Pioneer Stories - Jens and Elsie Nielson

Jens and Elsie Nielson were very poor when they were first married, but soon they prospered. Jens wrote: "The Lord blessed me on my right hand and on my left, and I was very successful, and prospects in temporal concerns were very bright. I was looked upon as a respectable neighbor and many times [was] invited to the higher class of society."

In the fall of 1852, missionaries came to the Nielsons' neighborhood. Jens had heard only bad reports about the Church, but he decided to attend a meeting out of curiosity. "As soon as I saw these men's faces, I knew they were not the men as represented to be," he later wrote. "Before the meeting was out, I knew the testimony they bore was of God. We bought some few of their tracts and studied them for a few weeks and were perfectly satisfied the work was of God."

Jens and Elsie were baptized in March 1854. "From that time on all my former friends turned against me and spoke all kinds of evil against me," Jens recalled. He and Elsie now had higher priorities than advancing in society. "All my possessions had no power over me," Jens wrote. "My only desire was to sell out and come to Zion."

That year he found a buyer for his property, but before the sale was completed, a Church leader asked him to stay in Denmark for a time and serve a mission. Disappointed but obedient, Jens wrote: "He told me I had been warned and it was my duty to warn others. That counsel came right in contact with my natural feelings, but the Spirit whispered [to] me I must obey, for 'obedience is better than sacrifice.' Then I was ordained a priest and sent out to preach with another young man holding the same priesthood."

After Jens served a successful mission, he and his family prepared to emigrate. Jens sold his property and then took Elsie, their 6-year-old son, Niels, and 10-year-old Bodil Mortensen, the daughter of some friends to England, where they joined the Saints on the Thornton. As they approached the New York harbor a few weeks later, the Nielsons made a great sacrifice. Many people needed financial assistance for the journey from New York to Iowa City. Elder Johan Ahmanson, who served as a counselor to James Willie and presided over the Danish Saints on the ship, appealed to those who had money to help those who did not. Jens and Elsie Nielson contributed part of their savings to assist those in need. Jens and Elsie Nielson sacrificed their savings to help others. This sacrifice left them without enough money to buy a wagon, so they were traveling by handcart. Traveling by handcart instead of wagon exposed all of them to the worst extremities.

Summarizing the Willie company’s experiences during the next two months, Jens wrote: “At [Florence] we laid in our supplies for a 1000 mile trip to Salt Lake City. ... About [265] miles from [Florence] we lost [30] young oxen. [We] hunted [two] days for them but did not find them, so we had to yoke our steers and heifers which were brought along for beef. These were used to haul food, tents, and other things we could not get on the handcarts. Then we had to put 100 pounds of flour on each handcart, and it made our journey very slow. ... We had the first snow storm about [300] miles from Salt Lake City. From that time the people began to die very fast. We traveled ... farther—pulled the handcarts through the snow sometimes two feet deep.  Then the captain told us there was not a pound of flour in camp. The captain said he would saddle his mule and ride night and day till he found a team with flour, for we understood there were teams on the road to meet us with flour. Next night the flour came to camp and there was great rejoicing. We could get very little because [most of the rescue wagons] had to pass on to another handcart company three weeks behind us.”
                       

As many of the rescue wagons continued east to search for the Martin, Hodgetts, and Hunt companies, the Willie company kept moving west with the six rescue wagons that stayed with them. They had to keep moving—and hoping that they would soon meet more rescuers.

October 23 was a day of heartbreak for Jens and Elsie. A blizzard and the long trek over Rocky Ridge challenged them every step of the way. Tragically, both young Niels Nielson and Bodil Mortensen died that day. Jens wrote of the excruciating circumstances at their camp in Rock Creek Hollow, where Niels and Bodil were buried: “We had to dig a hole and bury [13] bodies of our number, and my only son was among them, and a girl who I had along for Brother Mortensen.
                        I told you there were five men to the tent, but now the four were dead and I was the only man left, so I had to ask some of the largest and strongest women to help me to raise the tent, and it looked like we should all die”

Jens was also becoming weaker, and it seems that he was prepared to die. Elsie was reportedly less than five feet tall, but she had a spiritual stature and courage that matched Jens’s frame of over six feet. One of their descendants, Jay P. Nielson, told of Elsie’s courageous strength when Jens could no longer walk: “The end appeared to be near and certain for Jens. His feet became so frozen he could not walk another step, which caused his right foot to be at right angles the rest of his life. At this point Jens said to 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.” If you believe men have a monopoly on strength and courage, then pay heed to Elsie’s immortal words when she said, “Ride. I can’t leave you. I can pull the cart.”

It is not known how long Elsie pulled Jens in the handcart. One family history suggests that it was at least a day. Jens did not record the incident in his history. Instead, he recalled a covenant he made with God at that time. It was a covenant that Jens and Elsie were united in keeping for the rest of their lives:  “I remember my prayers as distinctly today as I did then. If [the Lord] would let me live to come to Salt Lake City, ... all my days should be spent in usefulness under the direction of his Holy Priesthood. How far I have come short of this promise I do not know, but I have been called to make six new homes, and as far as this goes, I have fulfilled my promise.  Speaking of the hardships of the handcart company—no person can describe [it], nor could it be comprehended nor understood by any human living in this life, but only [by] those who were called to pass through it.

Having already endured the tragic handcart trek, Jens and Elsie Nielson would soon be given many additional difficult assignments. The "six homes" mentioned by Jens are a reference to their colonizing efforts in southern Utah, including Parowan, Paragonah, Circleville, Panguitch, and Cedar City. In 1879 the Nielsons moved again to build a sixth—and most difficult—home. They were called to help settle the San Juan area of southeastern Utah, the roughest, least charted portion of the territory. Jens was 59 years old at the time, an age when most people would think they were past their prime for such assignments, but he remembered his covenant and answered the call.

Jens Nielson became part of 250 people who composed the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition. Pioneers who had earlier participated in the trek west said the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition was even harder. The difficulty was compounded for Jens Nielson, who had been partially crippled by the handcart trek so that he limped with one foot at a right angle to the other.

Jens and Elsie Nielson clearly lived out their lives in fulfillment of the promise Jens had made to the Lord on Rocky Ridge.

The Nielson’s story reminded me of a talk Elder Holland gave at a regional Stake Conference in 2010. He talked about the Hole-in-the-rock expedition and some other pioneer stories, and I love this quote from his talk: (because I think it is so true of all these pioneer stories)

“The fundamental driving force in these stories is faith—rock-ribbed, furnace-refined, event-filled, spiritually girded faith that this is the very Church and kingdom of God and that when you are called, you go… And so I issue a call for the conviction we all must have burning in our hearts that this is the work of God and that it requires the best we can give to the effort. My appeal is that you nurture your own physical and spiritual strength so that you have a deep reservoir of faith to call upon when tasks or challenges or demands of one kind or another come. Pray a little more, study a little more, shut out the noise and shut down the clamor, enjoy nature, call down personal revelation, search your soul, and search the heavens for the testimony that led our pioneer parents. Then, when you need to reach down inside a little deeper and a little farther to face life and do your work, you will be sure there is something down there to call upon…”

Amazing advice from a great leader – we all will face challenges, and while they may not be as apparently challenging as those our pioneer ancestors faced, they are often equally challenging to us spiritually and mentally. I know in my own life when challenges arise (as they so often seem to do) the ability to draw on my faith has rescued me many times.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Ann Rowley

Ann Rowley was a widow who was emigrating with her seven children and one stepdaughter from her husband's first marriage. Sixteen years earlier, Ann and her husband, William, belonged to the United Brethren, a religious group that had broken off from the Wesleyans. After hearing Wilford Woodruff preach a "new gospel message," the Rowleys and all but one of the 600 members of the congregation were baptized. "We had only to hear him once and William and I knew with all our hearts that he was offering us a priceless treasure," Ann wrote. Further showing the power of the gospel message, Ann said the Church of England sent a constable to one of the meetings to arrest Elder Woodruff. Instead, the officer was converted. The Church of England then sent two spies to attend the meetings and report back. "They too were converted," Ann wrote, "so the church dared not send anyone else."

The Rowleys wanted to emigrate, but William died in 1849, and the family struggled to save enough money. "I knew that our parting was only temporary and that viewed from the eternities, this was but a fleeting moment," Ann wrote. "I also knew that no matter how fleeting a moment it was, I had to make the best of it. I had a very real job to do. The children had to be fed and clothed, but the big task and the one I must accomplish, is to get us all to Zion. I must be among the people of my faith and I must get the Temple work done for us."

So urgent was Ann Rowley's desire to gather to Zion that after her husband died, all of her children who could earn money were put to work. Louisa and Elizabeth, ages 11 and 10 at the time, worked late into the night making gloves and doing needlework. John and Samuel, ages 8 and 6, worked in a brickyard tramping mud to be used for bricks. Finally, seven years after William Rowley's death, and with assistance from the Perpetual Emigration Fund, the family was ready to emigrate.

In 1856 Ann boarded the ship Thornton with her seven children and her stepdaughter Eliza Rowley. Ann said she would have liked to take many keepsakes on her journey, but there was no room or ability to pay the freight. However, one precious item made it all the way across the ocean and to Iowa City. Ann recalled:

"There was one thing I didn’t consider a luxury and that was my feather-bed. I had hung on to that beloved item from the time of the auction in England, and now clearly there was no room for it. It wouldn’t be bad to walk 1300 miles if one had a feather-bed to sleep on at night, but no matter how I folded it, it was too bulky. ... It was a little too late to turn my back on Zion, so I ripped it open and emptied the feathers on the ground and used the tick to cover the supplies in the handcart."

With determination and trust in God, the Rowley family pulled their handcart out of the Iowa City campground with their faces toward Zion. They did not look back. Each day brought new experiences. Once, Thomas and Jane fell behind as they played along the way. They were not missed until the company made camp that night. Ann was frantic with worry until a search party found the children. She said: “I blamed myself endlessly. The only consolation I had was that the Savior’s mother had experienced the same thing when Jesus was 12 years of age. From that time on, Thomas and Jane willingly stayed by my side.”

By mid-October the Willie company’s food supply was running dangerously low, and flour rations were reduced twice. Ann again thought of Jesus and determined to trust God:

"It hurt me to see my children go hungry. I watched as they cut the loose rawhide from the cart wheels, roasted off the hair, and chewed the hide. There came a time when there seemed to be no food at all. ... Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God’s help as I always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage. They were not large and were so hard they couldn’t be broken. Surely that was not enough to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5,000 people either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So, with God’s help, nothing is impossible.

I found the biscuits and put them in a dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God’s blessing. Then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient food."

At the same time the company ran out of food, Eliza Rowley had become too weak to continue. She had never been very strong, and her stepfamily’s loving care was not enough to save her. She died on October 19, soon after her 33rd birthday, near the fifth crossing of the Sweetwater. Ann said, “Her long journey was at an end, but ours had a long way yet to go.” Later that day the Willie company encountered their first snowstorm. They also met the first team of four rescuers, who brought the encouraging news that wagons carrying food and clothing were not far behind. Ann confessed, "I was grateful for my faith in God, for it was only through this faith that I was able to carry on at all. I confess, it seemed at times, the Lord had deserted us. . . . However, the Lord had not deserted us, and I was ashamed for thinking for a moment he had."

The first rescue wagons arrived two days later, but only six of them stayed to help the Willie company. The rest continued east to find the Martin company. On October 23 the Rowley family had a monumental struggle as they crossed Rocky Ridge in a snowstorm. Ann said she felt her heart would break when she saw her son John, exhausted and starving, lie down beside the trail to die. By the time he was picked up and put in a sick wagon, his body was frozen in two places. Thomas rose to the occasion and pushed on the back of the handcart to the best of his ability as a 10-year-old. His right hand became frozen, and when it was finally thawed by the campfire that night, it swelled until Samuel told him it looked like a toad. Fifteen people were buried before the Willie company left that camp at Rock Creek Hollow on October 25.

When they reached Fort Bridger on November 2, they were met by a large contingent of rescuers, and all the sick were at last able to ride. Most of the handcarts were left behind, but some were tied to the backs of the wagons and brought along. After the Rowleys unloaded their handcart, Ann recorded:

"Samuel felt he could pull our handcart by himself and perhaps it would be useful when we got to the valley. He tried, but the trail was so rough and mud balled up on the wheels. I was very weary of the thing and was glad to see the family push it to one side and leave it. I think none of us cared to see it again."

On November 9, the Rowley family arrived in Salt Lake City. Ann had accomplished her “big task” of getting her family to Zion.

Once again I am amazed at the courage these faithful saints exhibited in the face of extreme hardships. I love Ann's story, perhaps because I relate a little too well to her attachment to her "worldly comfort" of her feather bed. (I bring my own feather bed to girls camp and yes, I recognize the irony in that!) I'm sure I would have been that pioneer trying very hard to fold and re-fold and cram that feather bed into my handcart, and I'm not sure I would have been as quick to give it up. (I would have engineered SOME way to make it fit!) Ann not only gave up her feather bed, but she traded much of her comforts and security for her faith. She remained stalwart and blessed her children in countless ways through her example. I'm sure her husband was cheering her on from beyond the veil, waiting for his little family to make it to Zion and for his temple work to be done. I love that Ann spoke of the families temple work as one of her primary reasons for wanting to go to Zion. I love that she understood the importance of "rescuing" her family in that manner!

 **Story From the books "The Price We Paid" and "Follow Me To Zion"

Pioneer Stories - Ole Madsen

The Madsen family lived in Tornved, Sjælland, Denmark, where Ole was a farmer. They joined the Church in 1853. Church meetings were often held in their home, and in 1854 the Vig Branch was organized there.

Family members were persecuted after their baptism. Christena recalled: "The missionaries held meetings in our home while a mob raged outside throwing eggs at the windows, and we children were not allowed to go to school because we were Mormons, so we did not get the education we should."

 

For three years, Ole Madsen served the Church in his Aaronic Priesthood offices. He was ordained an elder in March 1856, just before the family left for Copenhagen, where they joined with other Saints who were journeying to Zion.

Ole Madsen paid in full the passage for his family. He also paid most of the passage for 60-year-old Kirsten Knudsen and a smaller amount for an unknown person.  On April 23 the Madsens boarded the steamship Rhoda with 156 other emigrating Saints from the Scandinavian Mission. 

After a long voyage to Liverpool, and then on board the Thornton to America the company arrived at the campground in Iowa City, where Ole helped build handcarts and Ane helped sew tents. The Danish Saints had five tents, with 19 or 20 people in each one. The Madsen family was assigned to share a tent with the Jens Nielson, Peter Larsen, and Rasmus P. Hansen families from Denmark and 60-year-old Lars Wandelin, a watchmaker from Sweden. Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen now had two girls her age to play with on the trip: Bodil Mortensen (with the Nielson family) and Sophie Larsen. Five-year-old Anders Madsen had Niels Nielson with whom to share adventures.

By October 23 the Madsen family had arrived in Wyoming. For more than two weeks, they had endured a shortage of food, and for five days they had endured winter storms. A handful of rescuers had arrived two days earlier. Ole Madsen’s wife and children needed his strength more than ever, and Ole did not let them down. Through the blizzard and across Rocky Ridge, Ole helped and protected his family. He carried them across the streams so they would not be wet. Hannah recalled seeing “their exhausted and sick father pushing a handcart with his young son Anders strapped on top.”

The Willie company journal tersely recorded, “Crossed several creeks on the road. Several men were near frozen through the day.” By the time the Madsen family reached the camp at Rock Creek Hollow, Ole’s boots were frozen to his legs. Hannah described how her father lay down, wrapped himself in a blanket, and died during the night. The next morning, she said, “with the help of some of their friends, a shallow grave was scraped out in a wash to the side of the road.” Ole Madsen was buried in a common grave with 12 others who had died after crossing Rocky Ridge.

Christena recalled the events of that tragic night: "Mother suffered a great deal, [and Father] pulled his handcart all day without having anything to eat. ... He pulled the cart all day, without food, cold and hungry. ... [He] went to bed and the next morning [he] was dead. ... That same night several others died, one [a] small girl 10 years old... They who died that night were [buried] with their boots or shoes on and covered. That night the wolves howled all night."

Ten-year-old Ane Marie Madsen lost her father and her friend Bodil that day. She recalled that the women and men were crying, but the children did not cry “because they received a larger portion of food that morning, as parents could not eat all of it. ... It consisted of a small scone about the size of the palm of your hand.”

Christena remembered her mother’s gnawing hunger: “[The rescuers] baked flap jacks, as they called them. Sometimes they would burn them [and] throw them away. Mother would pick them up, take them into the bushes, and eat them, she was so hungry.”

With the help of the rescuers, Ane Madsen and her daughters and young son continued their journey another nine days before they met enough rescue wagons at Fort Bridger that they could ride the final 113 miles to Salt Lake City. Christena Madsen’s daughter recorded: "They pulled and pushed the handcart, until their hands were so cold and fingers so crooked they never again came back into shape. ... They arrived in Salt Lake City ... homeless, penniless, [able] to speak only in Danish, but they acknowledged the hand of God in their deliverance. They had left all that was near and dear to them to come to Zion to live the gospel of Jesus Christ [and] be in fellowship with Christ the Lord."

I love Ole Madsen's example of sacrifice.  I love that he carried his wife and children across the river to spare them from the cold, but ended up dying himself.  It is the ultimate story of rescue in the sense that he gave his life for those he loved.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - The McBride Family

Janetta Ann McBride

The McBride Family

Robert and Margaret McBride had joined the church in 1837, among some of the first converts in England. The McBrides moved to Scotland in 1844 and then moved back to the Preston area seven years later.  Wherever the family lived, they welcomed the missionaries. Missionaries had been encouraging the McBrides to emigrate since 1840. When the opportunity finally came in 1856, Robert and Margaret had five children, ages 3 through 16. 

During the long pull across Nebraska and into Wyoming, both Robert and Margaret McBride became so weak that they had to rely heavily on their two oldest children, Jenetta (16) and Heber (13). The three younger children also looked to their older brother and sister for help. Heber felt overwhelmed as he and Jenetta were suddenly thrust into the role of the family's caretakers:

"Mother being sick and nothing for her comfort, she failed very fast. She would start out in the morning and walk as far as she could. Then she would give out and lie down and wait until we came along. . . . Father [also] began to fail very rapidly and got so reduced that he could not pull any more at the handcart. . . . No tongue or pen could tell what my sister and I passed through, our parents both sick and us so young. . . .Sometimes we would find Mother lying by the side of the road first. Then we would get her on the cart and haul her along until we would find Father lying as if he was dead. Then Mother would be rested a little and she would try and walk and Father would get on and ride."  The weight of this responsibility often brought Heber and Jenetta to tears."We used to cry and feel so bad,"Heber recalled. "We did not know what to do. We would never get into camp until way after dark, and then we would have to hunt something to make a fire."

The Martin and Hodgetts companies faced the last crossing of the Platte on October 19th. What would have been difficult in good weather became deadly as the first winter storm arrived partway through the day.

Josiah Rogerson later wrote, "The crossing of the North Platte was fraught with more fatalities than any other incident of the entire journey." Fourteen people died that night and the next day.

Some of the people who died had used the last of their strength carrying others across the river. Many in the company were too old, too weak, or too small to cross on their own. Some of them were taken across in wagons, but most had to be carried. Although Robert McBride was one of the people needing help, his son Peter recalled that he "worked all day pulling, pushing, wading through the icy river, and he made about twenty-five trips across the river helping to get all the carts across." Robert collapsed soon afterward.

His son Heber wrote the following account: "There were about 6 inches of snow on the ground, and then what we had to suffer can never be told. Father was very bad [the] morning [after the last crossing] and could hardly sit up in the tent, but we had to travel that day through the snow. I managed to get Father into one of the wagons that morning, and that was the last we saw of him alive. We only made one drive, as it began snowing very hard. When we camped, the snow was getting very deep. My sister and I had to pitch our tent and get some wood. . . .

"After we had made Mother as comfortable as we could, we went to try and find Father. The wind was blowing the snow so bad that we could not see anything, and the wagons had not [yet come] into camp. It was then after dark, so we did not find him that night.

"The next morning the snow was about 18 inches deep and awfully cold. While my sister was preparing our little bite of breakfast, I went to look for Father. At last I found him under a wagon with snow all over him. He was stiff and dead. I felt as though my heart would burst. I sat down beside him on the snow and took hold of one of his hands and cried, 'Oh, Father, Father!' There we were, away out on the plains, with hardly anything to eat, Father dead, and Mother sick and a widow with five small children, and not hardly able to live from one day to another."

After finding his father's body, Heber, the 13-year-old boy who was suddenly the man of the family, had to break the news to his mother and siblings:

"After I had my cry out, I went back to the tent and told Mother. To try to write the feelings of Mother and the other children is out of the question. Now, we were not [the only] family that was called upon to mourn the loss of a Father this morning, for there were 13 men dead in camp."

Because Margaret McBride continued to suffer poor health after her husband died, her children Jenetta and Heber continued to be the family's main caretakers. The sacrifices of 16-year-old Jenetta were burned into the memory of her 6-year-old brother, Peter, who later wrote:

"My mother was sick all the way over, and my sister Jenetta had the worry of us children. She carried water from the river to do the cooking. Her shoes gave out, and she walked through the snow barefoot, actually leaving bloody tracks in the snow."

When Peter McBride died in 1934, he was 84 years old—the last survivor of Robert and Margaret McBride's children. The two oldest children, Jenetta and Heber, who had tried so lovingly to keep their three younger siblings from freezing on the handcart trek, died within a few months of each other in 1924 and 1925. The three youngest children, Ether, Peter, and Maggie, died within a year of each other in 1933 and 1934. All of the children lived into their 80s. They continued in the heritage of faith established by their parents, following the call of Church leaders to leave comfort and convenience to help build Zion in its ever-expanding reaches, scattering themselves over 1,500 miles from Canada to Arizona.

Heber, two years before his death, wrote the following testimony in a letter to a granddaughter:

"I know the gospel is true. It is worth all the suffering we went through for it. Be faithful, dear granddaughter, and the Lord will guide you and bless you throughout your life."

Jenetta died in 1924 at age 86, and despite having lived a life of adversity, Jenetta testified that the blessings she received more than compensated for all her sorrows:

"I do not regret any moment of following the call of the prophet. Despite all the hard times, we made it to Zion. We had the gospel, and we were with the Saints. Jacob and I were married for eternity. It was what we had left England for, to obtain the blessings of the gospel. No matter what it cost, it was worth it. All my life I bore testimony of my thankfulness that I made that journey, no matter how hard it was."

Pioneer Stories - Levi Savage

Levi Savage was born in Ohio in 1820 and grew up in Ohio and southern Michigan.  His father and some other family members were baptized in 1843 by missionaries who went to Michigan from Nauvoo. Levi affiliated with the Church but was not baptized until 1846, just before enlisting in the Mormon Battalion.

After completing his battalion service in 1847, Levi Savage started for the Salt Lake Valley to find his family. Arriving in October, he found his father and some other family members there, but his mother had died near Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

Levi Savage married Jane Mathers in 1848, and they had a son, Levi Mathers Savage, in January 1851. Eleven months later, Jane died. Ten months after that—when his son was not yet two years old—Levi was called on a mission to Siam (Thailand). He left his son with his sister, departed from Salt Lake City in October 1852, and sailed from San Francisco to Calcutta and then to Burma (Myanmar). Twice obstructed in his efforts to get to Siam, he served in Burma for nearly two years. He tried to teach the gospel to the native people but struggled to learn Burmese, had no Church materials in the language, and found the people uninterested. In May 1855 he wrote to President Richards: "I have been . . . labouring under the most adverse and trying circumstances, with no other view but the advance of our Redeemer's cause, but with very little success." Surely his thoughts and heart were turned to his 4-year-old son in Utah, who had been without a parent for two and a half years. 

Levi Savage was returning from his mission at the time he was made a subcaptain in the Willie company. He had sailed from Burma to Boston and then traveled to Iowa City, arriving just four days before the Willie company would depart. That day he wrote in his journal: "I reported myself to Brother Daniel Spencer, the agent for forwarding the saints. He requires my assistance, and I commenced." The next day he was appointed captain over the second hundred of the Willie company. He was one of the few who kept a daily journal of the trek. His story would become one of the most compelling of any in the company.

On August 12 members of the Willie company arrived in Florence Nebraska. On the evening of August 13, a meeting was held. Far from an ordinary camp meeting, this one had high drama with life-or-death stakes. James Willie and two of his subcaptains, Millen Atwood and Levi Savage, bore their testimonies and gave their opinions on the upcoming journey. James Willie continued to urge everyone forward, but Levi Savage spoke strongly against proceeding so late in the season. Although he was a man of faith, Levi Savage also felt that reason and experience should factor into the decision. Knowing the risks of starting so late in the season, he advised the group to stay in Florence through the winter and resume the journey in the spring. His own account of the meeting, written contemporaneously, not in hindsight, reads: "August 13, 1856, Wednesday, Florence, Nebraska Territory. Today we continued preparations for starting. Evening we held [a] meeting in camp. Brother Willie exhorted the Saints to go forward regardless of suffering even to death. After he had spoken, he gave me the opportunity of speaking. I said to him that if I spoke, I must speak my mind, let it cut where it would. He said certainly to do so.  I then related to the Saints the hardships that we should have to endure. I said that we were liable to have to wade in snow up to our knees and shovel at night, lay ourselves in a thin blanket and lie on the frozen ground without a bed. [I said it] was not like having a wagon that we could go into and wrap ourselves in as much as we liked and lie down. No, said I, we are without wagons, destitute of clothing, and could not carry it if we had it. We must go as we are. The handcart system I do not condemn. I think it preferable to unbroken oxen and inexperienced teamsters. The lateness of the season was my only objection to leaving this point for the mountains at this time. I spoke warmly upon the subject, but spoke truth."
    
John Chislett recalled that in speaking these words, "Levi Savage used his common sense and his knowledge of the country. He declared positively that to his certain knowledge we could not cross the mountains with a mixed company of aged people, women, and little children so late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death. He therefore advised going into winter quarters without delay."
    
Recalling Levi Savage's words and demeanor, George Cunningham wrote: "He counseled the old, weak, and sickly to stop until another spring. The tears commenced to flow down his cheeks, and he prophesied that if such undertook the journey at that late season of the year,…their bones would strew the way."
    
Through his tears, Levi Savage looked into the faces of the people and saw fear and confusion. They had put their destinies in the hands of their leaders, and these men were giving conflicting counsel on matters of life and death. Sensing that Levi Savage's words might have planted doubts, James Willie retook the offensive. Levi Savage recalled: "Elder Willie then spoke again in reply to what I had said, evidently dissatisfied, and said that the God he served was a God that was able to save to the uttermost, …and he wanted no Job's comforters with him." 
    
With these words, James Willie questioned not only Levi Savage's loyalty but also his faith. Nevertheless, when Levi Savage spoke again, he did not retreat: "I then said that what I had said was truth, and if Elder Willie does not want me to act in the place where I am, he is at full liberty to place another man in my stead, and I would not think hard of him for it, but I did not care what he said about Job's comforters. I had spoken nothing but the truth, and he and others knew it."
    
The words of Levi Savage caused some to worry and even some to stay in Florence, but the majority of the company decided to proceed. The reasons were numerous. One was that most members of the company were anxious to get to Zion and be settled there, in many cases with family and friends who were awaiting them. Another reason was that resources were lacking to sustain a large company at Winter Quarters or the other Nebraska sites. Securing adequate employment, shelter, food, and fuel for the winter would have been difficult or perhaps impossible.
    
Another factor in the desire to continue was that most of the emigrants did not know how harsh the climate and territory ahead of them could be. Despite the warnings of Levi Savage, in the heat of a Midwestern summer it would have been hard for them to anticipate the extremities they could face on the high plains of Wyoming. 

Some people wanted to proceed simply because they didn't feel they had much choice. Emma James recalled that this was true for her parents: "I can remember that when [Brother Savage] finished, there was a long time of silence. I was frightened. Father looked pale and sick. I turned to Mother to see what she was thinking, and all I saw was her old determined look. She was ready to go on tomorrow. There were many others like her. We really didn't have much choice. There was no work here for us to keep ourselves through the winter, and our family had to live. 'We must put our trust in the Lord, as we have always done,' said mother, and that was that." 
    
How did Levi Savage react to the decision to continue? How did he react to being "rebuked by the other elders for want of faith"? He must have felt that his position as subcaptain was compromised. In his mind he must have questioned why other leaders dismissed life-threatening realities they knew to be true.  The natural reactions to such a situation include rebellion, withdrawal, bitterness, backbiting, perhaps even forming a personal following. Instead, Levi Savage issued this peerless statement of loyalty and love: "Brethren and sisters, what I have said I know to be true; but seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you, will help you all I can, will work with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and, if necessary, I will die with
 you. May God in his mercy bless and preserve us." 
    
Levi Savage proved to be one of the great heroes of the trek. Back in Florence, he had been remarkably accurate about the difficulties he foresaw for the Willie company. Although he disagreed with the decision to move forward, he not only supported it but pledged his life to minimizing negative consequences that might come from it. He worked tirelessly to keep that promise. Throughout the trek, he accepted the assignments given him, many of them undesirable. He also continued to be one of the most loyal and effective subcaptains, making personal sacrifices to help those most in need. John Chislett recalled that "no man worked harder than he to alleviate the suffering which he had foreseen." Another subcaptain, William Woodward, later wrote, "Levi Savage, who was censured for his truthful statement at Florence, was I think the best help we had—resolute and determined. His whole soul was for the salvation of our company." Some survivors owed their lives to him. 
    
Levi Savage was a hero not only for what he did but for what he did not do. Having leaders disregard his counsel that was later vindicated must have been difficult. But having them reprimand him and question his faith for giving this counsel must have been deeply humiliating. Despite all this, he never seems to have murmured or become bitter. He never seems to have volleyed I-told-you-so's back at his leaders. He never seems to have stopped supporting them even though their decision put him in a position of great personal risk and discomfort. 

I love the story of Levi Savage for many reasons.  He is an amazing example of obedience, faith and humility.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Ephriam Hanks (Rescuer)

I realize this story is fairly familiar (especially if you have watched the movie, "Ephraim's Rescue") but it is such a great one it deserves to be repeated.

President James E. Faust shared Ephraim's story as part of a talk he gave in the April 1999 General Conference entitled, "Obedience, The Path to Freedom". He said this: 

"Ephraim Hanks is a remarkable example of a young man’s obedience to spiritual promptings. In fall of 1856, after he had gone to bed, he heard a voice say to him, “The handcart people are in trouble and you are wanted; will you go and help them?” Without any hesitation he answered, “Yes, I will go if I am called.”

He rode quickly from Draper to Salt Lake City. As he arrived he heard the call for volunteers to help the last handcart companies come into the valley. Eph jumped up and said, “I am ready now!” He was as good as his word, leaving at once and alone.

A terrific storm broke as he took his wagon eastward over the mountains. It lasted three days, and the snow was so deep that it was impossible to move the wagons through it. So Eph decided he would go on horseback. He took two horses, one to ride and one to pack, and picked his way carefully through the snow to the mountains. Dusk came as he made his lonely camp at South Pass. As he was about to lie down he thought about the hungry Saints and instinctively asked the Lord to send him a buffalo. As he opened his eyes at the end of his prayer, he was startled at the sight of a buffalo standing barely 50 yards away. He took aim, and one shot sent the animal rolling down into the hollow where he was encamped.

Early next morning, he took the two horses and the buffalo meat and reached Ice Springs Bench. There he shot another buffalo, even though it was rare to find buffalo in this area this late in the season. After he had cut the meat into long strips, he loaded up his horses and resumed his journey. And now I quote from Eph’s own narrative:

“I think the sun was about an hour high in the west when I spied something in the distance that looked like a black streak in the snow. As I got near to it, I perceived it moved; then I was satisfied that this was the long looked for handcart company, led by Captain Edward Martin. … When they saw me coming, they hailed me with joy inexpressible, and when they further beheld the supply of fresh meat I brought into camp, their gratitude knew no bounds. Flocking around me, one would say, ‘Oh, please, give me a small piece of meat;’ another would exclaim, ‘My poor children are starving, do give me a little;’ and children with tears in their eyes would call out, ‘Give me some, give me some.’ … Five minutes later both my horses had been released of their extra burden--the meat was all gone, and the next few hours found the people in camp busily engaged in cooking and eating it, with thankful hearts.”

Certainly Ephraim Hanks’s obedience to spiritual promptings led him to become a vanguard hero as he forged ahead alone through that devastating winter weather to preserve many pioneer lives. Because he listened to the whisperings of the Spirit and obeyed the counsel of the Brethren, Eph became a notable liberating force in the lives of those desperate, struggling pioneers."

Ephraim was an example (in many aspects of of his life) of obedience.  Like Joseph in the Old Testament, Ephraim Hanks had many reasons throughout his life where he could have given up or turned back. When he first left to rescue the stranded pioneers he encountered terrible storms. He could have given up then and headed back home, but he did not. He remained true to the knowledge and assignment he had been given. And while he had no idea HOW exactly it was going to work out, he knew he had a work to do and so he should not give up. 

Isn't that exactly how it often is in our own lives? We may not know where exactly our story is going to end, but our Heavenly Father does. Even when things are challenging, and we have no idea where our "story" is about to take us, we can hang on to the knowledge that our Father in a Heaven DOES know where our story will end and he will lovingly guide us there. We can all work to stay true to the assignment given us, for you never know whose lives you may bless, or how your life may be blessed by others when you do so.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Clark Allen Huntington - A Rescuer

• Born: December 6, 1831 in Watertown, New York

• Age: 24

• Rescuer

Clark Allen Huntington

Clark Allen Huntington was most commonly known as C.A. or Al. He was the oldest child of Dimick Baker and Fannie Maria Allen Huntington. Al’s grandparents were early converts to the Church. One evening in late November, the Huntington family had gathered after dinner to play their musical instruments. These included a bass viol, cello, cornet and drum. A stranger soon came to the door seeking overnight lodging. He was welcomed in and Grandmother Huntington prepared a light supper for him:

It was the custom to read a portion of the scriptures before going to bed. He again joined the circle, and father Huntington began to read from the Holy Bible, a portion of the New Testament, to which they all listened attentively.  Grandmother Huntington made some comment on the fact that they would like to hear the Gospel in its fullness as explained and taught by the Saviour. The stranger immediately took up the subject and began explaining the scriptures and quoting the sayings of the Saviour in what seemed to them a new light and greater beauty than they had ever thought of before. … When the Gospel to life and salvation was brought to them by Hyrum Smith and other Elders, they seemed to coincide with what the stranger had told them concerning the Bible and the restoration of the Gospel. All the family but one accepted the Gospel and prepared to emigrate in a few years to Kirtland; here they met the Prophet of God, Joseph Smith, and became his faithful and loyal followers and friends. [When] Brother Huntington related this little incident to him, [Joseph] laid his hand on his head and said: “My dear brother, that man was one of the three Nephites who came to prepare you for the restoration of the Gospel and its acceptance.”  (Lundwall, Nels B., “The Prophet Joseph Identifies The Stranger,” in Assorted Gems of Priceless Value, as related by President Wm. R. Sloan to Nels Lundwall, Sept. 1938, Portland, Oregon.)

Al was baptized at age nine. His family moved with the Saints from Kirtland, Ohio, to Far West, Missouri, to Nauvoo, Illinois, and finally to Utah. Al’s father, Dimick, helped construct the temples in Kirtland and Nauvoo. He served as a coroner in Nauvoo and helped prepare Joseph Smith’s body for burial after the martyrdom. Dimick also served in the Mormon Battalion and took his family along with him. Al was fifteen years old at the time. After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847 with the discharged Pueblo detachment, Al’s father wrote:

Through all my travels in the Battalion … I carried in my wagon a bushel of wheat, and during the winter of 1847, slept with it under my bed, keeping it for seed. For three months my family tasted no bread.  We dug thistle roots and other native growths and had some poor beef, with a little milk, but no butter. Early in the spring of 1848, I (Dimick) rode one hundred and fifteen miles to Fort Bridger and bought a quart of little potatoes about the size of pigeon eggs, at twenty-five cents each. From these I raised that year about a bushel of potatoes, but ate none of them. I planted them in 1849 and have had plenty of potatoes ever since.” (Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, Vol. 6, p. 432)

Al worked and gave service in many capacities for the Church and Utah. He went on several scouting expeditions for the Church and was a stock man, a body guard for Brigham Young, and an Indian interpreter. He was one of the first white men to master Indian languages in Utah. As an interpreter for a peace commission during the Black Hawk War, Al endured the abuse of being struck in the face by a hostile Indian warrior, and mocked by him, calling Al a boy instead of a man. The fearlessness of Al and the others at this time facilitated a peace treaty. Another time Brigham Young sent Al to negotiate peace with Uintah Indian Chief Tabby, when Tabby was preparing to join with Black Hawk and cut off the isolated communities in southern Utah. From a family history we learn about Al’s success on this mission:

Brigham Young as a seer and prophet of the living God promised Huntington that no harm would befall him if he undertook the task. With that promise in mind, Huntington did as directed. He went to Tabby’s camp and attempted to deliver the President’s message, but the Indians were too angry to listen to words of peace. Oddly no attempt was made at first to harm Huntington, probably due to the amazement that a white man would come alone to their village. But as he attempted again and again to preach peace to them, they became more and more angry … when a messenger arrived to tell them that Sanpitch had been killed. The Indians were now ready to kill Huntington in retaliation. …  But Sowiette, … rose to his feet and took the Indians to task for their attitude. … Sowiette reminded them that it took the utmost courage to come to their village alone, as Huntington had done. He told them that since the brave man had come in peace he should be allowed to leave in peace. … The Indians let Huntington return to his home unharmed just as President Young had promised him.” (Creer Family History: William Madison Wall)

Al was a scout for many trips and hunting expeditions. He went on a hunting trip as a scout for Buffalo Bill (William Cody) and a party of two English Lords. (See Southern Utah University, Gerald R. Sherratt Library, Special Collections.)

Al worked for Warren Johnson at Lee’s Ferry. During this time Johnson had an accident and Al served as a surrogate father to Warren’s children. He taught the boys life skills and shooting. Frank Johnson said that “Al was a perfectionist when teaching it. The boys were always trying to get Al to do shooting tricks and would do his chore of chopping the wood if he could do marksmanship tricks that they deemed impossible. I think we chopped the wood most of the time.” Those who knew Al best also spoke of his gift of prophecy which they witnessed. He also spent time each fall getting wagon loads of wood for widows and those in need. Because Al was such a good friend to the Indians, they often visited him toward the end of his life and brought him fresh meat. Jody Johnson said: “Daddy Huntington lived with us for about fifteen years. … He was just like a father to us kids.” Another daughter, Lydia Johnson, said that “Al used to tell them stories and entertain them … make toys and things for them.”

In 1856, Al participated in rescuing the pioneers who were late getting to Utah. He was one of four named boys who assisted the Martin Handcart Company across the Sweetwater River into Martin’s Cove. Heroic-size monuments now stand on the footpath near Martin’s Cove in honor of these named boys. John Jaques of the Martin Company wrote:

The passage of the Sweetwater at this point was a severe operation to many of the company. It was the worst river crossing of the expedition and the last. The water was not less than two feet deep, perhaps, a little more in the deepest parts, but it was intensely cold. The ice was three or four inches thick, and the bottom of the river muddy or sandy. I forget exactly how wide the stream was there, but I think thirty or forty yards. … Before the crossing was completed, the shades of evening were closing around … Four members of the relief party waded the river, helping the handcarts through and carrying the women and children and some of the weaker men over. They were D[avid] P. Kimball, George W. Grant, Stephen W. Taylor, and C.A. Huntington.

Patience Loader of the Martin Company wrote:

We came to the Sweetwater River and there we had to cross. We thought we should have to wade as the cattle had been crossing with the wagons with the tents and what little flour we had and had broken the ice. But there were brave men there in the water, packing the women and children over on their backs. Those brethren were in the water all day.

Both Frank Johnson and Al’s son, Alexander Wiley, stated that Al afterward developed a cough that never left him. Frank stated that “Clark Allen suffered from severe coughing spells for most of his life. These spells started after his experience of carrying the Martin Handcart Saints across the Sweet Water River in Wyoming in 1856.” Alexander Wiley said that his father “contracted a cough when he had helped the people at the Sweetwater and that it stayed with him all the rest of his life, eventually causing his death.” Al died at the home of Warren Johnson and was buried in Kanab, Utah, on November 16, 1896.

As I read Clark Allen Huntington's Story, I am struck by his courage and the heroism he displayed in rescuing the stranded pioneers, and thought about what we can learn and take away from his example.  It reminded me of a talk by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, entitled, "Encircled in the Arms of His Love".    He talked about dealing with trials and said specifically,  "unless we are filled with resolve, what will we say to the heroes and heroines of Martin's Cove and the Sweetwater? That "we admire you, but we are reluctant to wade through our own rivers of chilling adversity"? Brothers and Sisters, by divine appointment, "these are [our] days" (Hel 7:9), since "all things must come to pass in their time" (D&C 64:32). Moreover, though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail. I love that!  We can press on with courage in the face of adversity, and take the examples of these pioneers to buoy us up.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Sources: Stella Jaques Bell, Life History and Writings of John Jaques, pgs. 160, 162; “Clark Allen Huntington 1831-1896,” research paper by Brent Turek, available at: http://tellmystorytoo.com/pdf/TellMyStoryToo-ClarkAllenHuntington.pdf

Pioneer Stories - Robert Taylor Burton (Rescuer)

This week's trek thought comes from Jolene Allphin's website (she is the author of many of the books on trek). This particular story goes along with a painting done for the book, "Tell My Story, Too" which was painted by Julie Rogers.  The painting is entitled, Rescue Me  

Describing the events of the 26th of November 1856, John Jacques of the Martin Handcart Company wrote:

"The next camp . . . was in a small canyon running out of the north side of Echo canyon, a few miles above the mouth of the latter. Here a birth took place, and one of the relief party generously contributed part of his under linen to clothe the little stranger. The mother [Sarah Squires] did quite as well as could have been expected, considering the unpropitious circumstances. So did the father, who subsequently became a prosperous merchant of this city. The little newcomer also did well, and was named Echo, in honor of the place of her nativity. She is still a resident of the territory, is a happy wife and mother, and lives in the north country."

Robert T. Burton was the clerk of the first rescue party sent out from Salt Lake City to find the late immigrating companies. He was also a trusted assistant to Captain George D. Grant. Robert kept a meticulous record of the distribution of supplies, except when he literally gave the shirt off his own back to little newborn Echo Squires. This event was described in later years by his granddaughter, Lenore Gunderson:

"After he had distributed all the clothing, Robert noticed a mother whose newborn baby did not have sufficient clothing to keep it warm, so he took off his own homespun shirt and gave it to the mother to cover the baby."

In sacrificing his own warmth for the comfort of the new baby, Robert exemplified the way he continued to live throughout his life. Among his final words of advice to his children before his death in 1907 was the admonition to "be kind to the poor." Leading men of Utah who spoke at his funeral articulated Robert's character in these words and phrases: "genial; charitable; a general in the army of right, in the army of truth and of love; integrity; love; honor; years filled with good works; tender-hearted; sympathetic; worthy of confidence; never false to God, to himself or to his fellow-man, friend or foe."

Mosiah 2:17: ...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood

Pioneer Stories - Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw

Elizabeth Simpson Haigh Bradshaw was born into a family of wealth. Although she was orphaned at age nine, she continued to be raised as a child of privilege. By the time Elizabeth was 48 years old, she had been widowed twice, had five children and had longed to emigrate to Zion for 16 years. Although her brothers tried to persuade her to remain in England, promising to care for her and educate her children, she turned to them and said, "I am going to Zion."

As the Martin Handcart Company left Iowa City, the abundance of clothing and other belongings that could not be packed into their handcart were given to the needy or left behind. Sarah’s mother was able to save her two wedding dresses and later give them to her daughters. Elizabeth had also been promised in a Priesthood blessing before leaving England that she would take all her children to Zion. This blessing was honored as two of her sons were saved from drowning and death by the power of the Priesthood and Elizabeth’s faith.  She traveled with her children, Sarah Ann, who was nineteen, Isabella, Samuel, Richard and Robert.

At the last crossing of the icy North Platte River on Oct. 19, 1856, the first early winter storm began. The river was swift and deep. Of this day, fellow traveler John Jacques wrote:"That was a bitter cold day. Winter came on all at once, and that was the first day of it. The river was wide, the current strong, the water exceedingly cold and up to the wagon beds in the deepest parts, and the bed of the river was covered with cobble stones. The company was barely over when snow, hail and sleet began to fall, accompanied by a piercing north wind . . ."

Elizabeth, with her 6-year-old son, Richard, perched on her shoulders, was swept off her feet and downstream in the crossing. Several on the banks called out to her, "Let the boy go . . . or you will both be drowned. Save yourself . . ." She refused to give them heed and struggled on until she finally made it to the opposite side whereupon she immediately raised her right arm to the square as a witness she then bore to the waiting crowd that God had protected and saved her and her son. (This incidence is portrayed in the movie, "Ephraim's Rescue") 

Elizabeth's daughter, Sarah Ann, also made thirty-two trips across the swiftly running river, carrying sixteen people to safety on her back. She was only about five feet tall herself. The next day, between thirteen and eighteen people died, some being those who had spent their last strength carrying others across this river. Sarah told how the icicles jingled from her wet skirts and mud froze to her feet. In later years she would also tell her children that she had wondered if it was the end and if the Lord had led them over that long hard road just to let them perish in the storm and cold.

As conditions became worse for the company, Elizabeth’s son, Samuel Haigh, was one day brought into camp and pronounced dead. Elizabeth still believed the promise that she would take all of her children to Zion. She invited the Elders to anoint him with oil and administer to him. The Elders did so and Samuel recovered.

It was "not the end" for Elizabeth and her family. The first rescuers from Salt Lake City came nine days later, bringing hope to these starving Saints. Sarah would meet one particular rescuer, Franklin Standley, who would soon become her husband. Franklin died after a few short years and Sarah then married Louis Miller.

Later in life Sarah recounted the day of rescue when she said: "Imagine, if you can, what it meant to those starved, freezing Saints out on the plains not far from the North Platte River, when one evening, just as the sun was leaving a beautiful rosy afterglow...to see silhouetted against the evening sky, several covered wagons coming over the hill in their direction. News spread through the camp like wild fire, and all who were able to leave their beds were out to meet them. Tears ran down the cheeks of men and women alike, while the young men who came to their rescue were deluged with kisses."

Like many of the pioneer stories, Elizabeth's is a story of remarkable faith. I am impressed that she gave up so much (all of her wealth, contact with her brothers, and a promise that her children would be educated) to come to Zion. Her influence was obviously impressed upon her children as her daughter Sarah stepped up to rescue so many at the crossing of the Platte. It is remarkable to me that she would, as a single mother, endeavor to accomplish such a daunting task, and hers is a lesson to all of us that no challenge is too hard when you have The Lord on your side to assist you.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood