Pioneer Story - Rhoda Rebecca Oakey

Rhoda Rebecca Oakey

Thomas and Ann Oakey were not quitters. They did not give up easily, even though poverty continually threatened their family. In February 1839, Ann Collett Oakey was about to give birth to her third child. Thomas was out of work again, due to recurring health problems. In a document that addressed the matter of “Thomas Oakey, a Pauper,” Thomas declared “that thro indisposition [sickness] he is unable to work and is chargeable to the said parish of Eldersfield, the place of his birth."

The parish of Eldersfield, however, refused to recognize any settlement rights for Thomas Oakey, and the Church warden was ordered to “remove and convey” the family to the parish of Ash Church to the Overseers of the Poor there.


Thomas Oakey’s inability to perform much physical labor in 1839 did not keep him from giving his all in spiritual matters. Like hundreds of their neighbors searching for truth, Thomas and Ann had joined a religious group known as the United Brethren. Thomas was a lay preacher in this religious community when Elder Wilford Woodruff visited the area in 1840.  Thomas was alarmed at first. He had heard about this American preacher who was baptizing so many of his neighbors. However, soon after Thomas and Ann Oakey heard the preaching of Elder Woodruff for themselves, they embraced the restored gospel.

On the day they planned to be baptized, a mob of about 100 persons gathered. Elder Woodruff recorded that they called out to him, “You American, where are you going to wash your sheep?” The baptism was delayed for a few hours, but Thomas and Ann Oakey were undeterred. They were baptized later that day by Elder Woodruff, who wrote: “As I commenced to baptize, the mob began to gather, but I baptized 9 persons, 3 of which were preachers, while surrounded by the rabble. But I performed the ordinance without any insult or injury excepting the tongue of slander and throwing a dog into the pool where I was baptizing.”

Ann Oakey’s parents and other family members were also baptized. By the middle of May 1840, more than 300 people in the area had joined the Church. By the middle of June, the membership was more than 500.

On June 14, just two months after the baptism of Thomas and Ann Oakey, former members and preachers from the Froomes Hill Circuit of the United Brethren met in a conference at the Gadfield Elm chapel. The Saints were organized into two conferences with twenty branches. Thomas Oakey, having been ordained a priest, was called to “have the care of the church at Gadfield Elm.” Three weeks after this meeting, Elder Woodruff reported 1,007 members in the area.

On Christmas day 1840, Thomas was ordained an elder. He stayed actively involved in the Church until his family emigrated 16 years later. A receipt from the mission office in Liverpool in 1846 shows that Thomas, as “treasurer” of the Frogsmarsh Branch (near Gadfield Elm), had sent money for the purpose of “Erecting a House of Worship in the city of Nauvoo.” This house of worship was the Nauvoo Temple, which Thomas and others in this small branch in England were doing their part to help build. In 1847, Thomas carried a certificate stating that he was a “Brother beloved, in good standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” It was a very different document from the one that labeled Thomas a pauper in 1839.

Thomas and Ann added seven more children to their family during the 16 years following their baptism. Two of those children died as infants. In 1856, with the help of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and the less-expensive handcart mode of travel, the Oakey family was finally able to answer the call of a prophet to gather to Zion. Their journey began in May, when they boarded the Thornton at Liverpool.

Sarah Ann Oakey had early childhood memories that were not typical—walking up a gangplank to a large sailing ship, receiving a hard sea biscuit for her fourth birthday a week later, riding more than a thousand miles in a loaded handcart, and being frightened by Indians along the way. Sarah recalled: “Being the youngest child and only four years old, I was put in a cart to ride, but my brother Reuben, who was [eight], had to walk. ... We had two carts of personal belongings; one was pulled by the boys and the other by the girls.” This arrangement seemed equitable enough—one cart pulled by young Ann, Jane, and Rhoda Rebecca, and one pulled by Charles, Heber, and Lorenzo. But 12-year-old Lorenzo was not happy about it and determined that he would not go to Utah that year. By July 29 the Willie handcart company was approaching Des Moines, Iowa, having traveled about 150 miles from their outfitting camp in Iowa City. Lorenzo decided it was time to act, and that day he ran away.

Thomas and Ann Oakey were distraught when they realized Lorenzo was missing. The search for him was fruitless, and they had to continue forward without him, praying that he would be watched over. Ann was given a blessing in which she was promised that she would one day see Lorenzo again.

By mid-August the Willie handcart company had traversed another 150 miles and was traveling through Nebraska Territory. It was also buffalo and Indian territory. Sarah remembered: “The first Indians we met came up to our carts and pushed our people away and pulled our carts into camp laughing at us. I was four years old and was riding on the top of one of the carts. Mother was frightened when the Indians came up, so she took me from the top of the cart. The captain said that they would not harm anyone, so Mother put me back.  Sometimes in the evenings the Indians brought buffalo meat into camp to trade for salt and clothing, which was a welcome change. We saw lots of buffalo along the trail. ... Twice we had to split the company to let the buffalo pass.”

In September, extra flour was loaded on the handcarts after many of the cattle that pulled the supply wagons were lost. The nights began to be cooler. Thomas Oakey had always had poor health, and he was rapidly growing weaker. Sometimes Ann crossed streams with Thomas on her back, while the children continued to pull the handcarts. Other times Thomas fell beside the trail and had to be left until the family could get to camp and then return with help.

On October 23, Thomas’s health deteriorated even further. The day’s grueling trek over Rocky Ridge left him freezing and exhausted. Sarah related: “There were many people in camp who died, but we fared fairly well until we reached the deep snow in Wyoming. Our father froze his feet and hands, and his toenails came off. Though the family suffered many hardships, we always held our family prayer.”

Thomas Oakey survived that tragic day, but 13 others died and were buried at Rock Creek Hollow; two more died the next day. Charles Oakey, age 18, likely assisted in digging the graves. His poignant memories of this experience were a source of sad reflection. He often shared these stories with his children. His daughter Mary Ann recorded:  “Father told us that he well remembered ... that one morning before starting on their journey, fifteen were buried, thirteen in one grave and two in another, with only blankets, pieces of canvas, or other materials that could be spared, wrapped around the bodies. There were no caskets, flowers, or funeral sermons, only tears of sorrow, cold aching hands and feet, and heavy hearts, but with all a firm belief in God and a faith and courage to push forward; a faith and courage that should make every pioneer son and daughter proud and give them a determination to help further the cause of God.
          I shall never forget the emotions of my father, as he recalled and related the incidents of their trip across the plains. The memory of their hardships and suffering brought tears to his eyes, and I have seen him cry like a child.”

The Willie company left this heartbreaking scene on October 25. Many of the Saints were sick, and Ann Oakey, who was skilled in nursing, helped where she could. The older Oakey children continued to pull the handcarts through November 2, when enough rescue wagons met them that all could ride.

Despite assistance from the rescuers, 10-year-old Rhoda Rebecca was weakening quickly. Earlier in the journey, she had used her musical talents to entertain and inspire the Willie company.  Rhoda Rebecca had a sweet soprano voice, and many evenings after the camp had been set up and supper eaten, she would sing the hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” which helped lift the weary travelers in camp.

On November 8 the Willie company made their last camp before reaching the Salt Lake Valley. Weary and worn, Ann stayed up all night, nursing her sick husband. When she woke the children the next morning, she found that Rhoda Rebecca had died during the night.

The Willie company continued to Salt Lake City that day, but Thomas was in no condition to travel in a crowded wagon. Ann made sure he was as comfortable as possible and left him beside the body of Rhoda Rebecca while she went for help. Ann returned later that day with her brother, Don Collett, and an empty wagon. She could then more adequately attend to her husband’s needs and mourn her daughter’s death in private.

The Oakey family had given their all to reach Zion. Now they would do their part to help build Zion.

Rhoda was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery and the rest of the family remained at the Collett home while they were being nursed back to health. The family eventually was called to help settle the Bear Lake Valley in Idaho, where they settled in Paris in 1865. Thomas and his sons dug some of the first water wells, fenced fields, and helped build roads, houses, barns and churches in this Valley. Thomas was ordained a Seventy and then to the office of Patriarch, which position he held until his death in 1890. Ann was one of the first midwives in Bear Lake and assisted in bringing many babies into the world from St. Charles to Montpelier. Her fee was two dollars per delivery and she usually took that in trade.

These faithful parents accepted their grief and heartache with Rhoda's death and Joseph's disappearance, but never stopped praying for their missing son. Ann particularly was confident she would see Joseph again. In the early 1870's, Charles C. Rich, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and assigned to the Bear Lake area, was going east with his son on business. Thomas and Ann took the opportunity to ask Elder Rich if he would please advertise in the newspapers in Nebraska for any knowledge of their son. Through this advertisement, Joseph was located, at that time living in Kansas. Joseph was married and had a family and in 1876 he brought them to meet his parents and siblings. Joseph told his family he had left the handcart company twenty years before because he was discouraged, tired and hungry. He had gone to one of the homes in the area, one to which Ann and Thomas had gone seeking him. The family had hidden him and when the handcart company had gone on, they invited Joseph to stay with them. They had raised him as their son. Joseph had changed his name to Joseph Lorenzo O'Kee. He had also fought in the Civil War on the side of the North. On one occasion he was sent into battle with a battalion of 983 men of which only 33 survived.

The Oakey family made faithful payments to the Perpetual Emigration Fund but never were able to get the account paid in full. Their account was one of the "faithful poor" that was forgiven by Church President John Taylor during the Jubilee Year in 1880.

Like so many of the pioneers who came to Zion with the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies, the Oakey family made great sacrifices and lost so much. I love that they were faithful through it all, continuing to say their family prayers. Rhoda, their daughter, was the last pioneer to pass away before the company made it to the valley.  Despite the sorrow they must have felt at the passing of their beloved daughter, they continued faithful in the gospel and did not despair. As I re-read their story today and was pondering what lessons I could learn from them and apply in my life, I was reminded of Elder Bednar's talk from this past general conference. He said: "The Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities--but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us. There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light."

I have full confidence that the enabling power of the Savior's atonement comforted and strengthened the Oakeys through their trials just as it constantly comforts and strengthens me through mine.  If we turn to the Savior and allow him to do so, he will lighten our load and rescue us in our infirmities.

Have a great week!

Sister McHood