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"
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