate to hold on, and she landed in the snow. With the help of another man, he ran her up and down in the snow to induce circulation and so saved for himself a wife who later bore him six children. Father told us that he knew she had passed the suffering point in a freezing death and if left to herself her mortal life would soon be a thing of memory, but mother always maintained that a gentleman from England would have been much more gentle and not so persistent. Margaretta was a faithful church worker and a steady supporter of her busy and much-respected husband. Margaretta died in December 1908 in Bountiful, Utah. Margaretta was an ancestor of Dallin H. Oaks, currently a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

15 Sarah Foster embraced the Gospel when she was 18 years old, but it was not easy. Sarah was one of seven children of a very wealthy Scottish family living in England. They had many servants. One evening, Sarah stopped to listen to several LDS missionaries teaching on a street corner. She returned the next two evenings, and during that third evening, she reported that: I felt the Holy Ghost witness to me that they were preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. That evening, after returning home late for dinner, her parents questioned her as to why she was coming home late to the evening meal. When she told them of her whereabouts and new-found faith, they became alarmed and had a long and serious discussion with her. They forbid her to read the Book of Mormon, but she did so at night by candlelight. Sarah told her parents of the gospel principles she had learned from the missionaries form America, and of the Prophet Joseph Smith who had talked with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and of her intentions to be baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her parents told her that they would consider this a disgrace to the family and that if she followed through with her plans she would be disowned by them. They told her she would find the doors locked and they would never allow her to come home again. Sarah stated that she knew that if she denied the testimony she had received, it would be displeasing to God. She was baptized the next day, September 21, She said she felt so happy after her baptism that she was sure she would be able to pass a little of this happiness on, so she went to her home but found her parents unwilling to see her. One of the servants met her at the door and told her that he had been instructed not to let her enter. Sarah said that she did not have any hard feelings toward her parents as she walked away, only sorrow that she could not make them understand. Some Church members took Sarah in and for the first time in her life she had to work to earn money for her room and board. She also saved for her emigration to America to be with the Saints in Utah. Sarah saved enough for her trip that she actually had a little extra money. When she reached Iowa, she noticed that some of the little children from the poorer families did not have shoes, so she used her extra money to purchase shoes for

16 them. Later in the trip, when Sarah s own shoes were completely worn through, she took the oxen hide wrappings from the wagon wheels to wrap her feet in. Later, she washed the hide, boiled it and ate it to keep from starving. Sarah s feet gave her trouble the rest of her life, and she was never able to wear shoes comfortably. Sarah survived the journey to Salt Lake City, and eventually married a gentleman that she had known in England before her emigration. They had two children. Jemima Clark was the youngest daughter of a family of four girls and four boys. She lived in England. Although she received some education growing up, she was forced at a young age to work to help support the family. She was considered a bright little girl. Jemima heard missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preach the gospel and became very interested in the Church. Her family, however, did not wish for her to participate in the Mormon meetings. Sometimes, Jemima would slip out at night when her parents thought she was in bed, attend a meeting, and slip back in through a window. On one of those occasions, she was baptized. Jemima saved her money so that she could emigrate to America to join the Saints in Zion. Finally, when Jemima was 28 years old, the day arrived. Knowing her family s opposition to the Church, once again she slipped out of her home in the middle of the night to leave for America. She left her parents a note and slipped quietly out of the home through a window. As soon as they found her note, Jemima s parents rushed to the harbor to stop her, but the ship Horizon had already set sail. Once she arrived in America, Jemima joined with the Martin Handcart company. During the trip, she met John Toon, a missionary returning from his mission in England. Four months after reaching the Salt Lake valley, Jemima and John married and had seven children.

17 Mary Ann Payne Mellor was distraught at the prospects of leaving her recently widowed father as she prepared to leave England for America and then for Zion. Her mother, Charlotte Squires Payne heard the gospel near the very end of her life, when she was too ill to be baptized. But she begged her son-in-law James, who had taught her the Gospel, to go to Zion and there attend to her salvation. She died soon after this. Shortly thereafter, Mary Ann and her family arrived in Liverpool from Blaby, England. Two days before the ship they were leaving on was to leave, she gave birth to twin children, who lived only seven hours before they died. Mary Ann was heart-broken. First, she had recently lost her mother. Then she left her father to go to Zion. Then she had twins and they died. Her doctors told her she should not make the trip on the ship to Zion, or she too would die. She told her husband to leave without her, taking five of their six living children with him, even though it broke her heart to do so. He reluctantly agreed, but changed his mind two days later, as the ship was preparing to leave. Mary Ann was administered to by two elders of the Church (Elder George Goddard and Cyrus Wheelock) and promised her that she would come to Utah and see her children in Zion, and that her mission on the earth was not yet finished. Hearing her blessing and exercising her faith, she insisted that she be carried onto the ship on a stretcher. While she and the Elders had faith that she would make the trip safely, the ship s captain was not so sure he told the family that she would end up as food for the sharks. Mary Ann, although heavy hearted at all the loss she had recently suffered, did make the voyage safely. She made the trek reasonably well, though constantly carrying the heavy heartedness at the deaths of her twins, her mother, and the homesickness she felt for her father, whom they had left in England. About three weeks before her trek to Zion was completed, she became utterly despondent and decided she could go no further. She persuaded her family to leave her beside the trail. Her husband promised to go ahead, set up camp and leave the children there, then come back and get her. One daughter, Louisa, told

18 her sister that she would stay and take care of her mother. Mary Ann sat down on a boulder and wept, she was so saddened by the trials that had come her way. Louisa was of course worried for her mother. She knelt in prayer and asked Heavenly Father to protect and watch over them, to protect them from wolves, and to let them reach their camp. Of that experience, Louisa wrote: As I was going back to where Mother was sitting, I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to Mother to eat, and after resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for His blessings. A few miles before we reached the camp, we met my father coming out to meet us. What a joyful meeting that was! We arrived in camp at 10:00pm. Many times, mother felt like giving up and quitting; but then she would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and she offered a prayer of gratitude instead. Louisa s and Mary Ann s story was featured in the movie Seventeen Miracles. (Mary Ann Payne Mellor, 36 and Louisa Mellor, 15, Martin Handcart company) Elizabeth Crook Panting was 28 years old when she joined the Church after being taught by Wilford Woodruff. Shortly after, he gave her a blessing and she was promised that she would be able to go to America and the Salt Lake valley, and she and her children would arrive safely. However, Elizabeth s husband was an alcoholic, and treated his wife very poorly. He was very much against the Mormons and he threatened to kill Elizabeth if she didn t stay away from their meetings. He often hid her shoes so she couldn t go to Church services, but she would borrow her neighbor s shoes and go anyway. Finally, her husband got so mean, she determined to leave him and leave England with the Saints, headed for Zion. She packed up her two children and went to the train. As she was on the train, she saw her husband looking for her, so she changed clothes with another woman on the train so that he wouldn t recognize her. He passed right by her and did not recognize her or their children.

19 At one point during the trek, food was running dangerously low for her family and others sharing their tent, and most of the Saints were slowly starving to death. One day, Elizabeth was out collecting buffalo chips to take back to camp and use for cooking fuel to cook the limited food she had for her children. She was wearing a long, full apron over her dress. While she was gathering buffalo chips, a man came up to her and asked her how the members of the handcart company were doing. She told him that most of them were starving, and he asked her to follow him, and maybe he could help a little. They went over a small hill and were out of sight of the camp. In the side of the hill was a sort of cave and he led Elizabeth into the cave. On one side of the cave, there was a lot of dried buffalo meat hanging up. The man loaded as much meat in Elizabeth s apron as she could carry and told her to share it with the other people. He led her out of the cave and to the top of a small hill and pointed out the camp below and told her not to get lost. As she turned back to thank him after she looked where he had pointed out the camp, he had disappeared. She looked for the cave and could find no trace of it, but she still had the dried buffalo meat. She went back to camp and divided the meat out to those most desperately in need of food and saved their lives. Michael Jensen was an 11-year-old trekking with his family with the Willie Handcart company. He reported that one evening a band of about 1,000 Indians came upon the handcart company, and they were all wearing war paint. He said things looked really bad, and that many people were scared. The Indians demanded food and silver, and the saints didn t have much of either. Captain Willie and an Indian interpreter went out to speak with the Indians. The interpreter told them that they had very little to eat and most of the people were starving. He also told them that they didn t want to do any harm to the Indians and that they were just going to Utah to be where Brigham Young was. When he heard this the Indian chief said Brigham good friend. He looked the saints over and believed what the interpreter said that they were mostly starving,

20 and that they meant the Indians no harm. They rode away without taking anything from them, and they did not do any harm to them. Michael said: We had heard how the Indians had killed a lot of people who were going to California and Oregon. We had never been molested and we felt it was because we always went to the tent of our Captain each morning and evening for prayer and we would sing and pray and talk, and the Captain always told us to be careful not to go far away from the company for, we should get lost, the Indians would be sure to get us. You can bet this was enough to keep all the boys and girls close to the camp at all times (Michael Jensen, 11, Willie Handcart company) James Laird was born in Ireland, and was with the Willie Handcart company. He was the leader of twenty people who shared his tent, and he took his responsibilities very seriously. He watched after them carefully. One evening, Brother Laird noticed that Brother Booth had not made it to camp. Even though he was tired from the day s hike, he left camp and went back up the trail where they had come from. When he found Brother Booth and a few others, he could hear wolves howling nearby. Brother Booth and the others had given up, and were prepared for the wolves to eat them and end their suffering. Brother Laird decided to box their ears probably slap them across the face and shake them a couple times to rouse them from their lethargy. After doing that, he carried Brother Booth on his back most of the way back to camp. James said, I deprived the wolves of a meal that night. Brother Booth lived to come to Utah and often told the Laird children how their father had saved his life. Can you imagine? (James Laird, 30, Willie Handcart company) By the time the rescuers reached the Martin Handcart company, the saints were in very desperate shape. Asa Hawley, 21, one of the rescuers, shared this description:

21 We had given up our wagons to them. After arranging their beds as well as we could when bedtime had come, we would carry them to our wagons. After seeing them to bed, we would close the wagon covers thus shutting out all the cold possible. Thus we would leave them for the night. Then shoveling away the snow we would lay our scant blankets down for a little rest, then up in the morning a long time before daylight we would build a big fire and prepare breakfast. When all was about ready we would arouse our passengers, again repeating that which we had done the day before. When we were all seated we would again pass them their food. Breakfast over, all was now a hurry and bustle to be off.we again loaded them into our wagons and traveled on. This was repeated night and morning all the way. Euphemia Mitchell grew up in Dundee, Scotland. She learned about the Church through May Bain, a close friend of hers, and she loved to attend the Mormon Church meetings. She believed the testimonies of the Elders and Joseph Smith and loved how they preached by the Holy Ghost and without pay. Euphemia wanted to join the Church, but she knew her mother was very opposed to the Mormon Church, so she kept her desires secret. When she was 16 years old, the missionaries laboring in the area were going to have a baptismal service for all those who wanted to be baptized. Because of bitter persecution of the Mormons in that area, the baptismal service was scheduled for 3:00am, to avoid any disturbances from the local rowdies. Euphemia told the missionaries that if she could wake up in time to be there at 3:00am, she would be baptized. But Euphemia had a problem. Her mother was a widow, and they lived in very small quarters. She, her six brothers and sisters and her mother all slept in the same room. Getting to the baptismal service would be difficult first of all, she had to be able to wake up early enough to get ready, and then she needed to get ready in such a manner that she did not wake her siblings or her mother. When she went to bed, Euphemia prayed fervently that if it was right for her to be baptized, she would be able to wake up in time to get to the baptismal service.

22 She did wake up, and was able to quietly dress and leave without waking up any of the other family members. The missionaries had to break the ice for her and others to be baptized. Shortly after she was baptized, her mother confronted her, and asked her if she had been baptized into the Mormon Church. When she confirmed that was the case, her mother told her she was no longer welcome in their home. Shortly after that, Euphema journeyed to America with the family who had introduced her to the Gospel, and with whom she had been attending Church meetings. They joined the Willie company, and when things looked the bleakest, help from the Salt Lake Valley arrived. One of the rescuers who arrived was Robert Bain, Euphemia s friend May s older brother, who had emigrated to Utah two years earlier. Robert and Euphemia fell in love almost immediately, and were married one month after Euphemia s arrival in Salt Lake City. She and Robert were the parents of nine children. Euphemia lived to the age of 98 and died quietly in her sleep. Levi Savage was one of the principal players in the Willie Handcart company and the difficulties and adventures they had. However, before joining the Willie company, Levi had many interesting experiences in service to the Church. In his mid-20s, he marched with the Mormon Battalion to California. He estimates that during his one-year enlistment with the Mormon Battalion, he marched more than 3,000 miles and ended up in Los Angeles, California when his enlistment ended. After he traveled to Utah, Levi married a young woman he had met before his Mormon Battalion experience. Several years later, they were the proud parents of a little boy. However, just before that little boy turned one year old, his mother died. Within one year of his wife s death, Levi was called to serve a mission to Burma (now known as Myanmar) and India. He left his son in the care of his sister and brother-in-law. He had many interesting experiences in Burma and India, but was

23 saddened because few accepted the message of the restored Gospel in those countries. But he didn t lose his sense of humor. In his journal, the following was recorded: September 25, 1854, Monday, Karane Village. This morning when I awoke I could only find a part of myself for during the night the mosquitoes had carried away a large portion of my body in little pieces. In October 1855, three years after being called on his mission, Levi began his homeward trek. He arrived in America four months prior to the Willie Company s arrival from England. He agreed with Elder Willie to accompany and assist the Saints to Iowa, but when they arrived in Iowa, Elder Willie asked Levi to stay with the Willie Handcart company and assist them, since he was an experienced woodsman and explorer, and so many of the English, Irish and Scottish saints had no idea what they were doing. Although he was anxious to see his son, whom he had left over three years earlier, he agreed to assist the Saints. When the Willie Handcart company reached Iowa, things were not ready for them. They had to stop and craft handcarts out of green wood, which would cause problems on the trail. The delay threatened to put the Handcart company in harm s way because of the lateness of the season. At a meeting of the Willie Handcart company, Elder Willie proposed to the group that they begin the journey, even though their departure was very late, but that they should trust in the Lord. Then he called on Levi Savage to share his opinion of whether or not they should leave or stay. He told Elder Willie that if he were to speak, he would have to speak his mind honestly, let it cut what ever way it would. Elder Willie agreed. Levi Told the saints that if they left then, they would likely have to endure many hardships, and that many would probably die on the journey. He told them that they were liable to have to wade in snow up to their knees, and at night they would have to shovel the snow out of the way so they could lay on frozen ground, wrapped in a thin blanket. He said that if they started this late in the season, the

24 bones of many would strew the way. He strongly counseled the old, young, sick and weak to stay until the following spring. He stressed that the lateness of the season was his only objection that he supported the handcart plan of travel. Levi s comments seemed to have upset Elder Willie, who stood and told the saints that the God he served would carry them through, and he was critical of Levi s comments and position. He called upon Levi to repent. Rather than be angry, Levi humbly apologized for any offense he may have given, and vowed to go with the saints, come what may. Levi s apology was not an idle one. He did not sulk or take an I told you so, attitude when the very things he prophesied of many deaths, their bones strewing the prairies, etc. came true. Instead, he did all he could to help the saints and alleviate their suffering. Journals of many of the Willie Handcart company saints spoke of Levi Savage and the great assistance he gave to the handcart company during their difficult journey. Referring to the help of all the captains of the handcart company, one person said: Levi Savage was, I think, the best help we had. Resolute and determined, his whole soul was for the salvation of our company. Often, we forget how difficult travel especially trans-oceanic was in the 19 th century. When Levi Savage returned from his three-year mission to Burma and India, and just prior to joining the Willie Handcart company, he had a very eventful and at times frightening experience on the passage to America from England. He shares a vivid account of a portion of his voyage: The wind had increased into a perfect gale and the sea was foaming mad and running mountains high in the most irregular form imaginable. When the sea broke upon the ship it would shake and tremble with great violence from stem to stern. As she rode over them, she was lifter high into the air and would drop with great force as if she would go to the bottom. She took great quantities of water in over her bow, over her stern and over both sides, which was dashed from one side to the other with great violence. There was scarcely a

25 dry place there to be found. As she rolled from her beam ends on one side to her beam ends on the other, trunks, boxes, and lamp from the bunk, which had heretofore remained perfectly secure, were now hurled from their places and thrown across the cabin with great force. The ship screeched and cracked as if she was breaking in pieces. Some of her bulkhead was carried away and a small leak was started in her stern, but that was soon stopped. All on board now carried long faces, I assure you. I went into my room and offered up my prayer but whether we would sink or swim was uncertain to me. Sleep was utterly out of the question for the cracking and crashing noises that the seas made as they broke upon and beat against our ship, her violent trembling and the heaving and springing of her decks as they struck her in the stern, gave us fully to understand that she could not endure such knocks long. Her continual rolling raised her stern so high in the air that she stood nearly erect in end and made it utterly impossible for a man to either lay, sit or stand without bracing against or holding on to something. I certainly thank the Lord for landing me safely on my native shores again. Many ships during this era went down, taking their passengers with them. These are the kinds of mortal trials the saints were prepared to endure in order to come to Zion. In the Willie and Martin handcart companies, there were Saints from: England Denmark Scotland Canada Channel Islands India Ireland Italy Norway Nova Scotia South Africa Sweden Switzerland Wales Nebraska