Pioneer Stories - Emily & Julia Hill - Sisters in Zion

Emily and Julia Hill (Willie Company)

 Emily and Julia Hill, ages 20 and 23, were sisters who overcame great obstacles to join the Church and then gather to Zion. Emily tells how her preparation to hear the gospel began when she was young:

"When but a mere child I was much concerned about my eternal salvation and felt that I would make any sacrifice to obtain it. I asked all kinds of questions of my mother and sisters, seeking how to be saved, but could get no satisfaction from them nor from the religious body to which they belonged."

Similar to Joseph Smith, in her youth Emily searched the scriptures for answers to her questions, "waiting for something, I knew not what." Her wait ended at age 12 when a cousin came to visit. Emily welcomed the visit because she expected to have some fun, but her cousin was "too full of a 'new religion' to do anything but preach." The next Sunday her cousin invited the family to a meeting that was being held in a village five miles away. Emily's family all declined, her brothers because of the distance and her sisters because they felt too respectable to attend a meeting "of such a primitive sect." Laughing, Emily's sisters told her father, "Send Em, she will tell us all about it." Emily went, walking both ways. The meeting was held in a small house, and as the members bore their testimonies, Emily was touched by the Spirit and felt that she had found the truth. "It was indeed as though I had been brought 'out of darkness into marvelous light,'" she said.

Overjoyed at finding what she had so long desired, Emily could hardly wait to get home to tell her family and friends. As soon as she entered the house, she said, "I astounded them all by the emphatic declaration that I knew the Latter-Day Saints were the right people and I would join them as soon as I was big enough." This report displeased her parents, as they had been prejudiced against the Church. "I was never sent to 'take notes' of the Mormons again," Emily said, "but on the contrary was closely watched lest I should be led away."

Emily showed remarkable strength in staying true to her convictions even though her parents refused to consent to her baptism. Criticized by those who said she was too young to judge such matters, she studied the scriptures so she could defend her faith. Within her family, Emily felt alone in her beliefs for some time until a missionary came to her home and bore such a powerful testimony that her older sister, Julia, wanted to join the Church. From that time on, Emily said, "I had a friend in the family, and we were both determined that cost what it might we would be true to the light within us."

Emily and Julia were baptized in 1852, when Emily was 16 and Julia nearly 19. Soon after her baptism, Julia moved to Northampton, and a while later Emily went to visit her. Describing her time in Northampton, Emily wrote, "For the first time I enjoyed religious freedom, and there also I took my lessons of hard times, preparing me for greater hardships in store."

Both sisters earnestly desired to gather to Zion, and both worked until they had earned enough money to emigrate. Despite their parents' objections, in May 1856 they joined the Saints on the Thornton. Eight years after Emily Hill had first heard the gospel, she was finally going to Zion.

They sailed to America in 1856 aboard the Thornton and became members of the Willie Handcart Company in Iowa City, Iowa. These very pretty single girls were given inducements from residents to cut their journey short across the 300 miles of trail through Iowa. Weeks later in their journey, soldiers at Ft. Laramie also tried to persuade the young women to stay, but Emily and Julia persevered despite the shortened rations and coming winter storms.

Of the endless walking, Emily recalled:

"My sister broke down and was unable to walk, and I remember asking myself (footsore and weary with the first week of walking and working) if it was possible for me, faith or no faith, to walk twelve hundred miles further. The flesh certainly was weak but the spirit was willing."

The girls had volunteered to assist a young new widow, Martha Campkin, with her five small children. It was the only way Captain Willie would allow Martha to join the company. Martha and her little ones all arrived safely in the Valley of their hopes. When Julia’s health broke down on the trail, Emily and friends pulled her in the handcart. In a blizzard on October 23, 1856, Julia collapsed from hunger and exhaustion at the summit of Rocky Ridge. It was Emily who lifted her from the snow and got her going again. Both girls survived and raised large families.

Brother Halliday had given Emily a Priesthood blessing before she left England in which he prophesied "she should write in prose and in verse and thereby comfort the hearts of thousands." Emily’s life fulfilled this promise and she was hailed by Orson F. Whitney as the "possessor of a poetic as well as a practical mind . . . Her busy pen has brought forth many meritorious productions." Emily is best recognized today as the author of the words to "As Sisters in Zion." (hymn 309) Originally 10 stanzas long and titled, "Song of the Sisters of the Female Relief Society."  (On a personal note: I love that the original verbage of the song reads, "As sisters in Zion we'll all PULL together")

Having left a situation of wealth, education and privilege in England for the sake of their newly embraced faith, one verse from Emily’s original hymn reflects the lifelong efforts of both of the Hill sisters:

"The Lord hath established the cities of Zion, The poor of His people are trusting in Him, He makes us a source for His poor to rely on; Oh! Shall we not brighten the eyes that are dim."

Emily and Julia both survived the journey. Three months after arriving in Utah, each married a man who had helped with the rescue. At least 15 other women in the Willie and Martin companies also married rescuers.

Julia became a plural wife of Israel Ivins. In 1861 they were called by Brigham Young to move south to help settle Utah's Dixie. Their wagon was one of the first to set camp in St. George. Many trials attended this assignment, but Julia endured them well. Of her eight children, four died in infancy.

Emily married William G. Mills, but her marriage was not happy. After three years, William went on a mission to England, leaving Emily and one small child. After he had been away four years, during which time Emily struggled to provide for herself and her child, he sent word that he was not returning home. Stung by this rejection, Emily wrote, "No one can realize what such an ordeal is, unless they have passed through it. All that I had hitherto suffered seemed like child's play compared to being deserted by one in whom I had chosen to place the utmost confidence."

In addition to the rejection, Emily was nearly destitute in the Zion she had sacrificed so much to come to: "Hard times stared me in the face, and I was almost overwhelmed. . . . I could not see how I should ever be able to keep 'the wolf from the door.' To add to my trouble, the house I occupied (and to which I had been led to believe I had some claim), was sold over my head, and thus I had the prospect of being homeless, at a time when rents were going up double and treble. One night when I was so weary with overwork and anxiety, pondering what to do, these words impressed me as if audibly spoken: "Trust in God and Thyself." Immediately Emily arose and composed four stanzas of poetry on that theme. With renewed faith, she soon found a way open up to resolve these problems.

Emily remarried in 1864 as a plural wife of Joseph Woodmansee, with whom she had eight children. Emily and Joseph suffered many setbacks and misfortunes, but both remained steadfast in the faith. Emily's most heartfelt desire was for her children to develop that same faith:

"I fervently hope that each and all of them may seek and obtain for themselves a knowledge of the truth (called Mormonism), for I know it can make them wise unto salvation, and may they be willing if needs be to endure reproach and privation for principle's sake. I doubt not that all my troubles have been for my good, and today I am more than thankful for my standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

Given what Emily had been told about Zion before leaving England, and given what she sacrificed to gather there, it would have been reasonable for her to hope to find a kind of utopia where everyone was of one heart, where there were no poor, where everyone lived their beliefs. It is doubtful that she expected such realities as a brutal pilgrimage, fledgling settlements with scarce supplies, a husband who would desert her, and neighbors and landlords who were, at best, insensitive to her needs for the essentials of life.

Despite this disparity between hope and reality, Emily Hill remained true to the testimony she had first felt burn in her heart in a small home in England when she was 12 years old. Rather than become disillusioned, she seemed to understand that building Zion was a process. Far from a utopia where a person could just walk in and live happily ever after, Zion was a place where people were working out their salvation. They had flaws and imperfections, but the Lord was using them anyway in building his kingdom—as he always does.

Pioneer Stories - Jens Neilson

"We find one of the most touching stories of sacrifice, faith, and loving charity in the life of Jens Neilson, who was a member of the Willie Handcart Company. Jens, a relatively prosperous Danish farmer, heeded the call to bring his family to Zion. In Iowa he wrote that he had let all of his money go to the Church except enough to buy a handcart and stock it with 15 pounds of belongings per person. Jens wrote, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” The people for whom Jens was responsible were himself; his wife, Elsie; their six-year-old son, Neils; and a nine-year-old girl, Bodil Mortensen, whom Jens offered to take to Utah. In the early Wyoming blizzard, temperatures plummeted below zero. The Neilsons had consumed their last pound of flour days before, but somehow they made it over the treacherous Rocky Ridge, urged on by their indomitable courage and unconquerable faith. Tragically, 13 of the company died at Rock Creek and were buried in shallow, snow-covered graves—among them, Jens and Elsie’s son, Neils, and young Bodil Mortensen.

President Hinckley describes this portion of the trail as “a trail of tragedy, a trail of faith, a trail of devotion, a trail of consecration, even the consecration of life itself.” 

Jens arrived at Rock Creek, 11 miles beyond Rocky Ridge, with both feet frozen. He was unable to walk another step and pleaded with Elsie, “Leave me by the trail in the snow to die, and you go ahead and try to keep up with the company and save your life.” Elsie, with her unfaltering pioneer courage, replied, “Ride, I can’t leave you, I can pull the cart.”  Such was the strength and the faith of many pioneer women on the trail."

and lastly, a quick quote from Sister Bonnie D. Parkin

"We are all required to make journeys of faith. That is the gospel plan. Our path may not be crossing an ocean or walking alone from an empty train station. But whatever it is, it will demand faith in every footstep. Years from now your grandchildren will tell with amazement stories of your choices which changed their lives. You will be called their pioneers. Have you ever thought that as you step into the unknown you are showing others the way? "

Pioneer Stories - William Ashton

William and Sarah Ann Ashton were the parents of five daughters ages 1 through 11 and were expecting another child when they left England. William and Sarah Ann Barlow Ashton brought their four daughters, Betsy (11), Sarah Ellen (7), Mary (4) and Elizabeth Ann (2), from England in 1856 with the Martin Handcart Company, leaving behind the grave site of another little daughter, Esther, who had died in infancy. As the ship Horizon docked at Boston Harbor on July 2, Elizabeth Ann died and the bereaved family left behind another never to be visited grave.

The Ashton family bore their grief in the summer heat and crowded train as they traveled from Boston to Iowa City where they waited and worked for three weeks, preparing handcarts and tents to continue their journey. On the next leg of their journey through Iowa, the Ashtons successfully walked and drew their handcart 300 miles to Florence, Nebraska. Sarah Ann bore the extra burden of an advanced pregnancy.

For three days at Florence, the Martin Company regrouped, repaired their carts, and prepared for their 1,000-mile march through the wilderness of the Nebraska plains and Rocky Mountains to reach their Zion. On August 26, one day after leaving Florence, Sarah Ann died in childbirth. William named their precious baby girl Sarah Ann, then took up his march again, caring for his daughters as best he could through the searingly hot days and increasingly frosty nights. He would dig one more grave on September 11 for his new baby girl, less than three weeks old.

By October, as the Martin Company neared Fort Laramie, it became apparent the late departure, limited food supply, and lack of warm clothing would threaten the company.  On October 9th, some of the Martin Company people gathered their valuables – watches and the like, to trade for provisions at the fort. The commander, Major William Hoffman,sympathized with the immigrants and allowed them to purchase from the commissary storehouse. 

On this same day, October 9th, William enlisted in Company G of the 6th United States Infantry. He was surely influenced by the willingness of the army to aid the pioneers and saw in it an opportunity to help his own family to endure the remaining journey. But it was a decision that would probably trouble him for the rest of his life. Some analysis is required to fill in around the known facts. Often, when a regiment’s ranks were depleted by desertions and other causes, the army offered cash and other inducements to enlistees. The new men also became eligible to draw on the commissary and sutler’s stores against future pay. Three other men from the Martin Company enlisted with William, so this was probably the case then. Recruits were few in the wilderness. William was probably able to supplement his children’s diet and possibly also help with blankets by enlisting. Also, he would not be along to receive an adult ration, also leaving that to others of the company

There was a Barlow family with the company that seems almost surely to have been his deceased wife’s relatives. John Barlow, an 18 year old son of that family also joined the army the same day as William. The Barlow family and William’s family lived less than fifteen miles apart in England. Although no exact genealogical link has been found, it seems reasonable the Barlows took the girls to travel with them. Whatever the details, William must have been heartbroken and the little girls terrified at the parting. William had committed himself to five years of service in an unfamiliar situation and to repay some indebtedness to a government foreign to him. 

It was not uncommon in those times for a widowed father to turn the care of his young children over to others, in order to secure employment for their support. Having begun the journey with a dream of raising his family in Zion, William Ashton surely despondent over the loss of his wife and two daughters, left his other three daughters, enlisted in the army, and later returned to England. (We do not know the exact circumstances surrounding his return to England, other than the fact that he served his five year commitment to the military and was discharged with honor. It is likely that he had heard the news do the handcart tragedy and assumed that his daughters had perished.) 

 The oldest of these three girls, 11-year-old Betsy, died soon afterward on the frozen plains of Wyoming. Only 7-year-old Sarah Ellen and 5-year-old Mary lived to see the Salt Lake Valley. When they arrived, they wondered where they would find a home, but they were taken in and treated well.

In 1864, Sarah Ellen married Thomas Beckstead in the Endowment House, becoming his second wife. Thomas Beckstead had earlier settled in South Jordan as a farmer, and he and Sarah Ellen lived there for more than 20 years. They had 10 children, all born in South Jordan. Four of them died as babies.

After Sarah Ellen married Thomas Beckstead, her sister Mary lived with them until she married Isaac Wardle as his second wife in 1867. Isaac Wardle had been in the Martin company with Mary, but he was 21 at the time and she was 5. Two years after marrying Isaac Wardle, Mary died while giving birth to her only child. Of the six sisters, only Sarah Ellen remained.

In 1887, Thomas and Sarah Ellen Beckstead moved to Whitney, Idaho, soon to be the birthplace of President Ezra Taft Benson. There Thomas continued farming and Sarah Ellen continued to devote herself to her family and church, living in very humble circumstances.

Soon after the family moved to Whitney, Sarah Ellen experienced one of the happiest surprises of her life. One of her granddaughters tells the story as follows:

"A man by the name of Clark came to grandmother's door with a copy of the Millennial Star which contained an inquiry concerning anyone who might know of relatives of William Ashton, pauper, in England, who had emigrated to America previously and left his children on the plains. Grandmother recognized this man as her father who had left when she was seven. . . . Now she was the only one of the children living. She . . . got in touch with the authorities where her father lived, sending passage money for him. He arrived with some missionaries from England and spent the rest of his years with [his daughter Sarah Ellen]."

William Ashton would have been about 67 when he returned to America some 30 years after leaving midway through the handcart trek. The time he was reunited with Sarah Ellen lasted only two or three years because he died in October 1891, but the reunion with his only living child must have been joyous for both of them.

Less than two years after Sarah Ellen's father died, her husband died, leaving her a widow at age 44. She lived another 19 years, dying in Whitney in 1912 at age 63. At the time of her death, her posterity numbered 92 by one account. Although this family had suffered so much loss on the journey, and although William Ashton had left his three daughters on the trail, this story is rich in redemptive value. Despite all these setbacks and errors, a large posterity of faithful Latter-day Saints owes much to William Ashton for his decision to accept the gospel and start his family toward Zion.

I loved this story.  It is different from the "usual" stories, but at the same time it holds a similar rescue theme.  William, in my eyes was an amazingly brave father. He lost nearly everything in his sacrifice for the gospel, and yet, he stayed true to his beliefs. I cannot imagine his joy at finally being reunited with his daughter after 30 years. He also left an amazing legacy to his (surprisingly numerous) posterity. 

Pioneeer Stories - Bodil Mortensen

Today's trek thought is the story of Bodil Mortensen.  While her story is told in many places, my favorite version of it comes from the book, "Remember", which is a compiled history of the "Second Rescue" put together by the Riverton, Wyoming Stake.

When the stake held their special stake-wide meeting to introduce the members to the task of the second rescue, President Kitchen (counselor in the Riverton Stake Presidency) shared this in his address: "We have a special friend as a stake presidency.  She is a young girl about nine or ten years of age. She was born in Denmark and was traveling with Jens and Elsie Nielson to be with her sister in Salt Lake City. They were members of the Willie Handcart Company. After the rescue party reached them at the base of Rocky Ridge, the Nielson family, along with the many others, were in pretty bad shape. Brother Nielson's feet were completely frozen but it was necessary for them to continue on their journey. Elsie put her husband in the handcart and pulled him...This young girl was given the task of helping - not only with their younger son but also the younger children of the Mortensen family to make sure they reached their next campsite...on Rock Creek. They began their journey that 15 miles up Rocky Ridge. It was cold. It was snowing. The wind was blowing. The snow was deep and the footing was treacherous. Our young friend did her job well and was successful in seeing that all the children reached camp safely. She then went to get sagebrush for the fires...Weary from her work of the day, and cold from the freezing temperatures, she sat down by the handcart wheel with her arms full of sagebrush. Her frozen body was found the next morning. She was buried along with the twelve others who died that night on Rock Creek. She isn't listed on the register of those who died along the way. Brothers and sisters, we have the opportunity to participate in the second rescue, or the spiritual rescue of these good people." 

Later in the meeting, President McKinnon (another counselor in the Stake Presidency) told more of Bodil's story: "when we shared with the Salt Lake Temple Recorder that her work needed to be done, he told us that the Mortensen family that traveled with the Willie Handcart Company were his ancestors and that he personally had done the work for them. We researched further  and discovered that Bodil was a nine year old girl traveling with the Jens Nielson family to get to Salt Lake City where her older sister was. She was not a member of the Peter Mortensen family that Brother Wright had done the work for. She did not have any descendants to research her line. She is not even listed on the roster of the Willie Handcart Company. A forgotten little soul all alone in a foreign land...she had waited 135 years for all this to come together. 135 years to finally get to Salt Lake City, ...to finally receive the blessings of temple ordinances.

In the book, "Follow Me To Zion", a descendant of Bodil's brother, Hans, Dorothy Bottema, is quoted as saying this, "Many times in this earthly life we think of our mission coming to an end when death comes to claim our physical body. Our family’s experience with Bodil has proven that one’s mission, even the most valuable part, may continue long after one’s earthly passing. Bodil’s body lay in an unmarked grave for over 130 years, with her Mortensen family knowing little of her struggles, courage, and sacrifice. Then in 1991, the story of this 11-year-old girl touched the hearts of the Riverton Wyoming Stake presidency to ignite the Second Rescue, which caused thousands of temple ordinances to be performed for members of the Willie handcart company and their families. The fire of Bodil’s story continues to burn in the hearts of all who hear it. We as a family have felt of her strength and help. We view her as our rescuer, inspiring us during times of trial and turmoil and increasing our testimonies of the sacrifices that are required for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that her role as a rescuer has been extended to countless others who have had the opportunity to hear or read the account of her journey. Bodil’s mission to rescue others will continue as long as her story is told. We anxiously await meeting Bodil, her parents, and her brothers and sisters. This reunion will be one of gratitude, joy, and love.

Trek Thoughts - The Last Wagon

This first thought  comes from a BYU Devotional talk given by Vaugh J. Featherstone on August 11, 1981.  You can find the entire talk here, if you want to read it in it's entirety, but here is one of my favorite points:

"The Last Wagon

Around the time of the centennial, President J. Reuben Clark, who was in the First Presidency, gave one of the greatest pioneer talks ever delivered, I suppose, in the history of the Church. He entitled it "To Them of the Last Wagon." Let me give you a small quote from that. He said: But back in the last wagon, not always could they see the brethren way out in front and the blue heaven was often shut out from their sight by heavy, dense clouds of the dust of the earth. Yet day after day, they of the last wagon pressed forward, worn and tired, footsore, sometimes almost disheartened, born up by their faith that God loved them, that the Restored Gospel was true, and that the Lord led and directed the brethren out in front. Now here is a great principle. I believe that as we consider some of these other journeyings, we find that there is a faith, a purging, and a need to feel close to the Brethren and not compromise the standards. Only God knows the sufferings of every soul who crossed or attempted to cross the plains. Surely these magnificent and faithful souls have stories to tell that would melt the hardest heart. Women nursing newborn babies..., children walking until their poor little feet would blister and bleed, fathers and mothers working together in a state of exhaustion, but always, always pushing onward."

I love the thought about that last wagon, drowning in dust, unable to see the brethren out front, but still pressing on with faith.  The last wagon was usually the one with problems - a sick parent, or broken wheel along the trail - trials that could potentially discourage.  Yet they pressed onward, always walking.  It is a great lesson in continuing on in our everyday lives, even when things seem difficult and we have forgotten moments of clarity.  A lesson in not casting away your confidence in that which originally gave you your faith, simply because things have gotten difficult. 

Anyhow.  It's a simple message, but one that I think applies well to us today.