Females Amy Britnell Loader, age 56 April 2, 1802 July 24, 1885 Amy Britnell Loader gave birth to four sons and nine daughters at the estate of Sir Henry Lambert in England, where her husband, James, had worked as foreman and head gardener for 35 years. When the family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, James was fired from his job as a consequence. James and Amy brought six of their living children to Zion with them in the Martin Handcart Company. Another married daughter also traveled with this company and gave birth to her second child on the plains. Recorded dreams and heavenly visions sustained and comforted this family, but Amy's great strength and cheerfulness, manifested again and again over the 1,300 miles, also brought them through, especially when James and one of the grandchildren died. As the weather became colder and provisions as scarce as 4 ounces of flour per day, Amy made these scant rations into little biscuits to eat throughout the day, thus having a bite or two for the children when they were tired and faint. One day, a man lying by the roadside, when asked to get up, said he could not, but if he had a mouth full of bread he could. As her 10 year old son, Robert, watched, Amy gave the man some food and he got up and went on. In Salt Lake some time later, this man stopped Amy and thanked her for saving his life. Amy's descendants wrote of her, "Amy Britnell Loader protected, sustained and cheered her children and others without complaining and manifested great faith in God... She endured [the journey] bravely, although it made her a sorrowing widow. She has lived a life of usefulness to the present time, yet still a widow, for she could never believe there was a man left in the world equal to her husband." Ann Walmsley Greenhalgh Openshaw, age 50 May 9, 1806 March 31, 1895 Ann Walmsley Greenhalgh Openshaw was 50 years old when she traveled the plains by handcart with her husband, five of her children and a daughter in law. Too weak and tired to continue one day she fell behind the company. As night was drawing nigh she heard a voice saying, "Ann, get up and go on." But Ann was too weak to get up. Again, a voice told her to get up and go on, that there was a great work for her to do in Utah. Still, Ann was not able to rise. Finally, a chariot drawn by white horses drew up alongside her and someone lifted her up into it. She was taken to within a short distance of the company where she was helped out of the chariot and left. She was soon discovered by members of the camp and taken back to her family.
After being helped into the Salt Lake Valley by rescuers, the Openshaws settled in Santaquin, Utah, where two older sons had gone previously and built an adobe home for their parents. Margaret Alice McBride, age 3 June 29, 1853 July 25, 1934 Margaret Alice McBride was only three years old when she came with her parents and four siblings in the Martin Handcart Company to Utah. Her brother, Peter Howard McBride, wrote of Margaret: My baby sister and I were really hungry. Our teams gave out and died, and we were glad to eat the meat. I remember some men passed us one day and stopped to talk. They gave my baby sister some cookies. She carried them in her little pocket, and I was always with her and would tease for a bite. She would give me a taste once in a while, and it was so good. No cake I ever tasted since was ever so good. The exposure to cold, rain, snow, and ice, pushing carts all day, the scarcity of food and wood caused many strong men to perish. Margaret's father, Robert McBride was among the strong men who perished. On the 19th of October, Robert made an estimated 25 trips across the Platte River, helping his family and others. It was a final sacrifice for Robert. Heber McBride wrote: The next morning there was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. What we had to suffer can never be told. Father was very bad that morning; he could hardly sit up in the tent. We had to travel that day through the snow and I managed to get Father into one of the wagons that morning. That was the last we saw of him alive.... The next morning, the snow was about 18 inches deep, and awfully cold. While my sister was preparing our little bit of breakfast, I went to look for Father. At last, I found him under a wagon with snow all over him. He was stiff and dead. I felt as though my heart would burst. I sat down beside him on the snow, took one of his hands in mine and cried, Oh, Father, Father!' There we were, away out on the plains, with hardly anything to eat, Father dead, and Mother sick and a widow with five small children, and not hardly able to live from one day to the next. After I had my cry out, I went back to the tent to tell Mother. To try and write or tell the feelings of Mother and the other children is out of the question. Ellen Parkinson, age 5 February 28, 1851 May 14, 1915 Ellen Parkinson was 5 years old, the sixth of 9 living children of John and Ellen Smalley Parkinson, when she traveled with her family in the Martin Handcart Company. In 1837, John and Ellen were among the first converts to the Church in Preston, England. John had served a full time mission there from 1840 42.
The Parkinsons were a fairly well to do family. John owned his own shoemaking business and employed servants in his home. John had already paid for a wagon outfit to carry his family across the plains, but was not able to obtain it upon arriving at Iowa City, so the family discarded many of their belongings and traveled by handcart instead. Ellen's first memory of her emigration was of her father carrying her on board the ship Horizon, sitting her on a plank and giving her a sea biscuit. On their trek west, Ellen's parents, brothers, Joseph (15) and William (infant), and sisters, Mary (3) and Esther (2) died. Her brother Samuel (18) left the family at some point and returned to Florence. Samuel and Joseph had often carried Ellen on their shoulders and she missed them terribly. The night that Ellen's father died, her mother took his coat to keep herself warm and had Ellen sleep next to her. Ellen became very cold and tried to wake her mother, but could not. She snuggled next to her mother's body through the night and when morning finally came, Ellen's mother was wrapped in a blanket and buried in a shallow grave with several others. By 1889, Ellen's four remaining siblings had also died, leaving Ellen the lone survivor of this large family. One day a gentleman representing the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company approached Ellen and offered to pay her the difference for the wagon and team her father had purchased and the cost of the handcart journey. Ellen was hurt and offended and refused the money, giving the PEF representative "a most thorough scolding." Ellen married Hyrum Covey and they had 11 children. Her posterity wrote of her: "She was a kind mother and friend. She never turned anyone away from her door. She had a keen sense of humor. She spent much time seeking information about her ancestors." It seems that the following statement from John Parkinson's patriarchal blessing, given in England in 1840, was fulfilled in Ellen: "Thy posterity shall be blest and they shall rejoice even as they shall enjoy the good things of the Land of Promise." Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw, age 48 February 10, 1808 October 24, 1872 Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw was born into a family of wealth. Although she was orphaned at age nine, she continued to be raised as a child of privilege. By the time Elizabeth was 48 years old, she had been widowed twice, had five living children and had longed to emigrate to Zion for 16 years. Although her brothers tried to persuade her to remain in England, promising to care for her and educate her children, she turned to them and said, "I am going to Zion." In Iowa City, Elizabeth gave away most of the things she brought from England to other members
of the Martin Handcart Company and packed the remaining items in her family handcart. With a burning faith in God and a Priesthood blessing promising she would take all of her children to Zion, Elizabeth "took up her march to the Valleys of Ephraim" as was their cry. At the last crossing of the icy North Platte River on Oct. 19, 1856, the first early winter storm began. The river was swift and deep. Elizabeth, with her 6 year old son, Richard, perched on her shoulders, was swept off her feet and downstream in the crossing. Several on the banks called out to her, "Let the boy go... or you will both be drowned. Save yourself..." She refused to give them heed and struggled on until she finally made it to the opposite side whereupon she immediately raised her right arm to the square as a witness she then bore to the waiting crowd that God had protected and saved her and her son. Elizabeth's daughter, Sarah Ann Haigh, also carried 16 people across the river on this day, thus becoming a heroine to many. As conditions became worse for the company, Elizabeth's son, Samuel Haigh, was one day brought into camp and pronounced dead. Elizabeth still believed the promise that she would take all of her children to Zion. She invited the Elders to anoint him with oil and administer to him. The Elders did so and Samuel recovered. Sarah Ann Haigh, age 19 March 14, 1837 November 13, 1910 Sarah Ann Haigh was the oldest daughter of Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw. At nineteen years of age, she traveled to Zion with her twice widowed mother; brothers, Samuel Haigh, Richard Paul Bradshaw and Robert Hall Bradshaw; and sister, Isabella Jane Bradshaw. As the Martin Handcart Company left Iowa City, the abundance of clothing and other belongings that could not be packed into their handcart were given to the needy or left behind. Sarah's mother was able to save her two wedding dresses and later give them to her daughters. Elizabeth had also been promised in a Priesthood blessing before leaving England that she would take all her children to Zion. This blessing was honored as two of her sons were saved from drowning and death by the power of the Priesthood and Elizabeth's faith. (See painting "I'll Never Let Go") Sarah Ann's faith was also evidenced in her heroic service on October 19, 1856. The Martin Company had arrived at their last crossing of the North Platte River which they had followed for hundreds of miles and crossed many times before in their journey. Of this day, fellow traveler John Jacques wrote: "That was a bitter cold day. Winter came on all at once, and that was the first day of it. The river was wide, the current strong, the water exceedingly cold and up to the wagon beds in the deepest parts, and the bed of the river was covered with cobble stones. The company was barely over when snow, hail and sleet began to fall, accompanied by a piercing north wind..." Sarah Ann made thirty two trips across the swiftly running river, carrying sixteen people to safety on her back. She was only about five feet tall herself. The next day, between thirteen and eighteen people died, some being those who had spent their last strength carrying others across this river. Sarah told how the icicles jingled from
her wet skirts and mud froze to her feet. In later years she would also tell her children that she had wondered if it was the end and if the Lord had led them over that long hard road just to let them perish in the storm and cold. It was "not the end" for Sarah and her family. The first rescuers from Salt Lake City came nine days later, bringing hope to these starving Saints. Sarah would meet one particular rescuer, Franklin Standley, who would soon become her husband. Franklin died after a few short years and Sarah then married Louis Miller. One of her granddaughters (through Franklin) later wrote of her: At the present time a large posterity are very proud to be the descendants of Grandma Miller. We are proud of her courage and strength of character, of the culture she brought with her from Old England. This culture showed itself in the very neat way she always kept herself and her home, in her love of beautiful handiwork and dainty nice things, lovely flowers [and] the lovely way she cooked and served her meals. She was a real lady." Elizabeth Horrocks Jackson, age 30 August 5, 1826 October 17. 1908 Elizabeth Horrocks Jackson left a good journal record of her experiences in traveling with the Martin Handcart Company with her husband, their three little children, and her sister. She said: "[We pulled] our handcarts filled with provisions and little children through deep sands and rocky hills... fording streams was a dreary time. We reached camp, cooked supper, ate and retired for the night to rest our weary limbs only to pursue our monotonous course the next day." Elizabeth's husband, Aaron, died the week after the first storms came. Of that night she wrote: "The night was enveloped in almost Egyptian darkness. There was nothing with which to produce a light or kindle a fire. Of course I could not sleep. I could only watch, wait, and pray for the dawn. But oh, how these dreary hours drew their tedious length along. When daylight came, some of the male part of the company prepared the body for burial... They wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in a pile with thirteen others who had died, and then covered him up in the snow. The ground was frozen so hard that they could not dig a grave." One night there were not enough men with strength to raise poles and pitch tents. Elizabeth recorded: "The result was that we camped out with nothing but the vault of Heaven for a roof, and the stars for companions. The snow lay several inches deep upon the ground. The night was bitterly cold. I sat down on a rock with one child in
my lap and one on each side of me. In that condition I remained until morning.... I was six or seven thousand miles from my native land, in a wild, rocky, mountain country, in a destitute condition, the ground covered with snow, the waters covered with ice, and I with three fatherless children with scarcely nothing to protect them from the merciless storms. When I retired to bed that night, being the 27th of Oct., I had a stunning revelation. In my dream, my husband stood by me and said, Cheer up, Elizabeth, deliverance is at hand.'" The next day the advance rescue team found the stranded Saints. Elizabeth later wrote: "I will not attempt to describe my feelings at finding myself thus left a widow with three children, under such excruciating circumstances. I cannot do it. But I believe the Recording Angel has inscribed in the archives above, and that my sufferings for the Gospel's sake will be sanctified unto me for my good... I [appealed] to the Lord... He who had promised to be a husband to the widow, [see Isaiah 54:4 5] and a father to the fatherless. I appealed to him and he came to my aid... Aaron was left there to sleep in peace until the trump of the Lord shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall awake and come forth in the morning of the first resurrection. We shall then again unite our hearts and lives, and eternity will furnish us with life forever more. "I have a desire to leave a record of those scenes and events, thru which I have passed, that my children, down to my latest posterity may read what their ancestors were willing to suffer, and did suffer, patiently for the Gospel's sake. And I wish them to understand, too, that what I now word is the history of hundreds of others, both men, women and children, who have passed thru many like scenes for a similar cause, at the same time we did. I also desire them to know that it was in obedience to the commandments of the true and living God, and with the assurance of an eternal reward an exaltation to eternal life in His kingdom that we suffered these things. I hope, too, that it will inspire my posterity with fortitude to stand firm and faithful to the truth, and be willing to suffer, and sacrifice all things that they may be required to pass thru for the Kingdom of God's sake." Elizabeth Rowley, age 32 October 19, 1823 October 19, 1856 On the 19th of October, 1856, the first winter storms began for the Willie Handcart Company. It would be Eliza Rowley's last day to walk, however, as she succumbed to the hardships near the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater River. She was spared the tortuous trek across Rocky Ridge in a blizzard four days later that her family had to endure.
The oldest of nine children with their widowed mother, Ann Jewell Rowley, Eliza had seen her mother's faith in action before. Eliza's brother, Thomas, wrote: Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. Mother asked God's help as she always did. Our family got on their knees and remembered two hard sea rolls 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 this large family. But 5 loaves and 2 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. Mother found the biscuits and put them in a dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God's blessing. Then she put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When she took off the lid a little later, she found the pan filled with food. We kneeled as a family and thanked God for his goodness. Mary Hurren, age 7 July 29, 1848 January 27, 1937 Mary Hurren left England at the age of seven, accompanied by her grandfather, David Reeder; his children, Caroline and Robert Reeder; her parents, James and Eliza Reeder Hurren; and two little sisters, Emma and Sarah. A third sister, Selena, would be born in Iowa City while the Willie Handcart Company made final preparations for their 1,300 mile march through the wilderness to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Mary walked most of this way. Mary made friends with Agnes Caldwell from Scotland who called their journey "the noted tramp across the desert waste" headed for "the promised land." The girls had many good times together. After leaving Iowa City, they "had plenty of time to see the country we were passing through to run here and there and to explore this and that. There were many things to catch the eye in this strange land.... When we started out on the trail each morning there was always something new to see. Maybe it was a bird running along the road which we chased but never did catch. There were always flowers and pretty rocks to pick. This land was so different from the one in England that it kept us interested." (Emma James Willie Company) Agnes Caldwell told of coming to a section of the country inhabited by rattlesnakes. She and Mary would hold hands and jump over them. Agnes said, "It seemed to me we were jumping for more than a mile. Due to the protecting hand of the Lord, we were not harmed." However, as early winter storms set in, Mary's feet froze and there was no more skipping and running here and there. Mary's father, noted as the strongest man in the Willie Company, was also remembered for his extraordinary cheerfulness, hope and faith, encouraging those around him to make the best of their circumstances, reminding them to think of the opportunities ahead in Zion and to remember the blessings in store for those who endured and tried to serve others. Mary's grandfather Reeder and Aunt Caroline
died on the journey, as well as her baby sister, Selena, who had only lived 2 weeks. One of Mary's playmates died and was buried in a common grave with 12 others at the Rock Creek camp (represented in painting). Mary's father later wrote, "With all our trials, our weary traveling, burying our dear ones, piling our clothing and bedding by the wayside and setting fire to them, we have never once felt to murmur or complain or regret the steps we have taken." Upon reaching Utah, a doctor examined Mary's legs and said she could not live unless they were amputated. Her father protested, "This little girl didn't walk a thousand miles to have her legs cut off. If she dies, she will die with her legs on." The family moved to Brigham City where an elderly lady, Mrs. Snider, advised wrapping fresh beef steaks on her injured limbs for three days. James walked to Ogden and back to obtain the meat. After the three days, Mrs. Snider treated Mary's feet and legs with ointment. After two years, Mary was able to walk again, but her feet hurt her all her life. Mary married Joseph M. Wight and became the mother of thirteen children, as well as a little orphan girl she took in. Mary was noted for her skill in fine handiwork and in nursing the sick. When President Heber J. Grant attended her 88th birthday party, she remarked that she had shaken the hand of every modern day prophet to that time except Joseph Smith. Jane Haynes James, age 41 January 1, 1815 August 11, 1911 In 1856, Jane and William James brought their eight children to America to join with the Willie Handcart Company in crossing the plains to their Zion in Utah. Their eight month old baby, also named Jane, died while crossing the ocean and was buried at sea. William suffered from rheumatism and did not have robust health, but did all he could to assist Jane and the children. The handcart company traveled their first 300 miles from Iowa City, Iowa, to Florence, Nebraska, and then held a meeting to determine whether the Saints should continue on so late in the season. Sub captain Levi Savage spoke against continuing on at this meeting. 16 year old Emma James records looking to her mother to see what their family would do: I can remember that when [Levi Savage] finished there was a long time of silence. I was frightened. Father looked pale and sick. I turned to Mother to see what she was thinking and all I saw was her old determined look. She was ready to go on tomorrow. There were many others like her. We really didn't have much choice. There was no work here for us to keep ourselves through the winter, and our family had to live. "We must put our trust in the Lord, as we have always done," said Mother and that was that. 19 year old Sarah James also wrote of her mother's strength when her father died: The day we [ascended Rocky Ridge] I'll never forget as long as I live. It was a bitter
cold morning in October as we broke camp. As usual, there were dead to be buried before we could go on. Father and Reuben were on the burial detail. Mother, who was helping to pull the heaviest cart, had stayed behind until they could finish their sad work. After a short service, we, with my cart, ran ahead to catch the rest of the Company, and Mother and Reuben started to follow. Father collapsed and fell in the snow. He tried two or three times to get up with Mother's help, then finally he asked her to go on, and when he felt rested he would come later. Mother knew in her heart that he had given out, but, perhaps, she said, in a few minutes with some rest he could come on. She took the cart and hurried to follow us. She found us on the riverbank, we were too frightened and tired to cross alone... Mother soon had us on our way. The water was icy and soon our clothing was frozen to our bodies. Our feet were frozen numb. Toward morning some of the Captains who had gone out to gather up the stragglers came into camp bearing the dead body of my Father, and the badly frozen body of my brother, Reuben.... When morning came, Father's body, along with others who had died during the night, were buried in a deep hole... I can see my Mother's face as she sat looking at the partly conscious Reuben. Her eyes looked so dead that I was afraid. She didn't sit long, however, for my Mother was never one to cry. When it was time to move out, Mother had her family ready to go. She put her invalid son in the cart with the baby and we joined the train. Our Mother was a strong woman, and she would see us through anything. Eliza Chapman Gadd, age 42 March 13, 1814 January 24, 1892 Eliza Chapman Gadd did not belong to the Church when she joined the Willie Handcart Company with her husband and eight children, but she wanted her family to remain together and followed the desires of her husband, Samuel, to emigrate from England to America in 1856. The Gadd family left behind their fairly prosperous living, and the branches of the Church where Samuel had been the presiding elder during the 15 years since his baptism in 1841. Samuel Gadd, Sr. caught a cold in Iowa City, Iowa, as the family prepared to walk the last 1,300 miles of their journey. Samuel's cold turned to pneumonia as he took his turn staying up nights on guard duty and assisted his family and many others in the numerous crossings of the Platte River. Ill and broken hearted, he buried his little toddler, Daniel, on October 4. He would succumb to death himself 5 days later, leaving his family to face the first winter blasts on October 19. Express riders from the advance rescue party sent from Salt Lake City would also meet them on this day, bringing the first rays of hope. As the Gadd family crossed the Rocky Ridge in a blizzard on October 23, Eliza became snowblind, in which condition she remained for three days. She became dependent on her 7 year old daughter, Mary Ann, to hold her hand and lead her up
the steep trail as she assisted the older children in pulling the handcart with her other hand. The Gadd family biography states: "Mary Ann, with only rags covering her feet, led her snowblind mother for three days as she pulled the handcart. During this time she carried an ox hoof and at each camp she would roast it and eat the part that was roasted. This was all she had to eat during those three days." Samuel Gadd, Jr., age 10, assisted his family all he could at this time, carrying and helping save the life of his baby brother, Isaac, who was surely feeling the loss of his twin brother, Daniel. After crossing the Rocky Ridge and reaching their camp at Rock Creek Hollow, Samuel left his sightless mother and precious siblings in the hands of God and made his final sacrifice. He was buried at Rock Creek with three other children and nine adults who had made similar sacrifices. Samuel's mother later made the statement that of all her children, "Samuel was the most anxious to reach Zion, but it was not to be." Eliza Gadd reached the Salt Lake Valley safely on November 9, 1856, with her remaining children and a softened heart toward her husband's religion. She requested baptism one week later and remained a faithful member of the Church for the rest of her life. Bodil Mortensen, age 9 August 5, 1846 October 24, 1856 When Niels O. Mortensen, Bodil's father, first heard Elder Erastus Snow preach the doctrine of gathering in Denmark, he told his children he always believed that he was one of the children of Israel being gathered to the mountains. In 1856 Bodil (10) emigrated in the care of her parents' friends, Jens and Else Nielsen, with the Willie Handcart Company. She was to join her sister who had come to Utah the previous year, in waiting for the rest of the family. Bodil shared in the responsibilities of this family. She helped to look after the young son, Niels Nielsen (5), and gathered buffalo chips, wood and sagebrush for fires. On Oct. 23, Bodil and Niels struggled through a blizzard across Rocky Ridge and on to the next camp at Rock Creek Hollow. Else Nielsen could render them little assistance as her husband's feet had frozen and she courageously saved his life by pulling him in the handcart. However, Bodil and Niels lost their lives from the cold that night and died by the fire of the Peder and Helena Mortensen family, the fruits of Bodil's responsibilities clutched in her hands in the form of sagebrush. Bodil and Niels were buried the next morning in a common grave with 2 other children and 9 adults.