Sarah Ann Brett

Sarah Ann BRETT was born the 7th of Nov 1825, in London, Middlesex, England, the daughter of James J. BRETT or BRATT or BRITT and Sarah UPSTONE.  Her father was born about 1783 and her mother in 1790 or 1794, both in London, Middlesex, England.  Sarah Ann was the youngest child of six children.  Her brothers and sisters were Charles, born Jan 1818; George Frederick, born 15 Oct 1818; John James, born 24 Jan 1820; Eleanor, born 16 Jan 1823; and Sukey, born 16 Jan 1823. 

The marriage record of James BRETT and Sarah UPSTONE reads as follows:  "At St. Giles in the Fields, married 18th Feb 1819, James BRETT, bachelor, of this parish, and Sarah UPSTONE, of the same parish, spinster, married by Banns."  No further record of James has been found, but Sarah later married a William ALCOCK.  Her name was found in the records of the Manchester Branch Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She was baptized into the church 7 Nov 1844, and was recommended to Manchester from Leek, Staffordshire, England.  The name of William ALLCOCK was found next to Sarah's in the branch records and he is presumed to be her husband. 

At the time of the 1841 census, William and Sarah ALCOCK were listed on Derby Street, in Leek, Staffordshire, England.  His occupation was reported as stonemason, age 56, Sarah ALCOCK’s was dressmaker, age 50, and Sarah Ann BRATT’s was silk weaver, age 15.   

Sarah Ann BRETT or BRATT joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842, when she was 17 years old.  She was baptized by George ASHWORTH at the Manchester Conference of the British Mission, and was from Leek, Staffordshire, England.  She was baptized again two years later on 23 May 1844. 

Sarah Ann's first child, James Brigham, was born 2 Feb 1845 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.  His status was illegitimate and traditional family rumor says that his father was a missionary.  

Sarah Ann married Andrew WRIGHT, 16 Dec 1849.  He was 22 years old and his profession was listed as cordwainer (shoemaker).  He lived at 8 Ainsworth, St. Ardwick, in the District of Manchester.  His father was John WRIGHT, dairyman.  Sarah Ann was 24 years old and lived at Chancery Lane, Ardwick, in the District of Manchester.  Her father was listed as James BRETT, servant man.  Her friend, Emma CROCKER, was a witness to the marriage.  Sarah Ann could neither read nor write so signed the marriage certificate with an "X". 

1851 census

A son, Thomas Brett WRIGHT (his middle name was not shown on the birth certificate), was born to them 23 Nov 1851, while living at 50 Birch Street, St. Ardwick, District of Chorlton, Lancashire, England.  His father, Andrew, was occupied at the time as a shoemaker.  His mother's name on the certificate was given as Sarah WRIGHT, formerly BRATT.  

A daughter, Emma Maria (or Marie), was born 29 (or 19) Sep 1854.

About 1855, Andrew WRIGHT left Sarah Ann, running off with another woman.  It is thought she was the wife of Sarah Ann's brother, who lived across the street from them (presumably Charles).  It was thought that they went to America, but they were never heard from again.  

After Sarah Ann's husband left her, they were in very poor circumstances, and she worked very hard trying to support her three children.  One day the officers came and took them all to the poor house.  She was separated from her children by a partition reaching almost to the ceiling and, in those days, they probably had straw mats to sleep on.  When food was brought to Sarah Ann, she would throw it over the partition to her children so they would have more to eat.  The experience nearly broke Sarah Ann's heart, but they only stayed there nine days as a good friend of the family, Edward CHAPPELL, heard of her plight and helped them out.  He was also a member of the Latter-day Saint Church and presumably knew her from that association.  He subsequently apprenticed her oldest son, James Brigham, at the age of nine years, so he could learn the clogger or shoemaker trade, and thereby help his mother support the others.  

In 1855, Church President Brigham YOUNG was anxious to build the population of Deseret, and the European Saints were very anxious to go to the new Zion.  President YOUNG was dedicated to keeping the promise of asylum in "Zion" to European members of the Church, but money was a problem.  The Revolving or Perpetual Emigrating Company funds were running low and Salt Lake City coffers had been depleted as a result of the damage caused to crops by the invasion of crickets.  President YOUNG had devised a plan whereby emigrants could sail to America, make their way to Iowa City, Iowa, and there be assigned a handcart in which to transport their belongings.  The 1,400 mile trip to the Salt Lake Valley would be made on foot.  The following instructions were written as part of 13th General Epistle of 1855: 

"Let all the Saints, who can, gather up for Zion, and come while the way is open to them; let the poor also come, whether they receive aid or not from the Fund [Perpetual Emigrating Fund]; let them come on foot, with handcarts or wheelbarrows; let them gird up their loins and walk through and nothing shall hinder or stay them."
"In regard to the foreign immigration another year, let them pursue the northern route from Boston, New York or Philadelphia, and land at Iowa City, or the then terminus of the railroad; there let them be provided with handcarts, on which to draw their provisions and clothing, then walk and draw them, thereby saving the immense expense every year for teams and outfits for crossing the plains."

"...There will, of course, be means provided for the conveyance of the aged, infirm and those unable from any cause to walk.” 

President YOUNG thought the trip from England to Utah could be made for less than $12.00 per family.  The Saints in England, Scotland, Wales, and Scandinavia were enthusiastic.  About 1,300 families signed up for the plan in Liverpool.  Had they been able to foresee the tragic struggle ahead of them, many of them would have stayed home.  The city-bred Saints, accustomed to the grey skies of northern Europe, faced hazards never dreamed of in the populous regions of their homelands, such as burning desert heat, blinding snowstorms, hunger, and thirst, which they encountered as they trudged across arid plains and waded ice-encrusted rivers and streams.  

The handcart project became very popular with the Saints in Europe, especially among those who hitherto had been unable to raise sufficient means to emigrate.  Many of them, carried away by the idea of gathering to Zion that season, left their various employments in their native land before proper arrangements had been completed for their transportation.  The result was that they were left to choose between the alternative of remaining at home to starve, go to the poor house, or else face the danger of a late journey across the plains.  They chose the latter course, to which the Presidency of the British Mission, seeing no better way out of the difficulty, acquiesced, and directed matters to that end.  Accordingly the ships Horizon and Thornton were chartered, which brought over the Atlantic most of the emigrants who suffered so much crossing the plains and mountains in James G. WILLIE's and Edward MARTIN's handcart companies, and William B. HODGETT's and John S. HUNT's wagon trains, which followed close behind the handcart companies.  Most of the members of MARTIN's company crossed the Atlantic in the ship Horizon that sailed from England and arrived in Boston.  

Edward MARTIN was returning from a British mission and fathered the Horizon's passengers as well as being the Captain of the fifth handcart company of 1856. 

Sarah Ann longed to go to America to join the Saints in Zion (Utah).  On Thursday, 8 May 1856, she was notified that she and her children could substitute for a couple, Richard and Sarah Ann BRADSHAW and a James ALLEN who had booked passage on the ship Horizon, but had changed their minds and were not going.  Knowing the Church had set up a Perpetual Emigration Fund to help the Saints go to Zion, Sarah Ann and her mother went at once to the ship's Captain to verify the notification and to receive their certificates of transportation.  Captain William REED did not want to take Sarah Upstone ALCOCK, who gave her age as 66 years.  He said the journey was too long and hazardous for older people and it would take them six weeks or longer on the little sailing vessel.  Sarah ALCOCK started to cry and said she would rather go and be buried at sea than to be left to die alone in England.  Captain REED finally consented and they hurried home to prepare for the long and perilous journey.  

By great sacrifice and hard work they were ready in two weeks and boarded the ship Horizon on Friday, 23 May 1856, at Liverpool Wharf, bound for Boston.  They had to wait for a favorable trade wind and finally set sail on Sunday, 25 May 1856.  Edward MARTIN, Jesse HAVEN, and George P. WAUGH were in charge of the company of 856 Saints on board.  

The Steward was John THOMPSON; Cooks were Henry HAMILTON and Joseph JACKSON; Historian was John JACQUES; and Sergeant of the Guard was Elder F.C. ROBINSON. 

Most of the Saints were poor.  The Perpetual Emigrating Fund financed passage for 635 of them. 

Sarah Ann WRIGHT, her three children, and her mother would never see their beloved homeland again, and never dreamed of the hardship, sacrifice and suffering that awaited them on this long, sad journey.  Their certificates read:  Sarah ALCOCK, age 66, of 48 Chancery Lane, Ardwick, Manchester; Sarah Ann WRIGHT, age 29, wife, from 98 Chancery Lane, Ardwick, Manchester; and three children, James B. age 11, Thomas age 4, and Emma age 2.  Their notification number was 183. 

The vessel Horizon had been built in 1854, displaced 1775 tons, was 220 feet long, 42 feet at midships, and a large ship for her time.  She had three masts, three decks, a square stern, and a figurehead.  Captain REED was from Chelsea, Massachusetts, and a mariner of considerable experience as well as being part owner of the vessel.  

From her bow a glassy-eyed eagle with a long orange beak spread its painted wings for flight.  The ship lay anchored in Bramley Moore Dock, in Liverpool. 

Elder Silas H. WHEELOCK had hastily composed a few lines entitled "Farewell, our Native Land, Farewell" for the departing Saints to sing on leaving England.  It was but a few lines that ran as follows:
Our gallant ship is underway to bear me out to sea,
And yonder floats the steamer gay that says she waits for me.
The seamen dip their ready oars as ebbing waves oft tell,
To bear us swiftly from the shore, my native land farewell.
As the gay decorated steamer towed the Horizon the sound was heard above all other noise and din "My native land farewell.” 

On Fri, 23 May 1856, (about midday,  ) the ship Horizon was tugged out into the river.  (and cast anchor in the river )

Soon after leaving the dock a disagreement occurred between the mates and some of the crew who had declined to obey orders, and a regular fistfight took place.  Two or three bloody faces figured in the scene.  The first mate paced the deck, flourishing a Colt revolver, and swearing and threatening grandly, but did not use the weapon.  Several of the crew were sent ashore, and other men came on board in their place.  The mate complained that they had come on board to plunder the passengers and the rest of the crew.  

There were nine wards and president over each ward.  

Presidents were Elders John ENNIOR, 1st; Thomas B. BRODERICK, 2nd; Robert HOLT, 3rd; Henry A. SQUIRES, 4th; Thomas LEAH, 5th; James STONE, 6th; John JACQUES, 7th; Peter MAYOR, 8th; and Robert EVANS, 9th.  John TOONE was clerk.  Rising in the morning was scheduled for 6 a.m. and clearing of the deck by passengers was to be not later than 9 p.m.  

The food consisted of salt beef, salt pork and vegetables with sea biscuits by way of bread (and peas, rice, sugar, tea and some dried fruits sometimes).   The cook would generally have some kind of pudding as a side dish.  

Sometimes the drinking water would stink so they could hardly use it for two or three days, then it would be good again.  

The passengers likely slept anywhere there was room to make a bed.  

The bunks were along the two sides of the hold--three tiers of wooden boxlike spaces.  They were close enough together that when they sat up, they bumped their heads.  The family likely spread straw on the bunks and rolled out their quilts on top, then hung tin cups on nails in the bunk partitions and tied down pans and jugs with twine.  

The berths for two passengers were about six feet long and four feet four inches wide.  The ends were to the side of the vessel.  

As the ship made its way down the river Mersey on her way to the Irish Channel--and America, the passengers stood on the main deck in a drizzling rain, clutching their cloaks about them, as they strained for one last glimpse of their homeland before it gradually disappeared into the mist.  The ship's course was planned to take her around Cape Clear on the western tip of Ireland, and out into the Atlantic toward her 3,000-mile-distant destination.  

On Sunday, 25 May, about 9 a.m., the steamship Great Conquest came alongside bringing the captain and others.  It took the Horizon out into the Irish Sea about 20 miles, and left in the afternoon, taking back those who had come to see off the emigrants, plus the river pilot.  

On 25 May, they came in sight of the Welsh hills, which view lingered into the evening due to sailing into a head wind.  

The second day out (in St. George's Channel) they encountered a gale that came nearly capsizing the ship.  Precautions had been taken to avoid such a disaster as this, but it happened nevertheless.  They had lashed their loose belongings and supposed they were safe, but the storm was a hard one.  It came near being fatal in some instances as not only goods turned topsy turvy, but some of the old and feeble people were felled to the deck with such violence that they were rendered helpless for a few days and this proved to be the first day of a much talked of seasickness which also proved very injurious to the greater number on board.  However, there was scarcely a person on the ship that was so helpless that he could not render any service to those afflicted, and what made the case more pitiable, horrible dysentery attacked the majority of the passengers.  Medicines were plenty but they seemed to have no affect.  This state of things made it hard on the few who were not afflicted to such an extent.  This state of affairs lasted for about eight days when it grew less severe, but it stayed with a few until arrival at the port of Boston.   

On 29 May, they were in sight of the land of Murphies, (near Cork, Ireland ) and the pilot left the vessel.  

On Friday, 30 May, Kinsale barracks were still in sight (in County Cork, on the southwest shore of Ireland).  

Many of them became seasick.  Sarah Upstone ALCOCK was very bad and gradually got even worse.  She said, "If you will just send for the Elders, I know I will get better."  But the Captain insisted on the doctor treating her.  She became worse and passed away.  

Sister Sarah ALLCOCK from Manchester Branch, died Saturday, 31 May, at 12:30 a.m., just after midnight, of the flux (diarrhea), age 66 (probably near Cape Clear, the extreme southwest point of Ireland).  A baby was born later in the morning to Sister Eliza PEARS, of Bradford, and lived only a few minutes.  

To prepare Sarah for burial they strapped her to a big board with weights on it.  She was put on a long plank and after a short service the plank was raised and she slid down it into the sea.  James was heart broken and he said it was one of the hardest things he ever had to bear, to see his beloved grandmother buried in a watery grave, and he never forgot the sad experience.  

During the crossing, Patience LOADER, a young girl, recorded that for some days a large shark followed the ship, causing her anxiety.  

Fresh sights in the water and fresh happenings on the ship made it very interesting.  The first of any note was a large man-eating shark.  Expecting to see some of those monsters, the mate brought his Sharps rifle.  The shark was away in a moment.  The swift movement caused a huge wave which brought the monster to the surface.  The shot was fired and he turned on his side and floated away.  Standing close to the side of the ship was an old sailor with a harpoon attached to a rope and then made fast to the ship.  In the twinkling of an eye the harpoon was launched into the body and after a few terrific lunges it was made a prisoner.  A block and tackle was made fast to the harpoon and the shark was hoisted on to the deck.  While he laid on the deck a line was laid along the carcass and he proved to measure 30 feet long.  Proof was not taken of his weight, but the old whaler took it to be 2,500 pounds.  The carcass was cut up and deposited in a large barrel in the hold of the ship with some chemicals to extract the oil called whale oil.  

During the voyage they encountered a powerful storm that lasted three days and nights.  About midway across they endured a calm of 3-4 days during which the ship made no progress.  

A young lady and a young gentleman, both members of the company, made it up to give an exhibition wedding.  The captain being authorized to perform that service was called upon to act in that capacity.  The grand exhibition was to have the ceremony performed on the top mast of the Horizon.  They were then about 400 miles from Liverpool.  The plan that was adopted was to build a scaffold, place three chairs on this, which being attached to the rigging of the mast was to be hoisted into position and here held by the sailors on deck until the ceremony was performed.  The two who were to be married were to hold a flag each.  The one bidding "my native land farewell", the other flying the stars and stripes, the red, white and blue.  All was ready.  When the gong struck two, it was the signal to hoist.  The second mate had command.  "Steady boys" was the order and "Skyward."  The procession moved slowly.  When nearing the top the young lady gave a light scream, but Captain REED gave her assurance that all was well.  Again the word "Steady" was given by the mate and all was quiet.  Captain REED spoke to the audience, "Give your attention."  A death-like silence ensued and in measured tones, which were audible to all, calling them by name, using the old English marriage code, "Will you have this woman to be thy lawful wife?"  "I will."  "Will you have this man to be thy lawful husband?"  "I will."  "With and by the authority vested in me I pronounce you man and wife."  At the sound of these last words a cheer went up and "May your lives be long, happy, and prosperous."  Then at the words "Steady boys" the scaffold was steadily lowered.  When the scaffold touched the deck a hundred hands were offered the bride and bridegroom with joyous congratulations.  The steward of the ship, with Captain REED in a joyful and liberal manner presented everyone aboard a large glass of old English champagne with which his locker was so well supplied.  The captain ordered the deck cleared and as the night was brilliantly lighted, dancing and merry making was in order and kept up until the wee small hours.  Thus had ended one of the most pleasant times on the voyage.  

The next morning (about 17 Jun ) after breakfast was over there was a great surprise in store for the passengers.  The lookout had sighted a huge whale ahead.  This thrilling call brought all hands to the deck.  At that moment the skies were filled with a thousand rainbows caused by the whale spouting the water with his spray in the sun in such a way that it resembled the effects spoken of.  The sights on the waters were endless and sublime.  

As a rule there were some ropes hanging loose.  A line running from one bulkhead to another was swinging in the breeze, flopping back and forth.  A boy seven years of age saw a chance for some fun.  He grabbed the rope and it swung him over the bulwark of the ship, and into the sea.  The act was seen immediately and a boat lowered manned by two expert swimmers, but it was too late and the poor boy was swallowed in the heavy rolling waves.  The men in the boat lingered near the spot thinking perhaps a returning wave might bring him to the surface, but their efforts were in vain for the body was seen no more.  The accident was a scene that can scarcely be described.  The mother raged and tore her hair in her great agony of grief, and had it not been for the close watch of the sailors she would have jumped overboard after her little son.  Every mother on board shared her grief.  Captain REED, sorely distressed, wept bitterly.  The case was a sad one and caused sorrow on board for many days.  

After just over five weeks  of heaving and tossing on the Atlantic Ocean in their little sailing vessel, they reached Boston.  

When they saw over the ship's bow the gray shores of Cape Cod, they shouted, "Hosanna, hosanna!"   (about Saturday, 28 Jun )

As they neared the Bay of Boston they were surprised one morning about 10 o'clock.  The lookout gave a call that was thrilling in the extreme.  "Land Ho!"  Was it land?  The Captain assured them of the fact and in a short time (28 June ) the pilot was on board the ship directing her movements.  Captain REED had lost his authority.  The old pilot informed the passengers that they would go ashore the following day when the health officer would come on deck to examine health and baggage.  The vessel also was thoroughly inspected, the condition of which brought down for Captain REED a round of applause.  Being asked how he managed to bring his ship in such fine condition he responded that it was entirely on account of 800 of the cleanest people that ever boarded his vessel.  He went on to explain every morning on the voyage the ship was scrubbed from top to stern and from bottom to top, the bedding aired and disinfected as well as the ship.  In this brief explanation, the Captain remarked that the girls declare that they will marry none but Mormon and I will declare that my ship shall carry none but Mormons.  He made his word good as in an interview with the authorities a few years after he said that the people comprising that company were the most honest and cleanest and respectable that had ever been his lot to mingle and associate with in all his seafaring career and "May the blessings of God ever rest upon them.  And with my best wishes for their future welfare I commend you to God who gave us our being upon the earth.  Your true friend, Captain William REED, of the ship Horizon." 

On Sunday, 29 June, the doctor came on board and examined the passengers.  During the voyage four marriages, two births and four deaths had occurred.  Also, the emigrants had made 45 tents and 8 wagon covers during the crossing.  

On Monday, 30 Jun, about 7 o'clock, the steamer Huron towed the ship Horizon into Constitution Wharf (during which the passengers knelt on the wooden decks and thanked God ), where the emigrants debarked.  

While the officers were going through the luggage and other investigations, Captain REED proved a great help to the Saints.  In his genteel manner he would help those who were of the timid kind in the handling of their luggage and in a true genteel way he would answer intricate questions asked the passengers by the investigating officers.  The vessel was finally run alongside the pier and that night the luggage was housed and guarded by the government not so far from the famed Bunker Hill (Worcester Depot ).  The next day a train of cars were run along by the pier and booked for Iowa City (thirteen hundred miles distant ).  Thus ended the sea voyage and set them on the way for one more hazardous.  At this pier nothing but cattle cars could be obtained and into those they were loaded, bag and baggage.  

The Boston newspaper "Daily Journal" dated 1 Jul 1856, stated that the temperature on 30 June was 96-100 degrees in the shade at 4 o'clock.  

At 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday, 2 Jul, they started on the westward journey.  

In those cars they arrived at Greenbush, State of New York, at 1:00 a.m. (200 miles).  On 3 Jul they took their luggage from the train and placed them on horse carts and crossed the Hudson River in steamboats to Albany.    

Here they were permitted to change to third class accommodations.  The seats were two-inch plank with no back.  They left at 1 p.m., and in this miserable way they were conveyed to Buffalo, New York (350 miles) at a very slow pace.  The country along the track was studded with fine orchards, bearing fine apples and all kinds of fruit.  The fruit was so tempting that at the rate of travel the young men would jump from the train, fill their pockets, and overtake the slow-moving institution.  

They passed over the Genesee Falls in the city of Rochester and arrived at Buffalo at 11 o'clock a.m., on the 4th of July.  They started the same day at 2:00 p.m. for Cleveland, a distance of 180 miles.  

Not realizing the meaning of all the parading and firing of firecrackers and artillery, an Elder of the Church explained it all.  

They arrived in Cleveland at 6 a.m. on 5 July.  

While waiting in Cleveland for a change of cars a great rainstorm continued two days.  The emigrants and their luggage were exposed to the weather.  The company having no sheds to protect themselves, a large barn was secured and all were transferred to it until the storm abated.  A few had secured rooms for their accommodation, but the great majority was huddled together in the barn.  Like Missouri and other places, the people of the town despised the Mormons and after the Saints had retired for the night, a mob of bullies, including some females, gathered around the barn and kept up for hours such a howling and bombarding with stones and bats, it equaled any Indian pow-pow ever listened to on the frontiers.  Finally, the presidency of the company found a person, whom he assumed had some authority, who persuaded the mob to desist and go to their homes.  However, it left the people in a state of terrible excitement.  Not a person closed an eye that night in sleep.  In the early hours of the morning the train arrived, and in short order they with all their effects, were on their way to Iowa City, Iowa.  

They traveled by way of Toledo (5 Jul) and arrived in Chicago at 7:00 p.m. on 6 Jul, where they stayed all night.  

They left Chicago the next morning at 5:00 a.m., Monday, 7 Jul and arrived at Rock Island (246 miles) at 9:00 p.m. on 8 Jul, at 9 p.m.  

Here they crossed the Mississippi River on a steamboat (10 Jul), because the railway bridge was burned down.  Boarding another train they continued their journey.  

There were about 700 people on the box or cattle cars who arrived in Iowa City (after seven days and nights ) on Tuesday, 8 July.  

Their campground was on the bank of the Iowa River.  They were welcomed on their first night by a sudden and violent thunderstorm.  

Only a few of the passengers went to the camp upon their arrival in Iowa City.  They felt delighted in having the privilege of a pleasant walk.  They had not gone far before it started to thunder, and terrific bolts of lightning shot across the sky followed by a downpour of rain.  The road became very muddy and slippery, and progress became very difficult.  It was night before they reached the camp.  They were conducted to tents, but were packed very close together and stood up all night in wet clothes.  The majority of the emigrants had remained at the depot in Iowa City and passed the first night in an engine roundhouse.  In the middle of the night an engineer ran an engine into the roundhouse, whistling and hissing, and waking the Saints, who could not think what on earth was the matter.  Next day they traveled on foot the two or three miles to the rendezvous camp.  

They immediately set to work preparing for the long overland journey before them, including the making of strong, two-wheeled handcarts from native oak and hickory.  

These unfortunately were not ready for them when they arrived, because the number of emigrants requiring these vehicles was so much larger than had been anticipated.  Thus much precious time was lost, which should have been spent in traveling.  

Every available man was put to work on construction of the vehicles; the women made the tents. 

The company was divided into groups of one hundred persons each, with a sub-captain over each of these.  

Twenty two-wheeled carts were issued to each 100 persons.  Seeds, tools, implements and personal belongings of five people were carried in each one.  Each adult was allowed 17 pounds for his possessions and each child was allowed ten pounds.  The carts were just large enough to hold these belongings plus a few cooking utensils and supplies.  They were rickety affairs.  The shafts were five feet long, of hickory or oak, with crosspieces, one of which served as a handle.  The shafts also formed the bed of the cart with a wooden axletree under the center.  The wheels were wood with a band of light iron as a rim.  The whole contraption usually weighed about 60 pounds. 

There was one Chicago wagon with three yoke of oxen, and three or four milk cows, for each 100 emigrants.  Each wagon carried five round tents, 17 pounds of clothing and bedding per saint, and 100 pounds of freight which included cooking gear, flour, sugar, rice, bacon, beans, dried apples, salt, tea, a gallon of vinegar and a few bars of soap.  Room was left in the wagon for the sick and those who could not walk.    

Three companies of handcart emigrants that had started for the plains earlier in the season had reached Great Salt Lake City without any unusual amount of suffering.  They had crossed the Atlantic earlier in the year than the Horizon and Thornton.   The fourth Company of Handcarts under Captain WILLIE suffered many of the same experiences that the MARTIN Company was called upon to endure a little later.    

By the time these companies arrived in Iowa City, there wasn't enough seasoned lumber for handcarts, so they made them from green wood.  This made the carts heavier than the normal 60 pounds.  It also made them more rickety after the wood seasoned during the trip.  

At last, on Tuesday, 15 July, 500 emigrants started west in the WILLIE company.  Then, on Monday, 28 July 1856 (20 days after arriving there), the MARTIN company started westward from Iowa City (elevation about 700 feet).  It consisted of 576 persons, 146 handcarts, seven wagons, six mules, 50 cows and beef cattle.  The company divided into two sections.  

One of the divisions was captained by Edward MARTIN, the other by Jesse HAVEN.  (They were further divided into hundreds and tens.  )  They were to be consolidated under Captain MARTIN on leaving the Missouri River.  

One wagon drawn by mules and two wagons drawn by oxen were apportioned to each section to carry provisions, tents, etc.  Although July was late in the year for such a journey, the Saints believed they would run out of food and money if they delayed.  They marched across Iowa, singing happy Mormon songs and hymns.  They woke, slept, and ate under the semi-strict regulations of their leader, Captain MARTIN.  A bugle called them in the early dawn (5:30 and 6:00 a.m.).  Breakfast was cooked over hurriedly built fires, and the day's walk began.  

At noon there was an hour rest for dinner and to graze the cattle.  

The bugle also sounded twice in the evening, 9:00 and 9:30 p.m., signaling the time to retire.  

The Saints followed the trail blazed by Brigham YOUNG ten years earlier.  The hot summer sun beat down on them; dry, choking dust swirled up constantly; and mosquitoes swarmed about their heads.  For the first few days the children thought it was fun to run out and pick the gaily colored flowers, but after a week of dreary trudging, they grew tired of this game.  

On 2 Aug they were at Brush Creek; 3 Aug east of Hilton Creek and 3 miles from Marengo; 4 Aug Bear Creek; 7 Aug about one mile past Westerfield; 8 Aug passed through Newton; 9 Aug camped on Snake River; 12 Aug were 3 miles east of Skunk River; 13 Aug 4 miles west of Fort Des Moines; 14 Aug camped on Middle Fork of **** River; 16 Aug camped on Mud River; 18 Aug camped on Nishnabotna River.  

Crossing the Chariton River (about 50 miles south of present day Des Moines), they were caught in a downpour of rain.  Wagons and carts cut deeply into the mud and the Saints pried, pushed, and pulled until they freed themselves.  On reaching high ground they halted for a well-earned breathing spell.  So far, things were going well for them.   Thus, while passing through a sparsely populated country, the emigrants learned many lessons regarding this mode of travel which were of great value to them later, when they were hundred of miles from civilization.  

As the handcart emigrants passed through the settlements of Iowa, many of the pioneer residents jeered at them, and some mob violence was threatened, but none materialized.  In this way the company traveled nearly 277 miles to Florence, a new town commenced on the original site of Winter Quarters, so well known by the Mormon exiles from Nauvoo, Ill.  

On 21 Aug 1856, they reached the Florence Ferry opposite Florence, near Winter Quarters.  They had been on the road 25 days, averaging about 11 miles per day.  The next day they ferried across to Florence, situated on the west bank of the Missouri River.  

Prior to crossing the Missouri River near Council Bluffs, Iowa, and entering Florence, the emigrants stopped to repair their warped carts.  A debate arose concerning whether they should stay or continue.  Captain MARTIN thought they should stay over until spring.  "Play it safe," he cautioned, "It's a long way and late in the season."  The majority was for going through, and the majority ruled.  

President Franklin D. RICHARDS had been released from his European Mission; and after fulfilling the gigantic assignment of putting three thousand Saints onto ships, and settling related business, he, in company with other Elders, left Liverpool on Saturday, 26 July.  They reached Florence, Nebraska, just in time to assist the MARTIN Handcart Company and the two rear wagon trains.  They arrived there on Thursday, 21 Aug, having been 26 days on their journey from Liverpool.  Their presence seemed like the magic of heaven.  The spirits and bodies of the Saints seemed almost instantly refreshed and the Elders were met with hearty greetings.  It was reported that the Saints were in good spirits, generally in good health, and full of confidence that they should reach the mountains in season to escape the severe storms.  The Elders stated that they had never seen more union among the Saints anywhere than was manifested in the handcart companies.  

President RICHARDS stated, "It certainly would warm your heart with melting kindness to pass along the line of a camp going by handcarts, and receive the cordial shakes of the hand, and a fervent 'God bless you,' as I did when I visited Captain Edward MARTIN's train, several of whom expressed their thanks in a particular manner for being permitted to come out this year."  

At Florence (elevation 1,000 feet) the two sections were consolidated into one as protection against Indians in crossing the mountains and plains, and, on Monday, 25 Aug, the company rolled out on this leg of their journey.  

Edward E. MARTIN was put in charge, assisted by Daniel TYLER.  When they got to the foot of the hill on which they had been camped, they made the air ring with a good hurrah!, three times repeated.  

On Wednesday, 27 Aug, the company left from Cutler's Park camp, two and one-half miles west of Florence.  They pushed along the road to the Platte River.  

On 6 Sep, they met a large party of Indians, men, women, and children with their horses and mules all loaded with skins going to Missouri to trade with the whites.  They were the first party of Indians seen.  

Boots were worn beyond repair and feet were swollen and blistered, but they struggled on valiantly across the savage prairie.  Children cried to ride the wagons.  Old folks lagged, but no complaints came from their lips.  They closed their eyes to failure and went on, hoping and praying for the strength to continue.  The travelers continued to sing their hymns, but for some the spontaneity was gone.  Others still had faith that the Lord would see them through.  One of their favorite songs was the handcart hymn:  "For some must push and some must pull as we go marching up the hill, As merrily on the way we go, until we reach the valley, Oh..."  

They crossed the Elkhorn River (30-40 miles west of Florence)(29 Aug), the North Loup River (40-50 miles north of present day Grand Island, about 8 Sep), and the South Loup River (40 miles north of present day Grand Island).  

The returning missionaries from England, led by F.D. RICHARDS, caught up with the MARTIN company near present day Grand Island, Nebraska, on the evening of 7 Sep.  Brother RICHARDS reported that he found them in most excellent spirits, and, though MARTIN had the greater proportion of the feeble emigrants, the health of his camp was very good; and he was able to average about 100 miles a week, without fatiguing his company. 

On 12 Sep they crossed Wood River, near present day Grand Island.  About the 15th (nearly opposite Fort Kearney) they traveled alongside the HODGETT wagon train and continued for 4-5 days with them.  

One of the most singular deaths occurred on the journey at this time.  Two bachelors named Luke CARTER, from the Clitheroe Branch, Yorkshire, England, and William EDWARDS, from Manchester, England, each about fifty to fifty-five years of age, had pulled a handcart together from Iowa City, Iowa, to this point.  They slept in the same tent, cooked and bunked together, but for several days previous, unpleasant and cross words had passed between them.  EDWARDS was a tall, loosely built and slender man physically, and CARTER more stocky and sturdy.  He had favored EDWARDS by letting the latter pull only what he could in the shafts for some time.  This morning he grumbled and complained, still traveling, about being tired and that he couldn't go any farther.  CARTER reported, "Come on, come on.  You'll be all right again when you get a bit of dinner at noon."  But EDWARDS kept on begging for him to stop the cart and let him lie down and die, CARTER replying, "Well, get out and die then."  The cart was instantly stopped.  CARTER raised the shafts of the cart.  EDWARDS walked from under and to the south of the road a couple of rods, laid his body down on the level prairie and in ten minutes he was a corpse.  A few of the carts waited a few minutes longer till the captain came up and closed EDWARDS' eyes.  A light-loaded cart was unloaded.  The body was put thereon, covered with a quilt and pulled to noon camp some five or six miles where his grave was dug and where he was buried a short distance west of Fort Kearney, Nebraska. 

As they went on food became an important item.  One night a herd of stampeding buffalo came through their camp.  When they awoke, many of the company's own animals were gone.  (This is thought to have happened just west of Grand Island.)  To make matters worse, they had to unload the wagons and put whatever supplies they could salvage on their own weakened green handcarts.  The extra weight made pulling a severe strain.  It was tiresome, hard and nerve wracking.  Sickness and death were becoming common.  

At the end of almost every day, coffins were made for children and the frail ones.  The emigrants were plagued by "the American disease", which may have been some form of dysentery.  Their morale was hitting bottom and there were still hundreds of miles to go.  All they could see were plains, loneliness and desolation.  It seemed impossible, yet each hour found them nearer their goal.  They dragged their weary bodies on.  The will to live was great, but there was more soul-stirring and tragic drama yet to be staged.  

On 19 Sep they were informed that Indians had killed Col. A.W. BABBITT and burned his buggy, about forty miles ahead.  

There was a little petty pilfering going on in camp occasionally.  The pilferings were usually bread to eat.  The bread was baked in the form of cakes in frying pans, or of biscuits in skillets and bake kettles.  

On 23 Sep they observed the remains of a burned wagon, supposed to have been Col. Almon W. BABBITT's.  A little harness with the springs of the wagon and a few other things were there.  On the 24th a double guard was set as it was thought that Indians were lurking about.  On the 25th they met five Cheyenne Indians who eyed the company well.  

They reached the spot where the North and South Platte rivers converge to form the Platte River about three weeks after leaving Florence.  It was about half the distance to Fort Laramie.  

First Chimney Rock (3 Oct ) (20 miles west of present day Bridgeport, Nebraska, and 40 miles east of the Wyoming border, elevation about 3,900 feet) then Scott's Bluff (4 Oct, 23 miles east of the Wyoming border) came into view.  Days later they crossed the North Platte River (about 30 miles west of the Wyoming border).  In the shimmering distance lay Fort Laramie (on the south side of the North Platte River, elevation 4,200 feet).  It was Wednesday, 8 Oct 1856, 45 days after leaving Florence, during which time they had averaged about 12 miles per day.  Thus far the journey had not been more fatiguing than might have been expected, but with brave hearts the pilgrims continued to pursue their goal.  Up to this time, the daily ration had not been cut down, but the fresh air made them hungry and their appetites were hardly ever satisfied.   So at Fort Laramie they were glad to trade their watches, jewelry, and other valuables for provisions, buffalo robes, and bedding, which were sold at reasonable prices.  

Typical prices were biscuit at 15 and one-half cents per pound, bacon at 15 cents, rice at 17 cents, etc.  

Those who were thus able to supply themselves with extra provisions fared better than many of their fellow travelers, for soon after leaving Fort Laramie it was found necessary to cut down the rations.  The full ration per person per day had been a pound of flour, a little bacon, and sometimes a dried apple and a little sugar and tea.  

Even that had been found insufficient to satisfy the cravings of hunger.  

They left Fort Laramie the morning of 10 Oct.  

Early one morning while all the children were in bed, Sarah Ann and another woman were cooking breakfast, which consisted of one small pancake apiece made from flour and water.  She put the pancakes on a platter inside the tent in which the children were sleeping while she went a little ways from camp to gather some wood or buffalo chips to keep the fire going.  When she returned she counted the cakes and found one was gone.  She looked in the tent at the children to see if one of them might have taken it.  All of them seemed to be sleeping peacefully.  However, she went over to her son, James, shook him, and asked if he had taken it.  He said, "Yes, Mother, I was so hungry."  On hearing this from her son, Sarah Ann broke down and cried and said, "I know, my boy, I know.  We are all hungry."  It was the first time he ever saw his mother cry.  

They arrived at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains (probably approaching present day Laramie Mountains, soon after leaving Fort Laramie, between Wendover and Douglas, Wyoming) by the time snow began to fall and they knew their provisions would not last, so the rations were cut to three-quarters of a pound of flour.  The trail became tougher, the marches were harder to bear, and the handcarts crept at a snail's pace.  Pioneers passing them on their way east commented on the ragged appearance of the Saints and predicted they would never survive.  

Still the company toiled on through the Black Hills country (sometimes referred to as "red earth country", about 10-15 miles southwest of present day Douglas, Wyoming, on the south side of the North Platte River) where the feed grew scarce for the animals and the roads were rocky and hilly, causing the handcarts to become rickety and to need frequent repairs.  William MIDDLETON, father of George F. MIDDLETON of Salt Lake City, was in charge of one of the provision wagons and he frequently picked up the little tired children, whom he found clinging to their mother's skirt, and gave them a ride.  This spirit of helpfulness characterized all the handcart emigrants.  

Grass for the stock became scarcer, and the oxen began to weaken.  

Rations were cut again to half a pound of flour, and still later to something less, or nothing at all.  Gone were the laughter and hearty songs.  Some occasionally sang a hymn to summon lost spirit, but they were watched by sunken eyes, staring vacantly from gaunt, pinched faces.  Exhausted in mind and body, they pushed ahead mechanically.  When one man fell, others lifted him painfully to his feet.  No smile of thanks lightened his face; no sign of recognition, yet they all understood that they might be the next to fall, or die.  As strength ebbed, many had thrown away belongings to lighten their load.  Now with the cold weather coming and snow beginning to fall, the Saints realized their costly mistake.  Raw, bitter winds blew icy blasts.  With heads bent against the freezing winds, they staggered on.  

The one-fourth pound of flour allotted each day was used by many people in the making of gruel.  On 17 Oct they camped on Deer Creek, where the baggage, including bedding and cooking utensils, were reduced to 10 pounds per head and 5 pounds for children under eight years old.  Good blankets and other bedding and clothing were burned as they could not be carried further, though needed more badly than ever, for there was yet 400 miles of winter to go through.  

On Saturday, 18 Oct they reached the last crossing of the North Platte, near Red Buttes and a little west of present Casper (elevation 5,100 feet).  Encampment was made in preparation for the crossing.  Here the two wagon trains in the rear caught up with MARTIN's company and helped the emigrants and their handcarts across.  The river was wide, the current strong, and the water exceedingly cold.  The company was barely over when snow and sleet began to fall, accompanied by a piercing north wind, which drove particles of snow in every direction.  Winter had come upon them suddenly in a fury.  The spirits of the pioneers sank within them.  

The crossing of the North Platte, on 19 Oct, at Red Buttes about 5 miles above the bridge, was fraught with more fatalities than any other incident of the entire journey.  More than a score or two of the young female members waded the stream that in places was waist deep, and up to the wagon beds.  Blocks of mushy snow and ice had to be dodged.  The result of wading this stream by them was immediately followed by partial and temporary dementia from which several did not recover until the next spring.  

Some of the women and children were carried across by the men, but others of the women tied up their skirts and waded through, like the heroines they were, and as they had done through many other rivers and creeks.  

After effecting the crossing of the Platte on Sunday, the 19th, the company pushed on a little farther before encamping.  Josiah ROGERSON related that he was awakened at midnight to go on guard again until six or seven in the morning.  After reaching his hand to the side of the tent and feeling it heavy and weighted with snow, he said, "Mother, the snow has come."  A chill seemed to fill the whole tent as he whispered those five words.  During the night, thirteen in the camp died.  After daybreak they were placed in a pile and covered up with snow.  The ground was frozen so hard that they could not dig a grave.  

Back at Deer Creek (present Glenrock, WY), two days before, the company, because of growing weakness of the emigrants and teams, had reduced baggage to ten pounds per adult, five pounds for children under eight.  Blankets, other bedding, and clothing were thus thrown away to lighten the load.  Now, with the bitter cold, those wraps were desperately needed, for almost four hundred miles stretched between them and shelter in Salt Lake City.  

The snow continued to fall for three days.  Deaths multiplied until a burying squad was appointed to prepare graves at night for those who died during the day.  

The snow reached 15 inches deep on the level, but they struggled on, many, however, falling by the wayside.  

A man, known as Father Jonathan STONE (a man of about 55-60 years of age), who traveled in company with a little grandchild, about 9 or 10 years of age, lagged behind one day and was taken up by the HUNT wagon company traveling in the rear.  He was invited to stop with them over night, but being anxious to rejoin his own company, he and his little companion went forward.  On the morrow their mangled remains were discovered upon the plains, upon which wolves had feasted the night before.  

A few days after leaving the Platte River the male members of the company had become reduced in number by death and those who remained were so weak and emaciated by sickness, that on reaching the camping place at night, there were not sufficient men with strength enough to raise the poles and pitch the tents.  The result was that they 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.  One woman reported sitting down on a rock with one child in her lap and one on each side.  In that condition she remained until morning.  

The going was slow, painful, and shocking to their numbed minds.  When the snow got so deep that they could go no further, they camped in a ravine near some willows.  The ravine was later called MARTIN's Ravine after this ill-fated company (elevation 5,300 feet, about 15 miles due west of present day Alcova, Wyoming, and about 35-40 miles southwest of Casper).  The HODGETT wagon train stalled beside the MARTIN company.  The families made round beds with their feet together in the center to keep them from freezing.  Sarah Ann's two-year old daughter, Emma, had her feet frozen and limped for the rest of her life.  They had to shovel snow to make their beds.  They didn't have enough bedding or clothing to cover their thin, cold bodies.  Their shoes were all worn out, so they wrapped their feet in rags or anything they could spare.  They suffered untold hardships and privations.  Many of them died from exposure and weakness. 

The next morning fresh snow covered the entire countryside.  Some of their animals had drifted from camp, but the Saints were too exhausted to look for them.  Death hovered over the determined pioneers now like an ominous cloud.  Each day's dead were wrapped in blankets and consigned to a common grave with the prayers of the survivors.  At times the ground was too frozen for digging, so the men buried the dead in snowdrifts.  One woman (Elizabeth Horrocks Kingford JACKSON) found her husband (Aaron) dead beside her in the night.  She didn't cry for she was already past tears.  She lay beside him all through the icy night, staring dry-eyed in the darkness.  In the morning, she turned what little energies she had toward the care of her three children.  

Some died lying side by side with hands entwined.  In other cases, they were found as if they had just offered a fervent prayer and their spirit had taken flight while in the act.  Some died sitting by the fire; some were singing hymns or eating crusts of bread.  It was reported that Captain MARTIN stood over the grave of the departed ones with shotgun in hand, firing at intervals to keep the crows and buzzards away from hovering around in mid air.  

Captain MARTIN and a volunteer finally rode ahead to find help.  The emigrants prayed with them before they left.  

Soon after leaving Florence, Nebraska, the company of returning missionaries, headed by President RICHARDS, traveling on horseback and with teams passed the company enroute for Salt Lake City.  They arrived in that city on Saturday, 4 October while General Conference was in session, and as soon as President Brigham YOUNG heard about the handcart companies he dismissed conference so they could prepare to go meet the Saints.  

The response for help was magnificent.  Such sympathy and Christian brotherhood would be difficult to equal.  Sixteen wagon loads of food and supplies were quickly assembled; and on the morning of Tuesday, 7 Oct, sixteen good four-mule teams and twenty-seven hardy young men headed eastward with the first installment of provisions.  The gathering of more, to follow, was pushed vigorously.  

Only nine years removed from the stark desert it had settled upon with empty wagons and bare hands, the Mormon community was not yet one of surpluses.  But the religious and human tie that bound the Saints in the Valley to those who soon might be freezing and starving on the Plains, transcended the instinct for personal safety.  

Families of moderate means and the poorest individuals contributed from their meager stores.  One lent a horse, one a wagon, one a tent; another, two bales of hay and a sack of barley.  Some gave iron camp kettles, dutch ovens, brass buckets, tin cups, and plates.  Women darned socks and shawls; patched underwear, trousers, and dresses; faced quilts, sewed together pieces of blankets; and took clothes from their own backs.  Families brought in from their scant cellars sacks of flour, sides of home-cured bacon, bags of beans, dried corn, packages of sugar and rice. 

Prayers at all public meetings and in private homes petitioned the Almighty to avert the storms, strengthen the rescuers, and spare the trapped emigrants.  Gradually more wagon trains were assembled, loaded with contributed goods, and driven by dedicated men over the Wasatch Mountains, towards South Pass and the high plains beyond.  By the end of October, two hundred and fifty teams were on the road to give relief.  

It was a four hundred-mile journey to the surviving emigrants.  The handcart companies were not reached as soon as expected. Stormy weather came, and the roads were difficult.  They reached Fort Bridger on Sunday, the twelfth; deposited some flour there and picked up some beef.  No word of the emigrants.  Three days later they reached Green River, fifty-six miles farther on; but still no news.  From here they sent scouts ahead.  As the relief train reached the elevation of South Pass, where the continent divides to east and west drainages, the wagons were overtaken by a severe storm and cold weather.  Snow continued for three days.  

The relief company realized how insufficient their loads of provisions would be when divided between 1500 people who were still on the plains or in the mountains.  

The temperature dropped to 30 degrees below zero.  

At Willow Creek, on the upper reaches of the Sweetwater, they halted to await better weather.  Into this camp, riding worn-out mules, came Captain J.G. WILLIE and Joseph ELDER of the WILLIE Handcart Company, on the evening of Monday, 20 Oct.  They reported that the emigrants were freezing and starving.  All would perish if help did not reach them soon.  Early the next morning the rescue party pushed on, and by night arrived at the destitute encampment.  They had come in time to save the lives of most of WILLIE's company.  

After giving emergency relief, the rescue train was divided into two parties.  About half, under Captain KIMBALL, remained with WILLIE's company to help it westward.  The other half, led by Captain George D. GRANT, pushed eastward to meet the MARTIN Company and the rear wagon trains.  

During the next five days, GRANT's party traveled one hundred miles through deep snow (eight to twelve inches deep) and reached Devil's Gate on Sunday, 26 Oct.  After encamping there, three messengers, Joseph A. YOUNG, Abel GARR, and Daniel W. JONES, were sent ahead to find MARTIN's Company and the two rear wagon trains.  Four days later on Thursday, 30 Oct, the express returned to Devil's Gate with news of the location and the desperate condition of the companies.  GRANT's party hurried forward, and about sixteen miles to the east met MARTIN's Handcart Company on Greasewood Creek.  

Meanwhile, many more of the Saints had become sick and were dying.  Rations had been cut again to what amounted to one-quarter of a pound of meal a day for cakes.  Sarah Ann said it was enough to make one small hotcake.  One or two of the most able-bodied men, who had the strength, would act as scouts and go up on a hill to see if help was coming.  They were afraid that help would arrive too late.  One morning the scout thought he saw some moving specks in the distance.  He dared not tell the others until he was sure, so he waited about two hours when he could make out three wagons and two horsemen in the distance, about two miles away, coming towards him.  He ran and stumbled into camp crying, "The wagons are coming!  The wagons are coming!"  The Saints on hearing the good news, dropped to their knees in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to their Heavenly Father for their deliverance.  

It was on Tuesday, the 28th of October that the MARTIN Company was found (at a place called Red Buttes, 16 miles above the Platte bridge ; about 65 miles from Devil's Gate ) by this advance party, in the most deplorable condition.  They had lost 56 of their members by death since they left the North Platte River nine days before.  Their provisions were nearly gone and their clothing almost worn out.  Most of their bedding had been abandoned on the road as they were too weak to haul it.  

The rescue party helped to bury the dead.  

When the men on the horses came into camp and saw the terrible condition of the people, they cried like babies at the sight.  They said, "Can you pull to where the wagons are, as the oxen are give out and won't move?"  "Yes!, yes!," they shouted, and hurriedly put their sick on the carts with their few belongings and waded through the snow to the wagons.  There wasn't sufficient clothing to go around, but they could at least have food, as they had not eaten for two days.  Only about 400 of the original 576 persons who had departed Iowa City were left.  Many of them had to keep doggedly dragging or shoving their carts to the end of the journey, as though their wooden Jonahs had become part of themselves.  

On Friday, the last day of October the main body of the rescue party met MARTIN's company at Greasewood Creek.  Every possible assistance was given and they helped the sufferers toward the temporary supply depot at Devil' Gate.  

The company was strung out for three or four miles. There were old men pulling and tugging at loaded carts, sometimes loaded with a sick wife or children; some women pulling along sick husbands; and children six to eight years old struggling along, all through mud and deep snow.  As night came on the mud would freeze on their clothes and feet.  This was a bitter, cold night and they had no fuel except very small sagebrush.  Several died that night.  

One night after receiving an extra ration of flour, one family having made up their bread, found that it rose most promisingly. The good housewife or tentwife, was in high spirits over it, anticipating a batch of bread that could not be found fault with, nor excelled in camp.  When it was baked it was the lightest, whitest bread they had made on the entire journey.  But when they came to eat it, the flavor was extraordinary.  They had never tasted anything like it before.  Somehow or other, about half a pound of soap had fallen unnoticed off the hind part of the wagon bottom into the camp kettle and had frozen there.  At night, when the kettle was rinsed out, the soap remained fast at the bottom, still unnoticed in the dark.  The kettle, with water in it, and the soap also, was set on the fire to get hot.  With most of this soapy water the bread was made, and very soapy was the taste thereof, but the family could not afford to go without a day's rations and throw the bread away.  So it was eaten, every bit, with more or less a wry face over it.  The emigrants had been using snow water with a strong sagebrush flavor for culinary and drinking purposes, and had become accustomed to bitterness of taste.  

On Saturday, 1 Nov, amid falling snow, camp was made near Independence Rock, only five miles east of Devil's Gate.  There was a foot or eighteen inches of snow on the ground, which, since there were but two spades in camp, the emigrants had to shovel away with their frying pans, or tin plates, or anything they could use for that purpose, before they could pitch their tents.  The ground was frozen so hard that it was almost impossible to drive the tent pegs into it.  Some of the men were so weak that it took them an hour or two to clear the places for their tents and set them up.  

The next day (Sunday, 2 Nov) the desperate company arrived at Devil's Gate.  (The snow was deep and very cold.  )  In a dispatch to Salt Lake City, Captain GRANT, leader of the MARTIN company rescue effort, wrote, "...You can imagine between five and six hundred men, women and children, worn down by drawing handcarts through snow and mud; fainting by the wayside; falling, chilled by the cold; children crying, their limbs stiffened by cold, their feet bleeding and some of them bare to snow and frost.  The sight is almost too much for the stoutest of us; but we go on doing all we can, not doubting or despairing."  ..."I think that not over one-third of Mr. MARTIN's company is able to walk."  

One of the rescuers, Harvey CLUFF stated, "But oh! what a sight to see.  Aged men, women, children and young maidens plodding along through the snow several inches deep, with icicles dangling to their skirts and pants as they walked along pushing and pulling their handcarts, the wheels of which were burdened with snow.  The roaring fires of cedar and pitch pine wood soon cheered the weary souls and the youthful of both genders were singing the songs of Zion around the campfires."  

Two days later the HODGETT and HUNT wagon companies arrived at the same place (Devil's Gate)4, making some 1,200 persons assembled there.  

Snowstorms and severely cold weather continued to harass the beleaguered Saints (ten to twenty degrees below zero, making it utterly impossible to proceed homeward ).  Supplies were inadequate to provide so many people for long.  Men and cattle continued to die.  It was decided that the handcart company, with the help from the rescue party and some wagons, should move on to find a sheltered place where wood was available.  Loaded with the sick and dying, the wagons were to move along the Sweetwater and cross to a depression later known as MARTIN's Cove, about two and one-half miles west from Devil's Gate (about 6 miles southwest of Independence Rock, elevation 6,200 feet).  

The handcarts moved on Monday, 3 Nov, and reached the river, filled with floating ice.  

The crossing of the Sweetwater near this point proved a terrible ordeal to the weary travelers.  Standing, shivering with cold, on the riverbank they watched the huge pieces of ice floating down stream.  The water at this crossing was about two feet deep and in other places still deeper.  In spite of the cheering information that this was the last river they would have to ford, it seemed impossible for the emigrants in their weakened condition to make the attempt.  At the prospect before them not only women and children wept, but also even strong men shed tears freely.  A council was held to decide whether a winter camp should be constructed at Devil's Gate and no further attempt be made to cross the mountains at that time.  But fearing that it might be impossible to send supplies to them later in the season, the leaders decided to push forward to the valley, leaving some of the baggage at Devil's Gate.  The teams and wagons and some of the stronger men, with handcarts, then forded the river at once, and three eighteen-year-old young men, David P. KIMBALL, George W. GRANT and C. Allen HUNTINGTON, of the relief party, entered the icy stream, determined to save life.  They waded back and forth, helping the handcarts through and carrying the women and children across the river.  Hour after hour they worked incessantly until, just as darkness closed in upon them, all the company had passed over.  

Every one of those brave men died young from the effects of this exposure, but their relatives and friends felt, as President YOUNG remarked when he first heard of their heroism, that, "their salvation was assured." They had, among the many other brave mountain boys, proven themselves real heroes.  

The fatigued Saints finally reached the wagons, encamped in the cove against the granite mountain, where they found some shelter through several freezing days.  The thermometer reached eleven degrees below zero on Thursday, 6 Nov.  

Harvey CLUFF stated, "Camp was made, tents set, supper over and the people retired for the night when a snow storm accompanied by a raging wind from the north, came over the mountain and with a terrific whirl around the cove, leveled every tent to the ground.  Here again the Utah boys found that their services very much needed.  To rescue the people from beneath their tents and re-set the tents in the dark hours of the night was a very trying ordeal for the boys and also the people, but marvelous as it may seem, not a single person was seriously injured.  Now again the blizzard set in with increased fury, the snow covering the grass compelling the cattle and horses to forage upon the willows along the river bottoms.  Cattle died daily.  The situation was, indeed, very criticle."  

It was decided to store the merchandise from the wagon trains at Devil's Gate fort; and then, in the emptied wagons, to haul the sick and incapacitated members of the handcart company on to Salt Lake.  Most of the handcarts would be abandoned.  The party moved forward on Sunday, 9 Nov.  

Ahead of the company, there still stretched 325 miles of high, mountain desolation, mantled in snow.  Another cold spell coated the Sweetwater with an ice sheet, thick enough to support wagons.  As the train plowed slowly westward through the snow, the severe cold continued.  Some persons had their fingers, toes, or feet frozen; others died.  Food supplies became dangerously low.  The continued storms that slowed the emigrants, had halted the later rescue wagons headed toward them.  The relief wagons were held at South Pass.  

Ephraim HANKS was among the rescue party and pushed on alone through the storms, with a saddle horse and a pack animal, hoping to meet the westbound handcarts.  On the way, he providentially encountered buffalo and killed one.  He loaded his horses with the meat and resumed his journey.  After meeting the train (11 Nov) and distributing the meat, he went about the camp administering to the sick.  He stated, "Many of the immigrants whose extremities were frozen, lost their limbs, either whole or in part.  Many such I washed with water and castile soap, until the frozen parts would fall off, after which I would sever the shreds of flesh from the remaining portions of the limbs with my scissors.  Some of the emigrants lost toes, others fingers, and again others whole hands and feet."  

On Sunday, 16 Nov, at Rocky Ridge (about 20 miles east of present South Pass City, WY, and 28-30 miles northeast of South Pass), MARTIN's Company was cheered by ten wagons of supplies from Salt Lake Valley.  Two days later other teams with food and clothing reached them.  Although it was snowing on Tuesday, the 18th, all emigrants, now securely tucked under wagon covers, crossed South Pass (elevation 7,550 feet) safely.  

That night the company camped in the willows at Pacific Springs, four miles west of South Pass, the snow still falling furiously, and with one or two feet on the ground.  

They camped the night of the 19th on Dry Sandy; the 20th on Big Sandy; and the 21st on Black's Fork. 

The handcart company all riding, was now traveling at the rate of twenty-five to thirty miles a day.  

They met more supplies near Green River (21 Nov), and reached Fort Bridger on Sunday, the 23rd.    The 24th was very cold and they camped on the Muddy.  

The wagon train carrying the MARTIN Handcart Company reached Bear River (modern Evanston, WY, elevation 6,750 feet) on Tuesday, 25 Nov.  

On the 26th. they camped at the head of Echo Canyon.  The next day it camped on the Weber River (East Canyon Creek)(near Echo, UT, elevation 5,500 feet); they camped in East Canyon the evening of the 28th, and on Saturday, 29 Nov crossed Big Mountain.   

Here several young men were keeping the mountain roads open by packing the snow with moving animals.  

Harvey CLUFF stated, "Reaching East creek at the base of the Big Mountain the snow about four feet deep, a recent fall of snow having filled up the track.  Now came the tug of war so to speak.  Every available man was lined up in double file as far apart as the wagon wheels and thus preceded up the mountain in advance of the train (they tramped down the snow to make it easier for the wagons).  At regular distances we would make a side track for the lead team to pull out and fall in behind (so a fresher team could make the track through the snow), thus we continued up and up the four miles and near the summit a cut with shovels had to be made through a snow drift twenty feet deep.  The whole day was consumed in getting over the mountain and camp was made between the Big and Little mountains."  

They passed over Little Mountain and camped at Killian's Canyon at the head of Emigration Canyon.  

A spirited young Scotswoman, Margaret DALGLISH, pulled her possessions to the very rim of Salt Lake Valley.  She looked down at this place she had almost never hoped to reach, containing people strengthened by food and shelter.  Then she looked back at the pitiful belongings in her handcart.  Suddenly, she shoved the cart over the edge of the ravine, and watched it roll and tumble until it crashed to the bottom of the canyon.  

Seven months after leaving Liverpool, England, the company reached Salt Lake City on Sunday, 30 Nov (a little before noon ).  They drove into East Temple Street as the congregation was leaving the old adobe tabernacle in the southwest corner of Temple block.  By the assistance thus rendered, Sarah Ann and her family arrived, in the Salt Lake Valley, after more than four months of marching and toil, pulling their handcart.  Crowds of Mormons met them and took them to their homes.  

Sarah Ann stayed with some friends in Salt Lake City for a short time until she was stronger, then went on to Payson.  She met Thomas CORBETT (or CORBITT) and was married and sealed to him on 23 Feb 1857, just three months after arriving in Salt Lake City.  He had other wives.    They were sealed (married) in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, by Brigham YOUNG, in the Upper Room Priest Office.  Her name was given as Sarah Ann BRATT. 

They were listed on the 1860 Utah Territorial in Nephi, Juab County.  The household included Thomas CORBETT, age 48, born in England; Cecelia, age 50, born in Scotland; Sarah A., age 34, born in England; James, age 15, born in England; James H., age 8, born in Utah Territory; Thomas, age 8, born in England; and Emma M., age 6, born in England. 

The sealing was canceled, 17 May 1861, meaning they had separated or divorced, or he had died, before that time.  She later met Samuel PHILLIPS who had lost his wife, Margaret ASHCROFT. 

Samuel PHILLIPS and his first wife, Margaret ASHCROFT, were among the 332 saints on board the vessel Ellen Maria, which had sailed from Liverpool, England on 17 January 1853.  The company was under the direction of Moses CLAWSON and was detained in port for several days due to contrary winds.  The voyage proved a rough and stormy one, especially during the first eight days after leaving port, and considerable sickness prevailed among the saints.  Among others, President CLAWSON was sick nearly the entire voyage.  Five deaths and five births occurred on board, and two marriages were solemnized.  On 6 March 1853, the Ellen Maria arrived in New Orleans, making the passage in 47 days.  From there, the emigrants continued their journey to St. Louis, Missouri, where they arrived on 18 March 1853.  They proceeded up the Mississippi River to Keokuk, Iowa, from which place the journey across the plains was commenced. 

Sarah Ann and Samuel were married, probably by early 1862, and lived in Nephi where their son, John William PHILLIPS, was born 29 Jan 1863.  They went through the grasshopper war together.  For a time they lived on roots and weeds, and went six weeks without tasting bread.  She saw the sea gulls gobbling up the grasshoppers which saved some of the crops and she delighted in telling the story.  They had a small farm and a comfortable little home in Nephi.  

James Brigham made his home with them until he was married, 25 Dec 1864.  Thomas, however, did not get along with his stepfather, so lived with Thomas G. CALISTER and family, and was sealed to them instead of his own mother.  There is no record of Emma's being sealed to her mother or of even James Brigham being sealed to his mother.  

On 1 May 1865, Samuel PHILLIPS had his city lots in Nephi surveyed.  They were described as Lots 3 and 4, Block 5, Plat A, Nephi, containing 2 and 1/10 acres of land. 

On Saturday, 8 June 1867, Sarah Ann PHILIPS received her temple endowments (temple ordinance) in Salt Lake City in the Endowment House.  Her parents were listed as James BRITT and Sarah HOOPSTONE.  HOOPSTONE was probably the English pronunciation of UPSTONE and was most likely written as it was heard.  On the same day, endowments were received by James Brigham PHILIPS and Sarah Jane PHILIPS, Sarah Ann's son and daughter-in-law, whose surname was given as PHILLIPS rather than WRIGHT. 

On 3 September 1868, Samuel PHILLIPS had his land surveyed.  It was described as Salt Creek North Meadow survey of Meadow Land lot 24, Block 1, containing 7 acres more or less.  It was probably the parcel he owned in section 12, township 13 south and of range 1 west, about two miles west of Nephi. 

They were listed on the 1870 Federal census in Nephi, Juab County.  Their household included Samuel PHILLIPS, age 60, born in England; Sarah A., age 46, born in England; John W., age 7, born in Utah; Emma WRIGHT, age 16, born in England; and Thomas WRIGHT, age 18, born in England.  They lived next door to James B. and Sarah J. WRIGHT. 

In 1870, Samuel and Sarah Ann PHILLIPS traveled to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City to perform temple ordinances for departed relatives.  They were baptized for Samuel's parents, sister, and aunt and uncle, as well as for Sarah Ann's mother, Sarah UPSTONE, and two aunts, Ann and Hannah UPSTONE.  The ordinances were performed 14 Sep 1870. 

Samuel PHILLIPS made out his Last Will and Testament on 19 August 1874, probably due to weakened physical condition.  He bequeathed to Sarah all his properties until her death or remarriage, and he stated that, after either event, they would belong to his son John William PHILLIPS.  He named George OSTLER and William OSTLER his executors.  Samuel PHILLIPS died 13 Sep 1874, at Nephi, Juab County, Utah.   His will was proved in court on 13 December 1875, and by that time William OSTLER had moved away.  Therefore, Sarah Ann petitioned for and was named executrix in his place.   However, Letters Testamentary were not issued by the Probate Court, and no effort was made to cause that to happen, so no action was taken to settle the estate until 14 years later, in 1889. 

On 15 Jun 1875, William and Harriett KNIGHT sold two parcels of land to Samuel PHILLIPS, or the estate of Samuel PHILLIPS.  One was described as about 3 5/8 acres located in the northeast quarter of section 8, township 13 south and of range 1 east, and was situated just at the southwest edge of Nephi.  Sarah sold it 13 Oct 1881, to James T. BELLISTON Jr.  The other piece included in the sale to the PHILLIPS estate was a second parcel of land in the same section containing about 8 and 1/4 acres.  It was subsequently sold to John C. OSTLER on 5 Jun 1882. 

On 6 Dec 1876, Sarah CARTER sold land to Sarah A. PHILLIPS, for $5.00.  It was described as two parcels of land containing in all about 4 2 acres, located in the southeast quarter of section 8, township 13 south and of range 1 east.  They were sold on 13 Oct 1881 and 8 Mar 1887, respectively, to James T. BELLISTON Jr. 

On 8 Mar 1878, Thomas J. SCHOFIELD sold land to Sarah Ann PHILLIPS.  It was described as about 2 acre located in the northeast quarter of section 12, in township 13 south and of range 1 west, situated about two miles west of Nephi.

On 15 May 1879, Thomas TRANTER sold land to Sarah Ann PHILLIPS, for $5.80.  It was described as about 2 and 9/10 acres in the northwest quarter of section 8 in township 13 south and of range 1 east, situated on the southwest edge of Nephi.  It was sold, along with 5 acres of water rights, 16 Jun 1887 to Joseph E. IRONS, for $200.00. 

Sarah A. PHILLIPS was listed on the 1880 Federal Census in Nephi, Juab County, with son John William, age 17. 

Sarah Ann PHILLIPS was rebaptized on 2 November 1880, by A. BURT, and reconfirmed by John TINGEY, on 4 November 1880. 

On 27 Mar 1882, Hezekiah CARTER sold land to Sarah Ann PHILLIPS, for $10.67.  It was described as about 3 acres in the southwest quarter of Section 8, Township 13 South of Range 1 East.  Sarah Ann sold it, along with another piece of land, which had been purchased from Sarah CARTER, on 9 Feb 1886, to William H. PETTEGREW, for $50.00. 

On 6 July 1882, Sarah Ann PHILLIPS and George OSTLER sold one of her city lots to John S. PAINTER and Heber B. OCKEY.  It was described as Lot 3, in Block 5, in Plat A, of the Nephi Survey of Building lots, containing about 9/10 of an acre.  This left her owning Lot 4. 

On 15 May 1883, Edward H. BIRD sold two parcels of land to John William PHILLIPS, for $100.00.  They were described as being in the southeast quarter of section 8, township 13 south and of range 1 east, containing about 5 2 acres.  Later, they were the subject of a District Court ruling dated 3 Dec 1898, which stated they belonged to Joseph W., George J., and Henry M. GOLDEN.  Apparently this land had been sold to them by John PHILLIPS sometime after 1883. 

John William PHILLIPS died 22 January 1889, in the same house where he was born and raised.  He had married Elizabeth Rachel READ and had a daughter named Sarah Jane (Jennie) PHILLIPS.  Even though John and Elizabeth had lived with Sarah Ann PHILLIPS since their marriage, after John's funeral Elizabeth did not feel welcome, so she and Jennie moved out. 

The case to settle the estate of Samuel PHILLIPS, deceased was filed on 28 June 1889.  The first court session was held on 5 July 1889, and the process lasted a total of about six years.  The court decided, in 1889, to remove Sarah Ann PHILLIPS as executrix and give sole responsibility for settling the estate to George G. OSTLER, one of the executors named in Samuel's Last Will and Testament.  It issued Letters Testamentary to him that gave the authority to act in capacity as executor.  Three people, Frederick W. CHAPPELL, Peter SUTTON, and Charles PRICE, were appointed on 14 Mar 1890, to identify and appraise the property making up the estate of Samuel PHILLIPS.  They stated it consisted of Lot 4, Block 5, Plat A, in the Nephi Survey, valued at $1,000.00; 7 and 125/160 acres of land in the west meadow in the Northwest quarter of Section 12, Township 12 South Range 1 West, valued at $75.00; and 1 3/4 acres of water claim of the waters of Salt Creek, valued at $50.00.  The total value was, therefore, $1,125.00. 

On 21 August 1894, George OSTLER applied to the Judge of the Probate Court, for an order assigning the estate of Samuel PHILLIPS for the use and support of his widow, Sarah Ann PHILLIPS.  The estate was described as Lot 4, Block 5, Plat "A" of the Nephi survey of building lots, appraised at $1,000.00; and 7 125/160 acres of land commencing 35 rods and 19 links north of the south east corner of the north west quarter of section 12 in Township 13 south of range 1 west of the Salt Lake Meridian thence running north 9 rods and 16 links thence west 129 rods and 23 links thence east of south 10 degrees 10 rods, thence east 128 rods and 3 links, appraised at $75.00.  Also 1 3/4 acres of water claim of the waters of Salt Creek appraised at $50.00.  The assignment was made 28 Sep 1894, and recorded 3 Nov 1894.   Samuel had left these two parcels of land to Sarah Ann, in his will.  George OSTLER also asked for an order to sell the parcel containing 7 and 125/160 acres of land.  All parties to the estate were notified and asked to respond by 25 Sep 1894.  No one opposed the action, so the court ordered the executor to sell the land in Section 12, Township 13 South and of Range 1 West, to the highest bidder. 

The dispute over the little house and a herd of sheep, which were owned by Sarah Ann and John together, pitted Elizabeth, widow of John William PHILLIPS, and her daughter, Sarah Jane, against Sarah Ann, James Brigham, Thomas Brett, and Emma Maria.  Elizabeth felt they claimed too much of the estate.  Finally, the courts ruled in the favor of Elizabeth and her daughter.  Jennie remembered there existed contention between Elizabeth and Sarah Ann.  She also remembered she was expected to sit part of the time at church with Sarah Ann.  Sarah Ann gave her pink musk candy or peppermint and some Sundays Jennie went home with her for dinner.  Sarah Ann lived just a block from the READ home where Elizabeth and Jennie had been welcomed by Elizabeth's parents, sister, and unmarried brothers.  Jennie remembered having been shown six very beautiful plates that had come from England, which she understood were to be hers some day.  However, she thought Emma eventually received them. 

On 8 Dec 1894, just four days before her death, Sarah Ann PHILLIPS conveyed her city lot to James B. WRIGHT (son), Thomas B. WRIGHT (son), Emma M. Wright CONNELL (daughter), and Sarah Jane PHILLIPS (grand daughter).  It was described as Lot 4, Block 5, Plat "A" of the Nephi survey of town site.  The lot was in township 13 South, Range 1 East of the Salt Lake Meridian.  Witnesses were Peter SUTTON and Frederick W. CHAPPELL. 

On 10 Dec 1894, George OSTLER, Executor of the Last Will and Testament of Samuel PHILLIPS, filed his return of the sale for part of the real estate belonging to Samuel, the parcel which was located about two miles west of Nephi.  This did not include the city lot.  He had been authorized, on 25 Sep 1894, by the Probate Court to do so.  He stated he sold the land on 8 Dec 1894, to John Henry BROUGH for $80.00, and described the land as

"Commencing 35 rods and 19 links North of the Southeast corner of the Northwest quarter of Section 12, in Township 13 South, Range 1 West, Salt Lake Meridian, in Juab County, Utah Territory, thence running North 9 rods and 16 links, thence West 129 rods and 23 links, thence East of South, ten degrees, 10 rods, thence East 128 rods and 3 links, Containing 7 125/160 acres of land.” 

Sarah Ann was a sturdy pioneer and would gladly have given her life for the gospel, and she faithfully overcame every obstacle that came her way.  After a short illness, she died 12 Dec 1894, a faithful Latter-day Saint to the end.  She was buried in the Nephi City Cemetery, on 14 Dec 1894.    Her obituary was published in the Deseret Evening News, dated 20 Dec 1894.  Her name was given as Sarah Ann Britt PHILLIPS. 

George G. OSTLER, executor of the estate of Samuel PHILLIPS, authorized the expenditure of $11.50 for the burial clothing of Sarah Ann PHILLIPS, paid to Mrs. E.R.M. UDALL; $55.50 for her casket to Grace Bros & Co; and $4.75 for digging her grave, to H.J. SUTTON, City Sexton. 

On 22 Dec 1894, the Probate Court confirmed the sale of 7 125/160 acres of land to John Henry BROUGH. 

George OSTLER petitioned the court, on 29 Dec 1894, for a final discharge of his duties as executor.  He filed a statement of the residual value of the estate on 17 Jan 1895, which included the city Lot valued at $600.00 and 101 head of sheep valued at $101.00.  Debts against the estate were totaled at $71.75.  The court decreed on 23 March 1895, that the estate was fully settled and closed.  No further information is found in the probate documents. 

Later, the District Court of the First Judicial District, on 21 May 1895, ruled that John William PHILLIPS' widow, Elizabeth, and his daughter, Sarah Jane, were entitled to the city lot in Nephi, that is, Lot 4, Block 5, Plat A.  This ruling went against James B. WRIGHT who was listed as the defendant.  Assumed to be part of the defendants, but not listed, were Thomas Brett and Emma Maria, since they were all included as recipients of the land in sale dated 8 Dec 1894.  Elizabeth and Sarah Jane owned it until 16 Dec 1907, when they sold it to S.J. LUNT, for $500.00.
Pages

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Sarah Ann Brett Wright Life History

Sarah Ann Brett

No comments:

Post a Comment
