Pioneer Stories - The Gadd Family

“We traveled 14 miles this day.”

“Went 20 miles to Fort Des Moines and camped.”

“Went 13 miles.”

“Traveled 15 miles.”

These are typical daily entries—in their entirety—from 19-year-old Alfred Gadd’s diary during the Willie handcart company’s journey across Iowa. Alfred never mentions the sweltering heat and humidity, the hunger and exhaustion. He never complains or celebrates. He simply records the miles traveled toward Zion.

Alfred’s father, Samuel, had joined the Church in 1841, when Alfred was four. Samuel served as a presiding elder in the Cambridge area for many years. By the time the family left England in 1856, there were eight children, including twins who were less than two years old. Samuel’s wife, Eliza, had not joined the Church when the family emigrated. Nevertheless, she agreed to emigrate so the family could stay together.

Alfred Gadd recorded more details about the journey across Nebraska Territory, usually about experiences that would have been new to an Englishman. As Iowa’s wooded hills gave way to Nebraska’s wide-open expanses and drier climate, Alfred wrote several times about the lack of water and wood. 

The next month brought multiple tragedies for the Gadd family. On October 4, when the Willie company was in the eastern part of modern-day Wyoming, two-year-old Daniel Gadd died. Alfred dutifully recorded the day’s mileage and then told of his brother’s passing in his usual documentary tone: “We went three miles and camped. My brother Daniel (aged 2) died this afternoon.”

Five days later, Alfred’s father died, leaving Alfred with a heavy responsibility for the family. “We went eighteen miles,” he began. “My father was dying before we left this morning, but they put him in a wagon and when we saw him at noon, he was dead.” The next day Alfred omitted the mileage and simply recorded, “We buried Father this morning.” It would not be the family’s last burial in Wyoming.

Nine days later, on October 19, the Willie company faced the first winter storm. Despite the storm, they had to travel a long distance that day to reach the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater, their next source of water and wood. “We traveled sixteen and one-half miles. ... It snowed all day, night and day,” Alfred wrote. Five people died that day, and many others were barely clinging to life—weak, cold, and hungry.

The last scanty ration of food was issued the next morning. Desperate for help, Captain James Willie and Joseph Elder left to search for the rescuers, whom they had been told were coming. They found the rescuers after a heroic, all-day journey over Rocky Ridge.

The following day, October 21, hope finally arrived when Captain Willie returned with the rescuers. “Today our brethren came in their teams loaded with flour and other things for us,” Alfred wrote. “Our provisions were all gone one day before they came in with the flour.” 

Several rescuers and six of their wagons stayed to help the Willie company, while the rest of the men continued east the next day, urgently searching for the Martin company, which was stranded 100 miles farther back on the trail.

On October 23 the Willie company faced their most daunting day—pulling handcarts over Rocky Ridge in arctic conditions. The entry in Alfred’s diary belies the difficulty: “We went sixteen miles and camped late at night. It was very cold.” Alfred recorded the mileage as usual, but he did not mention that his 10-year-old brother, Samuel, died along the way. It was the family’s third death in less than three weeks. Samuel was buried at Rock Creek in a large grave with 12 others. Eliza Gadd later said that of all her children, Samuel “was the most anxious to reach Zion, but it was not to be.”

After climbing Rocky Ridge, the Willie company trudged 135 miles in nine days to reach Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Eliza was snowblind for three of those days but continued to pull the cart, guided by her eight-year-old daughter, Mary Ann. At Fort Bridger there were finally enough rescue wagons that everyone could ride the last 113 miles to the Salt Lake Valley. A sense of relief is discernible in Alfred’s words that day: “We tied our handcarts behind our wagons and drew them no more.”

Alfred Gadd’s diary ends as simply as it began: “We arrived on the ninth of November in Salt Lake City.” Thus concluded a tragic chapter in the history of the Gadd family. But that bitter cold November also brought a new beginning that has warmed into a lasting influence for good. Eliza Gadd was baptized a member of the Church the week after she arrived in Utah. She and her six surviving children settled in Nephi, where she raised them in the gospel. Two of her sons later served missions to England.

Given the heavy losses the Gadd family suffered on the journey, did they feel that coming to Zion was worth it? Several of Eliza Chapman Gadd's grandchildren have written brief biographies of her, and none of them mentions any regret on her part for the price her family paid to come to Zion. Taking the long view, the sacrifices this family made to emigrate have blessed thousands. One family member who wrote in 1940 said that the known posterity of Samuel and Eliza Chapman Gadd at that time numbered 616. It is likely that most of those people—and thousands more who have been added to their posterity since that time—have been blessed by the decision to come to Zion. One descendant expressed such feelings as follows:

"Even though Samuel's dream and desires to be in Utah never came to be, we are ever grateful to him for embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ. . . . He is loved and respected by those of us who never got to know him in this life and are thankful to him for his dedication and firm conviction of the truth of Mormonism and a strong hope of a glorious resurrection, and we shall hope to meet him then. We are ever grateful to him for bringing his family to America."

I loved this families amazing story of sacrifice. As I thought about the huge price they paid I am reminded of our responsibility to these pioneers...to honor their sacrifices by putting the lessons they taught us into practice in our lives. 

Elder Oaks said, "The foremost quality of our pioneers was faith. With faith in God, they did what every pioneer does--they stepped forward into the unknown: a new religion, a new land, a new way of doing things. With faith in their leaders and in one another, they stood fast against formidable opposition. When their leader said, “This is the right place,” they trusted, and they stayed. When other leaders said, “Do it this way,” they followed in faith....To honor those pioneers, we must honor and act upon the eternal principles that guided their actions. As President Hinckley reminded us..., “We honor best those who have gone before when we serve well in the cause of truth.” That cause of truth is the cause of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whose servants they were, and whose servants we should strive to be. I testify of this and pray that we, too, may be “true to the faith that our parents have cherished."

Have a great week!

Sister McHood