The company moved on the day named, from Florence to Cutler’s Park, two and a half miles, and camped stayed there the nest day and night, and left the next morning. While there, Almon W. Babbit, dressed in corduroy pants, woolen over-shirt and felt hat, called as he was passing west. He seemed in high glee, his spirits being very elastic, almost mercurial. He had started with one carriage for Salt Lake, with the mail and a considerable amount of money. He was very confident that he should be in Salt Lake within 15 days. He intended to push things through vigorously, and sleep on the wind.

On leaving Florence, the loads on the handcarts were greater than ever before, most carts having 100 pounds of four, besides ordinary baggage. The tents were also carried on the carts. The company was provisioned sixty days, a daily ration of one pound of flour per head, with about half a pound fro children.

From Samuel Openshaw’s Diary

28 August 1856:

We started at 8 o’clock. Stopped at the Big Papeon, for dinner, a distance of three miles; started again at one o’clock. Traveled today 15 miles. Six o’clock, we camped at the Elk Horn.

29 August 1856:

Began to ferry at 8 o’clock, across the Elk Horn, and had all ferried across about 12 o’clock; 132 handcarts, 180 head of cattle, 8 wagons. We had our dinner and started about two o’clock; traveled three miles, mostly through a sandy road and arrived at the Raw Hide Creek where we camped for the night.

30 August 1856:

Started about 8 o’clock and traveled until about 1 o’clock, when we camped for the day upon the banks of the Platte River.

31 August 1856:

Sunday. We started today about 7 o’clock and left the river a little on our left, but being high to the banks of the river, the road was very sandy, which made it hard pulling. We camped again about two o’clock upon the banks of the Platte River.

1 September 1856:

Started about 7 o’clock. The road was not so sandy as yesterday. Started again and at 1 o’clock we stopped for dinner at Shell Creek. Started again at 2 o’clock, and therefore, we were obliged to stop on the prairies before we got to the river. There is no wood upon the prairies, only at rivers and creeks, and having nothing cooked, we were obliged to line down without supper. Traveled about 20 miles. We were a little tired.

From Samuel Openshaw’s Journal

19 August 1856:

We started at twenty minutes to 8 o’clock, and traveled until 11 o’clock, when we stopped two hours for dinner. Started again, traveled 21 miles and pitched our tents at 6 o’clock, close by the River.

20 August 1856:

We started at 8 o’clock from the Jordan Creek and passed through Nobotomy, and over Silver Creek. Stopped on hour for dinner at Mud Creek. We started again at one o’clock, traveled 21 miles and pitched our tents at 5 o’clock at Keg Creek.

21 August 1856:

We started at 8 o’clock from Keg Creek and traveled 9 miles. Stopped for dinner at the Big Mosquito Creek, upon the same spot where the Saints were driven from Nauvoo in the depths of winter, without food or house or anything to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather. When the American’s demanded from the Saints five hundred men, to enlist in the American cause for the Mexican war, it was from Council Bluffs, about 7 miles. Camped about 7 o’clock, where we found a beautiful spring.

22 August 1856:

We started at 8 o’clcok, and traveled about four miles when we arrived at the Missouri River, where we were ferried across to Florence. We went to the top of a hill where we could view the country all aournd, and the Missouri River to a great distance. Every place we came through, we were admired by the people very much. Some looked upon us as if we were deceived, others who were old apostates, came with all the subtilty of the devil, and all the cunning they have gained by their own experience, trying to turn the Saints to the right hand or to the left, but thanks be to God, few or none adhered to their advice.

23 August 1856:

Rested here today.

24 August 1856:

Sunday. A cow was killed today, and was divided among us, one half pound each. A meeting at 11 o’clock, and 4 o’clock. Elder Wheelock and others addressed us.

25 August 1856:

About one p.m., we moved about three miles and passed over the spot of land where so many Saints died, and were buried, after being driven from Nauvoo in the depths of winter. Men, women and children, driven on these plains to die from starvation. Their bodies are now moulding in the dust while their spirits are done to await the day of recompense and reward. Camped in sight of the Missouri River.

From John Jacques:

The company left Florence on the 25th of August, to make a journey of 1,000 miles, half of it over the mountainous backbone of the continent, in an inclement season of the year, with an early and severe mountain winter rapidly approaching.

 

12 August 1856:

We should have started at seven o’clock this morning, but for two of the mules who ran away. We found them and started at 9 o’clock, and arrived at the camp ground 20 minutes to six, and camped upon the prairie grass, not far from wood, but water was not so fluent.

13 August 1856:

We were delayed again at 9 o’clock, on account of the mule teams having to turn back a little for flour. We traveled about 20 miles and arrived at the camp ground about 6 o’clock. We passed through Fort Des Moines, which is quite a new settled place. Lots of brick building, which is stylish for a new town.

14 August 1856:

We started about 8 o’clock this morning, and crossed over the North Coon, with our handcarts in the water, in the county of Edby. We found Robert Kirkman. He had stopped behind from Haven’s company last Saturday night, and was cut off from the Church. We took him along with us and crossed over another river, which is also about knee deep. The women and children crossed over the river on a small bridge. We camped close by the river about 5 o’clock.

15 August 1856:

A child was buried this morning. The coffin had to be made, which delayed us until about 8 o’clock. We traveled about 13 miles and pitched our tents about half past twelve o’clock, which gave us a chance to wash a little. James Ferguson, John McAllister and Dan Jones camp us with their carriage and stayed all night with us.

16 August 1856:

We started about 7 o’clock and traveled about four hours before we saw a house or any water to drink. We took but little water with us, and most of it was finished up long before we got to any house. The day being hot, we felt the want of water. We traveled about 17 miles and pitched our tents about two o’clock.

17 August 1856:

Sunday. We started about 7 o’clock this morning and traveled all day without seeing a house or even a tree, except fro a few at a distance. Nothing but prairie grass to be seen. We traveled about 10 miles and pitched our tents about 2 o’clock. As soon as we had put our tents up, a thunderstorm came. In our travels today, we found a well, by having a pole set up with a flag upon it, having wrote, “the devil in the well below the spring.” Eliza is a little better. We camped near Morrison Grove.

18 August 1856:

We started for Morrison Grove at 8 o’clock, and traveled until 11 o’clock, when we stopped two hours for dinner. Started again, traveled 21 miles and pitched our tents at 6 o’clock, close by the River.

From Samuel Openshaw’s Journal:

5 August 1856:

We started about 8 o’clock this morning, but the road through the wood was full of stumps of trees. We had not got out of the wood, before we ran our handcart against a stump, and broke the wheel off. We took our luggage and placed it on the ox teams. We then tied our cart ups with ropes and overtook the rest about two o’clock, where they were camped for dinner. We got a new axle tree on, and traveled about two miles farther, where we camped for the night.

6 August 1856:

We were told we should start at seven o’clock this morning, but a thunderstorm delayed us until 12 o’clock. I was so weak, that I was unable to pull the handcart, therefore, I went to drive the team for rather. We traveled about ten miles, part by the light of the moon, pitched our tents about ten o’clock among the prairie grass.

7 August 1856:

We started about 7 o’clock this morning and traveled through a beautiful country, where we could stand and gaze upon the prairies as far as the eye could see, even until the prairies themselves seemed to meet the sky on all sides, without being able to see a house. I thought, how many thousands of people are there in England who have scarce room to breathe and not enough to eat. Yet all this good land is lying dormant, except for the prairie grass to grow and decay. We traveled about 15 miles, and pitched our tent about two o’clock p.m.

8 August 1856:

We traveled about 18 miles up hill and down. In fact it has been so all day. We started about seven o’clock this morning, passed through the town of Newton, which contains 1200 inhabitants, traveled two miles farther, and pitched our tents in a valley by the side of a woods, through which a creeks runs.

9 August 1856:

We started about 10 o’clock and traveled through woods and across creeks. We stopped for dinner about two o’clock, at the edge of a wood where we found plenty of ripe grapes. We started again at three o’clock. We had not gone far before a thunder storm came upon us, and we got a little drenched in the rain. We pitched our tents about six o’clock, close by a creek.

10 August 1856:

Sunday. Traveled none today. We washed ourselves in the river Skunk, which is a beautiful water, running as clear as crystal upon a sandy bottom, which appeared like the waters of Silon (?). Eliza began to be very badly. We had a meeting in the afternoon, and partook of the Sacrament. Elder Tyler addressed us.

11 August 1856:

A brother and a child were buried this morning, which delayed camp until half past ten o’clock. We had to wait until the coffin was made. We traveled about 14 miles and pitched our tents about four o’clock.

From Samuel Openshaw’s Journal:

1 August 1856: At ten o’clock a.m. we made another start. The roads were all sandy. At seven o’clock p.m., we pitched our tents on the top of a hill, from where we could look as far as the eye could see, but the water was not good.

2 August 1856: Showers in the morning hindered us from starting out as soon as we intended. Traveled nearly 18 miles. Saints much fatigued. Some made it to camp. Some did not come in at all.

3 August 1856: On account of the unhealthiness of the place, we made a start today and traveled about 7 miles. We had traveled about a quarter of a mile, when we beheld a ball fo fire, brighter than the sun before it, in the air, and came within about 3 yards of the ground. Then it drew out in the form of a spear and vanished out of sight. We pitched our tents two miles from Marengo.

 4 August 1856: Still beautiful and hot today. We did not move until four o’clock p.m. Traveled about two miles farther where we camped for the night.

During their stay in the Iowa camp, the emigrants employed themselves in making carts and doing other preparatory work until July 28th, when the camp broke up, and the handcart portion moved off, nearly a mile for a start, and then camped again. (From Historical Department Archives, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

From John Jacques:

As only a very limited amount of baggage could be taken with the handcarts, during the long stay on the Iowa City camping ground, there was a general lightening of such things as could best be done without. Many things were sold cheaply to residents of that vicinity, and many more things were left on the camping ground for anybody to take or leave at his pleasure. It was grievous to see the heaps of books and other articles thus left in the sun, rain and dust, representing a respectable amount of money spent therefore in England, but thenceforth, a waste and dead loss to the proper owners. The company was divided into Hundreds and Tens, with their respective captains as usual with the “Mormon” emigration of those days. Many of the carts had wooden axles and leather boxes. Some of the axles broke in a few days, and mechanics were busy in camp at night repairing the accidents of the days.

The Handcart Song

by John D.T. McAllister

Ye saints who dwell on Europe’s shore
Prepare yourselves for many more,
To leave behind your native land,
For sure God’s judgments are at hand.
For you must cross the raging main
Before the promised land you gain
And with the faithful make a start
To cross the plains with your handcart.

The lands that boast of modern light
We know are all as dark as night
Where poor men toil and want for bread,
Where peasant folks are blindly led.
These lands that boast of liberty
You ne’er again will wish to see
When you from Europe make a start
To cross the plains with your handcart.

As on the road the carts are pulled
‘Twould very much surprise the world
To see the old and feeble dame
Thus lend a hand to pull the same.
And maidens fair will dance and sing,
Young men more happy than a king,
And children will laugh and play
Their strength increasing day by day.

And long before the Valley’s gained,
We will be met upon the plain
With music sweet and friends so dear
And fresh supplies our hearts to cheer.
And then with music and with song
How cheerfully we’ll march along
And thank the day we made a start
To cross the plains in our handcart.

When you get there among the rest,
Obedient be and you’ll be blessed
And in God’s chambers be shut in
While judgments cleanse the earth from sin,
For we do know it will be so,
God’s servants spoke it long ago,
We say it is high time to start
To cross the plains with your handcart.

Chorus:
For some must push and some must pull
As we go marching up the hill;
So merrily on our way we go
Until we reach the Valley-o.

Independence Rock

There are a few stories about the naming of the rock but by the time there was significant traffic on the trail most settlers looked forward to celebrating the Fourth of July here. Many carved their name in the granite and some of the historic names are still visible today:

names carved in Independence Rock

The climb up the Rock was steep but the views from the top were worth it. The trip down wasn’t so easy. The winds on top of the Rock were strong and we took the longer more gradual path down. Just a few more miles up the road was a stop at Devil’s Gate.

Travelers have named this spot the Devil’s Entrance. In my opinion they should have rather called it Heaven’s Avenue.

- Pierre-Jean DeSmet, 1841

Devil’s Gate

The visitors center near Devil’s Gate is run by the Church of Latter Day Saints and there is a small interpretation of Martin’s Cove, the site of a tragedy wherein dozens of Mormon emigrants died in 1856. Here you can rent a handcart and renact part of the Mormon migration. There is a strong Mormon presence in many of the trail visitor centers as the Mormon Trail mirrors the Oregon Trail in large parts.

Devil’s Gate was the last stop of the day and we headed to Lander to break for the night.

Distance Traveled: 155 mi

Covered Wagon Displays: 4

Marginalia: with the short trip, I was able to go for a trail run at Sinks Canyon State Park…Running at 5,000 feet is a lot different that running in Rye, NY (elevation 40 ft)

storm coming toward Devil’s Gate

Mark, Daedre, Eric, Noreen, Raelyn & Bill

This week I got to do something I’ve wanted to for a long time, go to Martin’s Cove. It seemed the perfect way to celebrate my 50th year by honoring my great-great grandmother. There was just a small group of my family there with me, my sister and one cousin plus our spouses from my generation. My nephew was the only participant from the next generation. We had the best participation from my mom’s generation with her and one sister and one brother, plus their spouses. It seemed especially important to get my mom there to see the Cove. At 89 it is hard to think that she has many years left to do outing like this. I was very proud of my mom for coming even though she didn’t know how she would be able to take part.

My Mom in a hat from one of her ancestors

At first we were planning to get one of the rickshaws to take her to the Cove, but they were all out. But there was an even better solution. They have a couple of rovers that they can take people out to the Cove and either drop them off or bring them back. So my parents and my Uncle Sid and his wife Katherine took the rover to the cove overlook.

Treking to Martin’s Cove

My Aunt Lucy and her husband Jack were the only ones of the older generation to brave camping out and walking with the handcart. Lucy even helped push it from behind. It was rather hot and by the time we got to handcart parking, the heat was taking its toll on Lucy. But soon after we got there the rover came up with the rest of the older folks. So they unloaded and Lucy and Jack to the rover up to the Cove Overlook.

Sid, Katherine, Ray and Iris in the rover

Another cool thing that happened was the missionary who ended up driving the rover for our family was also from Rexburg, Idaho and my parents and Aunt Lucy knew him. Jacob, my nephew was also done with treking so we left him at handcart parking with my parents, while those of my generation started the walk up into Martin’s Cove. No handcarts are allowed in the Cove and we learned that the man who owned the land for many, many years never farmed or developed the land in the cove in any way.

In Martin’s Cove

The Cove has a peaceful, reverent feeling and as we walked we reflected on Mary Taylor and her family and the hardships they experienced here. It wasn’t hard to imagine the pioneers camped out along the Cove. It is shaped like a horseshoe with a high area in the middle. The 500 or so people would have been spread out along the Cove. We saw many antelope in the general area of Martin’s Cove but only one deer. That was well up into the Cove. Daedre got the impression that that was where Mary Taylor was camped. I was struck by a spot a little further up the Cove where several patches of purple wild flowers made the spot especially beautiful and peaceful. I’m so glad I got to go to Martin’s Cove and to experience this historical place with some of my family.

When we completed our journey to Iowa City, we were informed that we would have to walk four miles to our camping ground. All felt delighted to have the privilege of a pleasant walk. We all started, about 500 of us, with our bedding. We had not gone far before it began to thunder and lighten and the rain poured. The roads became very muddy and slippery. The day was far advanced and it was late in the evening before we arrived at the camp. We all got very wet. The boys soon got our tent up so we were fixed for the night, although very wet.

Autobiography of Heber Robert McBride

We went from Boston to Chicago then to Rock Island, crossed the river on a steamboat, because the railway bridge was burned down. After we all got over, we took the train for Iowa City. When we got there and our baggage was unloaded, it was getting late in the day, and our camping ground was 3 miles from the city, as there was no place at the depot large enough to accommodate so many people. So a great many of the people started for camp on foot just about dark and I was one of them. But we had not gone very far when it began to rain and was so dark that you could not see anything and to make things worse I got lost from the rest of the company, but made out to keep the road by the help of the lightning, for Iowa can beat the world for thunder and lightning, but I never was afraid of lightning. After ascending a steep hill I could see a fire at the camp. They was keeping a big fire burning for to let the people know where the camp was for there was a great many people waiting there to get their teams and wagons ready to start across the plains.

When I saw the fire, I started in a straight line for it and that is where I missed it. Not knowing anything about the country, I thought that would be the best way. The rain had quit after it wet [p.8] me through, there not being a dry thread. After wading through numerous pools of water from ankle deep to knee deep and wallowing through grass as high as my head, I managed to reach camp pretty near give out. But after all my bad luck I was there before quite a number of the company. Father and mother and the children arrived after me. 2 of the children, being small, had to be carried most all the way. But when they got to camp, they found an old friend, James Fisher, from Scotland. Him and father was playmates together and had not seen each other for a number of years. He took us to his tent to stay all night. I don’t know how long they sat up and talked, but after supper I soon fell asleep. This was my first night in a tent.

Journal of Peter Howard McBride

The night we arrived in Iowa, there was the worst storm I ever have experienced, thunder, lightning, rain coming down in torrents. There were wagons to take our bedding and luggage to camp three miles away, but we had to walk. Parents lost their children and children their parents, but we finally got settled in tents for the night, but were all glad when morning came as the sun was shining brightly.

Diary of Samuel Openshaw

July 4 – Beautiful and hot day. We have been going all the night and slept as best we could. Passed over the Genesee Falls, which is in the city of Rochester, and arrived at Buffalo at 11 o’clock a.m. A few kindled a fire and we boiled our kettles and got some coffee and then took our bundles into another train and started for Cleveland at 2 o’clock p.m., except about forty of the men who stayed behind to see after the luggage. Levi and I were among the number. We changed the luggage into another train of cars and then got something to eat and then took a view of the city of Buffalo. It is a very healthy place. Streets very wide, and telegraphic wires running to every part of the city. Some of the streets had trees on each side which are refreshing in the hot of the day. It stands upon the banks of Lake Erie. Being the Fourth of July, the city formed the same appearance as Dolton did when Sebastopol was taken, with flags on the houses and across the streets also shooting and fireworks. We left Buffalo about ten o’clock with the express for Cleveland, 180 miles, and arrived about six o’clock a.m.– about ten minutes after the rest.

Journal of Joseph Beecroft

Friday 4th Awaking pretty early, about 3 o’clock, I looked out for the demonstration of celebrating the Fourth of July, but there was only a few here and there well dressed persons and engines decorated with ribbons, evergreens, and flags. As the day advanced we saw more signs of the day of days with Americans. We passed Battavia and got into Buffalo about 11, changed carriages and got tea, then started off about 2. We had amongst others squires, tenants for a carriage passenger. Before we changed carriages and when we got into the other carriages we had Mr. Tenant for our nearest neighbor. He had his wife, her mother, and his child. What had Mormonism done? Such a spectacle was scarcely ever witnessed as to see one who has been so rich, so high in life, to come to be huddled together with the poorest of the poor and see how patiently he endures all things is truly wonderful. Our first [p.35] carriage was a cattle pen and 2nd was an improvement which had a place of convenience for us at one end the 3rd change. Our 3rd change was an improvement on the others, and our fourth had not only padded seat backs but very soft padded seats; where we had our rich brothers for our next neighbor. Our fourth change was made at [-] Cleveland and was made about half past 8 o’clock on the morn of [-].

Autobiography of John William Southwell

In this miserable way we were conveyed to Cleveland, Ohio, at very slow pace. The country along the track was studded with fine orchards, bearing fine apples and all kinds of fruit. The fruit was so tempting that at the rate of travel, the young men would jump from the train, fill their pockets, and overtake the slow moving institution. However slow, it brought us into Cleveland on the morning of the greatest day in America. Not realizing the meaning of all this parading and firing of firecrackers and artillery, an elder of the church explained it all to our satisfaction. Since that day, however, the 4th of July is as precious to a Latter-day Saint as to any American born citizen who lives under the flag flying stars and stripes, the red, white, and blue. [p. 9]

While waiting in that city for change of cars a great rainstorm continued two days. We and our luggage were exposed to the weather, the company having no sheds to protect. A large barn was secured and all were transferred to it until the storm abated. A few had secured rooms for their accommodation but the great majority were huddled together in the barn. Like Missouri and other places the people of the town despised the Mormons and after the Saints had retired for the night, a mob of bullies including some females gathered around the barn and kept up for hours such a howling and bombarding with stones and bats it equaled any Indian powwow I have ever listened to on the frontiers. Finally the presidency of the company found a person who it seemed had some authority, who persuaded the mob to desist and go to their homes. However, it left the people in a state of terrible excitement. Not a person closed an eye that night in sleep.

From the Diary of Samuel Openshaw

July 2 – We started on the Western Railway at twenty minutes to twelve and passed through a large extensive woodland country a distance at 200 miles, when the train stopped at one o’clock a.m. at a place called Greenbush, near the Albany River.

From the Journal of Joseph Beecroft

July 2nd Wed. We awoke and got up about 3 and attended to packing, and before six we got breakfast and packing finished. I then got our things out and then guarded for a brother while he got his things out. About 8 o’clock I was on my way to station, on a van loaded with our luggage and set on tins to keep them on. When arrived we got our things weighed and kept an eye on them till my wife and John came that we could go into our carriage, which was a cattle van. Our luggage had to be box for seats, and at night our beds. I felt highly delighted as we passed along in seeing the various streets and houses. A little past eleven we were steaming away from Boston towards Iowa City. I had some delightful reflections as we beheld the splendid buildings and beautiful landscapes that spread out before our eyes as we rapidly passed along. We passed Malbro [LOCATION UNKNOWN] and a many interesting villages with their chapels and spires. At six we were at Springfield, a large city and stopped a while and while there we were asked many questions about our passage, the numbers on board, deaths & the places from whence we started and where we were going. One apostate tried to dissuade us from going further, some laughed and turned up their noses with scorn. We had got 100 miles from Boston, and had got to Albany, which place we reached about 12 at midnight. Our carriages were luggage vans vans [SIC], and our seats were our luggage which was in our way. We were uncomfortable in some some [SIC] things, but comfortable in mind. We were cramped with being confined, some slept in the [p.34] carriages and some laid down on the ground and some walked about till we had orders to pack up and go a quarter of a mile to a camping ground near the ferry called Offman on a broad part of Hudson. We crossed the ferry and had near a mile to carry our provisions to station, which we found in the middle of a street unfenced off. We were soon on our journey which was rendered very pleasant with being in good carriages and having good Saints about us. We passed Utica a large city and arrived at Rochester early in the morning.

From the Life History of John Jaques;

Mon. 30: About 7 o’clock the steam tug “Huron” came alongside and towed us to Constitution Wharf. Brother Haven returned having learned that Brother Felt was in New York. The presidents of wards had the privilege of going onshore with two or three men from each ward to bring provisions for those who wanted them. I and Brother Steel, Paul and Taylor went and bought cheese, bread, butter, and sugar for our ward. I bought for myself about eighty cents worth of bread, about three pounds of cheese, two pounds of butter, a little fresh meat, and a few other things. Very hot day. Took a walk with Elders Haven and Steel along Washington Street. Elder Haven leaving us went on the Common. Very tired on our return. City very clean, also the people. Bought one quart of milk, 5 cents, several 10 cent loaves, 4 or 5 pounds of ham, and several other articles. Our letter did not appear in the Journal. The editor rejecting it, ostensibly on account of its length. I and Brother Haven shortened it and he gave us to understand that he would print it.

From the Diary of Samuel Openshaw;

June 30 – Very hot. Remained in the vessel while arrangements were made for us to go by rail.

From the Journal of Joseph Beecroft;

Monday 30th I arose a little to four and with my wife arranged our loose things into bags, during which time the Saints was emptying their bed into the river through the portholes. We had to throw out our good flocks and have some 3 months to lay on hard boards or ground. We got our things arranged, washed our floor, and being invited I went on shore and was in through this business [UNCLEAR] I felt comfortable. We breakfasted on cold water given to us by Sister Peel and about 7 the steam tug came and about 8 o’clock we were on tugged to Boston. I went on deck and enjoyed the scenery and the view of buildings next the sea as we passed along. The town is a great length along the side of the bay and presents a dazzling prospect from the water, but our joy was short for we were ordered below with orders that a man was not to stir, except by leave.

While below I got up some boiled rice, and about this time the anchor was cast and double guards were placed at each of the hatchways to prevent parties from coming to plunder us. While a number of awkward looking men came and wanted to come in our midst. About eleven I was asked to go onshore with our president and went with him and quite a number of the brethren in search for provisions and I had cheese, butter, and bread bought by Elder Brodrick [Broderick], who exerted himself as he always has done for our well-being.

The Saints had the privilege given to go on deck so I went up before Elder Brodrick [Broderick] was ready and looked abroad and Elder Brodrick [Broderick] having come to us I went out of the ship on the quay, followed by my son John, who so soon as he felt the floor, he stamped with one foot and then the other exclaiming, “I have put my feet on ground again.” I now felt joy to spring up because I had got to land and thought of those who had kissed the very ground when they first touched the shore. I felt on free soil for the gospel has made me free and I will live under its banner while I live and in death I will sail under it into another world, and in the resurrection I will be a more than conqueror under its ample folds and life giving principles through the spirit of God. [p.32]

When Elder Brodrick [Broderick] was ready in company with a many brethren we went into Boston and traveled a great part of a street that runs alongside the quay or harbor till we came to the marketplace, and there we purchased a large cheese and some butter and while [-] there the sweat flowed freely from us in consequence of our weak state, the sharp walk and the exceeding weather. The parties of whom we bought our provisions inquired where we had come from and where we were going and one gave the address of his brother-in-law who resides in Provo, Salt Lake Valley and presented me with a last Saturday’s newspaper which afforded me the news that the American government had dismissed Mr. Crampton, the English minister and that England was likely to dismiss the American minister. Strange news, what I oft feared., I felt glad I had escaped.

We got a good drinking of new bread, principally with butter and cheese, what luxury. I wrote a letter for my Brother William and finished a letter for Brother Peel, in which I enclosed my letter for brother William. I wrote much in journal and felt happy.

I got the privilege to go out again a little before 8 o’clock and in company with Brother John Pears went through a many streets, and while out we were passes by few water engines which was drawn at a good run by the men who was going to put out a fire. We should have gone further but I began to rain very hard. The rain passed off and we hastened on to ship which we reached a little after 9. The streets and houses was brilliantly lighted up by lightening ever now and then. Got some American coin for half a sovereign, I gave to Elder Brodrick [Broderick] to get changed. Attended prayer meeting and about 10 went to bed on the boards. A many put their beds on the floor in the gangway. Some slept on boxes, others on bags. Brother Litter [James Lister] and others cracked jokes and kept us our merry as pipers. [UNCLEAR]

June 28 – Beautiful day and a propitious wind brought us in sight of “Yankee Land” which is the first land that we have seen since we left sight of Ireland and truly it was beautiful. As we entered into the Bay of Boston to behold the rise and decline of hills beyond hills intersecting covered with green grass, cattle grazing, bedecked beautiful houses, rocks rising out of the water as if to resist the force of the waves. It was truly sublime to us to gaze upon it. Our hearts were cheered to behold our destined fort. We cast anchor about nine miles from the city of Boston. A pilot came on board.

From the Life History of John Jaques:

Sat. 28: Beautiful calm morning. Many small vessels seen. A thin sandy broken black streak was pronounced land which proves true, being Cape Cod. Great rejoicing at this. Towards the middle of the day a fresh breeze sprung up which sent us right into the harbor at the rate of 10 to 12 knots per hour. It was truly refreshing to see the houses, trees and the green landscape after being deprived of the privilege for some time. We cast anchor at 6 p.m. within a mile or two of Boston. As we came up the river the passengers were kept down below while the sailors were taking in sails. This was quite a deprivation, but was submitted to with patience. The captain went ashore soon after casting anchor and took with him a letter to the Daily Journal and one to President John Taylor. I saw a steamship about the harbor. There were plenty of little sailing vessels such as yachts and barges. Also a steam packet or two. The view of Boston and the vicinity is very interesting. A small hillock is an island, with trees upon it, is quite a relief to the eye.

From the Journal of Joseph Beecroft:

Saturday 28th I arose about four and looked out of the porthole but could see no land. I went to bed again, and laid till half past 5, washed, shaved, carried up water, and about 7 o’clock I hear a person say he saw land from the first landing on the mast. I ventured up and the 3 of our company to see land for the first time for near 5 weeks. About 9 o’clock we could see land very plain from the ship side of the forecastle. The same Saints seem [p.28] highly pleased with the sight. I feel grateful to my Father in Heaven for his goodness in sparing our lives to see the land of Zion, the land of the free and home of the brave. The land of Joseph’s, choice above all lands. Glory to God in the highest and goodwill to men. I got breakfast after prayer meeting, and then went on deck, and beheld from the ship side the distant hills which indeed appeared lovely to those who have been a long time deprived of the sight of [-]. I stood on the forecastle and with joyous feelings beheld our noble vessel glide rapidly through the yielding waters and bringing us nearer to the sand hills in the distance. About noon we had got opposite the hills which lay on the left side of the ship and in a short time we were opposite Cape Cod Fishery and opposite the Cape Cod Lighthouse. In the neighborhood which was a wind hill and at a short distance from this was a number of houses, the first I had beheld since the channel. We continued our course about a mile or so from the shore and could see one sandbank after another until, I discovered with my small glass, large fields clothed with waving corn and yellowing for the harvest. This sight was truly gladdening to behold. I could see the fences separating field from field. We were all ordered to our berths and having obeyed orders we saw but little of what passed, but though I took off a lock from a box and put on another yet being near our porthole I had a grand chance of seeing village after village as we passed along. We came to a point of land that retired and a great basin was formed, and we could see but the dark mountains in the distance. In a short time we came up with the land again and at this juncture I asked to go out to [-] and got on deck finding a number of Saints up, I thought I had as much right up as anyone so I stayed. For a long way as we went a short distance from one side of the shore while on the other side lay the wide ocean. As we passed along we came opposite village after village with fields interspersed between dotted here and there with trees. Now was a gentle slope inclining to the sea covered with fields, houses here and there, and then an opening beyond which we could see the water as far as we could see. By and by we came to a large [p.29] embankment which we were told was Naval Fortifications. About this time we began to be enclosed on both sides with land at a short distance and passed no less than 3 lighthouses. Here we came to little islands and then we had on our right hand an opening to the wide ocean and ships or vessels gliding in all directions. Every now and then a large boat passed us which skimmed lightly along. The individuals who manned them were dressed elegantly. The sights that presented themselves all on all sides baffles all description. Such was their grandeur, splendor, and sublimity. Among other buildings as we passed was custom house and quarantine hospital, on our right, which when we had neared, the first mate at the orders of the pilot, cast an anchor, at 25 minutes to 6 p.m., for we had got the pilot on board a little before he being brought in a light barge. He is the picture of a Yankee. Having cast anchor I came below deck and found the porthole by our berth crowded with Saints all anxious to catch a glance of things as a view was afforded through the hole. I got tea and attended to writing till we had privilege to go on deck. It was a little before sunset that we got on deck and lovely indeed was the evening as the orb of day went out of sight, right behind the city of Boston. A many boats came past us and two large ships passed for Boston. The shades of night soon followed. The setting of the sun and shut from our sight the lovely landscape that surrounded us and left the eye not to rest upon but the dim outlines of some near objects and the lights of the lamps in Boston and those of a revolving and stationary lighthouse. After chatting a little with Brother Jesse Haven upon the resources of the Americans in case of war &c. I came down and got to bed. Thus ended one of the most important days that ever dawned in my history.

Here are my finished journals for our family reunion in Martin’s Cove. On my prototype I used some scraps of mat board. But to keep the project on a tight budget mat board wasn’t practical for the real thing. I thought about chipboard but when I stopped at Hobby Lobby to see what they had I didn’t find any sheets of chipboard. What I did find was a package of 80# cardstock on clearance in neutral colors. It has some texture with coordinating core designed for sanding to make it look more rustic.

I cut the 12″x12″ sheet to 6″x8.5″ – two for each journal. Then using my wire binder punched holes in the journals and the covers. I didn’t want to use the usual wire to bind it together because I was looking for a more rustic, old-fashioned look. So I dug into my yard scraps and using a darning needle put the yarn through the punched holes is a criss-cross pattern and then tied a bow. I also tore the edge of the right edge of the front cover. I will have coordinating colored pencils at the reunion so that family members can personalize the cover of their journal if they would like.

I’m happy with how this project turned out. I kept it from getting too complicated (one of my challenges) and I kept it from getting too expensive to execute (another challenge). I hope that my family enjoys their journals and that the journals help them to connect with Mary Taylor in a new and more meaningful way.

Mother’s Day Project: Infographic inspired sheet about the mother’s in my life.

Due Date: May 13th

I got one done for my mom. I’ll post about it this week, probably tomorrow.

• 8 x 10 frames
• info on Bill’s mom
• print
• frame
• wrap

If I don’t get the info I need for Bill’s mom before Mother’s Day I think I could show her what I’m doing and she could help me figure out what she would like on her sheet.

In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.

Due Date: asap but no hurry either

• Listen to audio tape & transcribe

No progress here. Procrastination and Zodiac are my only excuses

Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.

Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion

• write text
• get illustrations from Kim

I took a thumb drive to Kim but she was sick so I haven’t gotten the first illustration yet, but I did leave her a check. I figure it is good to pay her as she completes each illustration.

Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.

Due Date: July 2012

• Decide on Binding – in process
• Logo for Reunion
• edits – waiting for mom to proof read

Still on hold. My mom is coming down this week so I’ll check with her on proof reading.

Goals for this week:

1. Finish Mother’s Day Project
2. Continue transcribing “Key West”
3. Improvements to my Blog site

The big challenge I have this week is figuring out how to get things done with a new puppy on board. How do you deal with new changes to your life and still get things done? This is an ongoing struggle for me and I have to find better ways to tackle the goals and projects of my life.

Mary Taylor

I’m in the middle of my first Generation Project. I am focusing on my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor.The first step of a Generation Project is to find your why. Here are the questions that the producers of The Generations Project have:

• What do you spend a lot of time thinking about?
• What do you hope will happen to you in the next year or two?
• Tell us a story about a life changing experience.
• What is the biggest challenge you’re facing in your life now?

As I’ve worked thought these question and pondered I’ve decided that the challenge I want/need the most help with now is with the Telling Family Tales web site. I really want this blog to be meaningful. I have a vision of it being a place where all or at least most of the resources that someone wanting to record and keep family stories can come to learn what they need to complete their project. This feels like an overwhelming tasks and I don’t know if I can do it. But I want to. I’ve wanted to do something to help others be more effective in telling their family stories for many years. Then a few months ago the idea of a gathering place of not just what I have done but others information too developed in my mind and that seemed to make so much sense.This idea will take a long time to really develop and I worry if I have what it takes to make it a reality. I’ve taken a few small steps, but for me starting is the easy part. I have much more trouble with staying on task and completing a project.

My great-great-grandmother survived through some really tough stuff and found ways to thrive. I want to find that same kind of strength in me. So there is my why. I’ll post about step two – populate your tree next week.

In the meantime as part of my upcoming Martin’s Cove experience I started sending out emails to those in my family who coming about important dates along Mary’s journey from England to Salt Lake City. I’m going to a series of short posts called 156 years ago today to go along with those emails. I hope you enjoy them.

What are your biggest challenges? Are you thinking about doing a Generations Project too?

in process illustration by Kimberli Johnson of Mary and her mother

I’m so excited about this project! The goal of this project is to tell the story of my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor and her journey to Utah and do it in a way that is appealing to children of all ages. She was born in England and joined the Martin Handcart Company traveling to Utah in 1856. The fun part of this is that it will be a children’s book with about 30 illustrations. My niece, Kimberli is a talented young illustrator and she has agreed to take on this project.

The scary part of this project is that it looks like I might have to do the writing. I don’t consider myself a writer so this is a stretch for me. I’m hoping that someone will come along who is excited about the book and want to take on the author role. In the mean time it is up to me to move things forward.

Not a lot to show for it yet but the pieces are in place and they will move forward as life let them. We are planning a small square book that we will have printed by blurb. Kim and I have worked up an outline, starting with some ideas that her dad took from reading a history about Mary’s life. And you can see what she has done so far on in the illustration above. Here is an outline of what the book will cover and the illustrations or each spread or page.

• Illustration #1 cover (Mary)

• Illustration #2-page 1- title page
• Illustration #3-pages 2 & 3- Mary Taylor born in England and in small village of Coton-in-the-Elms, that means cottage in the Elms. (image of Mary, her mother & village)
• Illustration #4 –pages 4 & 5 – When Mary was little her parents, Joseph and Harriet, heard the missionaries tell about Jesus and Heavenly Father’s visit to the prophet Joseph Smith. Her family read about Jesus in the Book of Mormon and all were baptized. (baptism)
• Illustration #5 – pages 6 & 7 – Mary learns how to sew dresses and marries William Upton They all wanted to go to Zion in America to receive temple blessings, be with the saints, and hear the prophet. The prophet, Brigham Young, had a plan to help Mormons, like Mary, go to Zion for less money. They would pull handcarts, instead of needing horses or oxen to pull wagons. (wedding)
• Illustration #6 – pages 8 & 9 - In 1856 Mary and her family sailed with other Mormons on the ship Horizon from Liverpool, England to Boston, in America. Some days the seas were rough, making all 856 people seasick, including an old woman who lost her false teeth when she heaved over the ship’s railing. (Horizon)
• Illustration #7 – page 10 & 11 – Near America, the ship was surrounded by thick fog, because the saints prayed the fog parted just in time for the ship to avoid an iceberg and then the fog surrounded the ship again. (Fog)
• Illustration #8 – pages 12 & 13 -  From Boston to Iowa City, Mary’s family road in train cars used for cows. When the train stopped one night a mob of angry men surrounded the sleeping Mormons and threatened them but the Lord blessed them so the mob left without hurting anyone. In Cleveland they helped put out a fire. (Train)
• Illustration #9 – page 14 & 15 -  The weather was hot when Mary’s family loaded a wooden handcart to pull and push across the plains from Iowa to the saints in Zion. They slept in round tents with their feet toward the middle and cooked over fires. (Tents & Camp)
• Illustration #10 – pages 16 & 17 -  Mary walked all day pushing and pulling a handcart with her mother, father, husband and cousin in the Martin Handcart Company. One day, Indians rode by the handcarts. The Indians did not hurt the pioneers. (Indians & Trail)
• Illustration #11 – pages 18 & 19 – At Winter Quarters in Nebraska, the pioneers rested for a few days, bought more food, fixed handcarts, and the children swam in the river. (Winter Quarters)
• Illustration #12 – pages 20 & 21 - It was a long hard journey and Mary would sing the handcart song to help her continue on the long journey, day after day. The pioneers were running out of food. Elder Willard Richards, an apostle, rode ahead to tell the prophet that the pioneers needed help and more food. All the pioneers prayed every day. (Singing & Willard Richards)
• Illustration #13 – pages 22 & 23 -  Near fort Laramie, more Indians visited Mary and the pioneers. The Indian children shared candied fruit with the pioneer children. At the fort they hoped to buy more food and clothes, but they had sold all the food. (Fort Laramie & Indians)
• Illustration #14 – pages 24 & 25 – One day as they crossed the Platte River it started to snow hard and it was very cold. Mary and the pioneers had to wade across the river. It was so cold there was ice floating in the river. (Platte River)
• Illustration #15 – pages 26 & 27 -  When Elder Richards got to Salt Lake City it told the prophet, Brigham Young that Mary and the other pioneers needed food and help. The prophet told the men to gather food and wagons to go save the pioneers and he ended church early. (Brigham Young)
• Illustration #16 – pages 28 & 29 – Burt Simmons already had a stout carriage full of food. He was ready and left to save the pioneers before the other wagons. (Burt Simmons)
• Illustration #17 – pages 30 & 31 -  Mary Taylor was very hungry and cold. None of the pioneers had enough food. Some of them died, including Mary’s Father, Mother and her husband. (Death)
• Illustration #18 – pages 32 & 33 – They stopped for several days to wait for the storm to end in a place now called Martin’s Cove. Burt Simmons and the rescue wagons found Mary and saved the Martin Handcart pioneers. (Martin’s Cove & Rescue)
• Illustration #19 – pages 34 & 35 – Burt Simmons took Mary home where is wife nursed Mary back to health. (in bed)
• Illustration #20 – pages 36 & 37 – Later Mary married in the temple and had nine children. She taught them about Jesus and Heavenly Father. (temple & children)
• Illustration #21 – pages 38 & 39 –  (Mary & Irene sitting between Mary’s knees playing with a doll)
• Illustration #22 – page 40 – Because Mary joined the saints in Zion, her great, great, grandchildren learn about Jesus in the Book of Mormon and follow the prophet. (posterity – single page)
• Illustration #33 – back cover (this might actually be part of the front cover Illustration that just wraps around to the back cover)

I’ll post updates as this project moves forward. I can’t wait to see how it develops. Do you have any dream projects like this, that you have done or hope to do?

In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.

Due Date: asap

• Listen to audio tape & transcribe

I didn’t progress like I hoped I would but at least I got something done. I put all the photos I have from Key West on my parents Kindle. Now my dad can look at the photos and record information about them. I think I’m a bit intimidated by the thought of transcribing an audio tape. I haven’t had to tackle this before. I just need to get started on it and over come my procrastination.

Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.

Due Date: July 2012

• Decide on Binding – in process
• Logo for Reunion
• edits – waiting for mom to proof read

As I reported in another post I gave the proof copy to my mom to check over for mistakes. I’ll probably let this project rest until I hear back from her.

Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.

Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion

• write text
• get illustrations from Kim

Nothing done on this last week other than giving my mom a copy of the outline. I feel like I should do some more reading about the Martin Handcart company before I try to tackle the narrative. Also until Kim gets a few of the illustrations done there is no pressing need.

Goals for this week:

So this week I’m going to dig into the Key West project and give it my focus.

1. Start transcribing “Key West”
2. Explore more binding options for “Martin’s Cove Journal”
3. Check with Kim on “Mary”

Although I didn’t get to the Key West transcribing last week I did do another task that has been on my  list for a long, long time, cleaning up my hard drives. Even though it isn’t directly working on family stories it will help as I look for things and save new projects. Over the last few years I ended up with 4 different hard drives with info. My main computer was in good order but the other three drives were a mess, with stuff scattered everywhere. It could still use some more organizing with in some of the folders but at least now all the history stuff is in one place as well as all the photos. Plus I have a plan for where everything needs to go.

What tactics do you use to keep all the info in you life in order? I work hard at being organized but with varying success so I’m always open to new ideas.

cover of Martin's Cove Journal

I’m really excited about how this came together. I was hoping it wouldn’t take too much time and I really tried to keep it simple. But at the same time I wanted it to have some personality, to help draw people into the experience at Martin’s Cove. When I did this cover with the only photo I’ve ever seen of Mary Taylor, I noticed how much she reminds me of my Grandmother. I don’t know why I haven’t seen the resemblance before.

credit page & find your why page - Martin's Cove Journal

This first spread is a place to give credit where I got my information and to give space for family members to journal about why they came to Martin’s Cove and what they hope to learn from the experience. My hope here is to help each person take the this opportunity to do their own generation project.

Our Family Tree - Martin's Cove Journal

This next spread is for the second step of a generations project – populate your tree. I filled in the basics of the information that is common for everyone who is coming to the reunion. They will each have to fill in the left side of the tree depending on who they are. This was a little tricky to figure out how to lay it out. I hope that it is clear on how each family member connects back to Mary Taylor.

content pages - Martin's Cove Journal

The rest of the pages up to the last page look like the page above. On the left had side there is a simple timeline of events along with excerpt from “Some Must Push and Some Must Pull; Mary Taylor, handcart Pioneer And Her Descendants”  by a distant cousin Kenneth L. Rasmussen. The right hand page of each spread is for journaling. At the bottom of the journaling pages is a date from history. The purpose of these pages are to help each person to “mix it with history” and “walk in their shoes” as suggested by The Generations Project.

The Handcart Song - Martin's Cove Journal

The last page of the book is the words to a favorite song of my great-great-grandmother, “The Handcart Song”. She sang this song not just while she was crossing the plans but all her life. I want to learn all the verses and help my family to learn it too.

I’ll do another post later in the week on the “how to” of putting this journal together and if I figure out how, I’ll have an InDesign template that you can download and adapt to your needs.

In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.

Due Date: asap

• Listen to audio tape & transcribe
• Gather photos and documents

I still didn’t get anything done on this last week, but I did think about getting to it, if that counts for anything.

Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.

Due Date: July 2012

• Template and master pages – done
• Time Line – done
• Quotes from Journals etc. – done
• Decide on Binding – in process
• Logo for Reunion

I made great progress on this last week. It needs checking over for mistakes and I’m still contemplating the binding. I’m really happy with how it came together. I’ll post on the details tomorrow. I haven’t done a logo for the Reunion and now I’m not sure if it is necessary. Maybe I’ll put that to the back burner and revisit it in a month or two.

Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.

Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion

• Decide on number of pages – done
• Flesh out outline – done

I’m really happy with what I got done on this too. After doing the timeline for the Martin’s Cove Journal I had a clearer idea of what should happen in this book. I took the outline that Eric did and consolidated a few things to one illustration and added a few thing. I sent a list to Kim of the illustrations we need and the basics of what the text will cover for each illustration. It a 40 page book, which is a very cost-effective number for Blurb where we plan to have it printed.

Goals for this week:

So this week I’m going to dig into the Key West project and give it my focus.

1. Start transcribing “Key West”
2. Give “Martin’s Cove Journal” to my mom to proof read
3. Explore more binding options for “Martin’s Cove Journal”
4. Check with Kim on “Mary”

I really liked having this post to check back on during the week to help me be more focused in what I’m doing. I have a tendency to get sidetracked on projects other than what I should work on. How do you keep yourself focused on a particular task? Or do you just go with the flow? What works for you?

1. imagine
2. plan
3. create
4. edit
5. design
6. publish

and see how that works for me. In the past I have jumped to the design stage too fast and it ends up taking more time than necessary. Part of the journey of this blog is for me to learn and improve as I share what I find with others. So I took some time this week to imagine what I want the end product.

• compact
• rustic
• durable
• timeline of events
• excerpts from journals & stories
• space to journal, draw, add photos
• historical info
• pedigree chart

I’ve decided to make it simple to self publish with my printer and a copier, I’ll make it 8.5″ x 5.5″ (half sheet of letter size paper). Don’t know how I’m going to bind it yet. If I can’t figure anything else out I’ll use wire binding because I can do that myself. I think I’ll have a bit of rustic/grunge on the pages that will help add an old feel to the journal.

I started working on the timeline of events and journal excerpts from sources on the internet and a book recently published by a distant cousin, Kenneth L. Rasmussen “Some Must Push and Some Must Pull: Mary Taylor, handcart pioneer And Her Descendants.” I found a great timeline for the Willie company but I found out that much of the documentation for the Martin handcart company was lost. There is some conflicting information that I’m going to have to decide how to resolve. Plus I need to decide how much is enough. I don’t want a big long comprehensive journal, just enough to give my family some background and a sense of what happened to Mary.

The general plan of the layout of the journal is to have the timeline in a side bar down the left side, with excerpts from journals on the rest of the left hand page. Then I’ll keep the right hand page on each spread open for thoughts, sketches etc.

What kind of approach do you use when you start a new project and as you progress through? I’d love to hear and learn from your experiences.

The Medway and Chatham from Fort Pitt Hill, Rochester.©David Porter

In 1803, in America, the present was another country. Few Americans knew anything about the land west of the Missouri, so President Jefferson sent an expedition of thirty men, led by two young soldiers Lewis and Clark, to explore and map the wilderness.

U.S.stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition

They didn’t know how long they would be away, or how vast was the country that lay ahead. Dinner was uppermost in their minds and much of their time was spent hunting and foraging for food, which they cooked in a type of pot the early settlers had brought with them from England, the Dutch Oven. Two and half years later Lewis and Clark returned, and wagon trains began spreading westwards towards the Pacific. In the mid 19th Century nearly 3,000 Mormon pioneers, many of them religious refugees from England, pulled handcarts 1,300 miles from Iowa to Utah. No covered wagons for these poor people but hanging proudly from their carts was a Dutch oven.

Mormon Handcart Pioneer Monument in Salt Lake, with Dutch Oven. ©Morris A. Thurston

Americans still celebrate their ancestors reliance on the Dutch oven, holding cook-offs at Dutch Oven Gatherings (DOGs). The DOG season has just started in America, and one favourite dish is the old English ‘pot pie’, also known as a ‘cobbler’. Pot pies are as old as pastry making, and were a regular item on the menus of  grand houses in England and France; the ‘four-and-twenty blackbird’ pie was a pot pie.  Americans really took pot pies, or cobblers, to their hearts. Regional variations come with colourful names: the Grunt in Massachusetts, the Slump in Vermont, the Buckle, the Betty, and the Sonker! The Brown Betty is a bit like a bread pudding, and the Pandowdy is similar to an apple crumble. The ‘Washington Post’ commented that the phrase “as American as apple pie” should really be “as American as a cobbler”.

Maybe the name came about because they resemble cobblestones, or perhaps because small round loaves were called ‘cobs’ in England. Sometimes uncooked biscuits or suet dumplings were scattered on top of the filling, giving the appearance of a ‘cobbled’ road when the pie was cooked. The ‘Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America’ says: “Without brick ovens, colonial cooks often made cobblers in pots over an open fire. As cobblers cook, the filling stews and creates its own sauce and gravy, while the pastry puffs up and dries.” English recipes tend to use a scone type of dough, and in America they use a more crisp pastry.

Dutch Oven ©The Yurt Farm

The Dutch Oven is perhaps the single most important item of cooking equipment in the history of cooking, a simple cauldron with three legs to raise it above the fire and a flat lid with a raised lip allowing coals to be scattered on top; the lid can be used by itself as a skillet. A wire handle attached to the pot allowed the Dutch Oven to be hung over a fire. We still have these pots but now they’ve lost their legs, the lids are rounded, and we call them ‘casseroles’. The hardware shops of Deptford sell ‘Dutch Pots’ or ‘Dutchies’, aluminium pots in varying sizes but no legs, and if you search the internet you’ll find camping shops selling the real thing, a cast iron Dutch oven with legs.  In the 17th Century saucepans were mostly made from brass and very expensive. They were handed down through generations, George Washington’s mother stipulated in her will that her ‘kitchen iron-work’ should be divided between her grandchildren. Iron pots were cheaper but heavier, more difficult to make and liable to crack.  At school I learned about Abraham Darby and the Industrial Revolution, he was the inventor of the coke-fuelled blast furnace. Darby was manufacturing brass cooking pots in Bristol when in 1704 he travelled to Holland to study a new iron-casting method utilising sand moulds. He brought his skills and some Dutch workers back to England where he carried on experimenting and perfected the iron casting process, making thinner, lighter, and stronger pots.

Abraham Darby's blast furnaces at Coalbrookdale at night, by Philipp James de Loutherbourg

He moved to bigger works in Coalbrookdale and patented his casting method in 1707 monopolising the cast iron cooking pot market in Britain and America for the next 200 years. There’s something reassuringly sturdy and no-nonsense about cast iron cookware. We have quite a collection of frying pans, griddle pans and pots. I like the gritty blackness of them and the way you never really clean them, they just get better and better. ‘Seasoning’ it’s called, which is now a family joke.  Anything I buy or acquire that just sits unused in a corner is described as ‘seasoning’ till the time is right. I’ve a dishwasher seasoning at the moment.

'Man About Town' January 1961.

I’ve been taking pictures since I was three, first with my big sister’s box camera which often jammed. Then I’d watch her disappear under the eiderdown to open the camera and free the film.  Then she bought a Brownie 127, and I was given a small camera from Woolworths that took 16 pictures on 127 film. It had a plastic tartan case and a wire viewfinder. I’ve still got it somewhere. When I was eleven I started developing my films in my bedroom, see-sawing the rolls through glass rollers in a shallow tank and total darkness before making contact prints.  I decided I would be a photographer, my sister Christine encouraged me bringing home the latest cutting-edge magazines with shots by the trendy triumvirate of Duffy, Donovan, and Bailey. ‘Man About Town’.  American ‘Esquire’, ‘Queen’, and American ‘Look’ featured inspiring photographs by Irving Penn and William Klein.  Sunday supplements appeared featuring photographers such as Don McCullin and Art Kane.

Don McCullin photographs the Liverpool 8 poets for the Telegraph Magazine, March 1967.

I saved these magazines, cutting out the pictures and sticking them into scrap books. I still have a serious magazine habit, but now I buy most of my glossies from the stall in Deptford Market on Wednesdays, ’3 for £4′, and my home is stuffed with hundreds, probably thousands of magazines.

Wednesday's Deptford Market, the magazine stall.

My poor mother was dismayed, Christine had been to Wimbledon art school for three years, and her horizons had been broadened. I went to Wimbledon Saturday mornings when I was 10 or 11, but she hoped I’d grow out of it. “Photography is a very expensive hobby,” she said at every opportunity. Followed by a stern, “You needn’t think you’re going to art school.”  But I was quietly single-minded, borrowing all the photography books from the library and staring wistfully into the windows of the local camera shop.

Bill Brandt's 1937 picture of a snicket in Halifax, from my Time-Life book 'The Art of Photography', laying on some exposed cobbles in Ashby Road, London SE4.

I tended towards contrasty images of urban black and white emptiness, my favourite picture was Bill Brandt’s shot of  a ‘snicket’, a steep ramp of cobbles in Halifax. Christine went to New York for a holiday and came back with “Message From The Interior”, a book of photographs by Walker Evans who became my latest hero.

'Message From The Interior' a collection of photographs © Walker Evans, published by the Eakins Press in New York 1966.

“What was New York like?” I asked her, starry-eyed. “If you don’t look up, it’s just like Tooting,” she said.  Luckily my sister’s campaign to get me into art school didn’t waver, and when I was about 16 she bought me a Leica IIIc with a collapsible lens. I left school and took a job so I could buy a second-hand MPP enlarger with all the dishes, paper, and chemicals. When I’d assembled a few prints Christine organised the college applications and then drove me around the country from interview to interview till I found a place in Rochester. Where I met Clarissa, who in the picture below is walking down Constitution Hill in Swansea modelling an Ossie Clark dress for my college-leaving portfolio.

Clarissa modelling an Ossie Clark/Radley dress, on Constitution Hill in Swansea.

That picture by Bill Brandt of cobbles fascinated me. The streets around my home were once laid with granite setts, and when the surface breaks-up the cobbles reappear. Some streets and mews are still cobbled, Comet Street off Deptford High Street for instance, and Greenwich Market. Lewisham has its own ‘snicket’, White Post Lane. Not so dramatic as the Halifax street but still evocative of a mysterious bygone era.

White Post Lane

The streets east of White Post Lane were built in an old quarry, their names give it away: Loampit Hill previously known as Lome Pitt Hole,  Sandrock Road, Cliffview, Fossil, Overcliff, and so on. White Post Lane is much older than the houses and used to run along the quarry’s edge from the brick field to Loampit Hill. The cobbled stretch may date from the old quarry workings it seems out of place among the late 19th and early 20th Century houses.

Faulkeners Brick Kiln and Quarry near White Post Lane,1810. Image from ideal-homes.org.uk

Fours years after art school and at last I was working for magazines photographing rock royalty and some fashion. One day we’d been on a fashion shoot and gave the model a lift home to Chelsea. She invited us in for a coffee, and introduced us to her bemused boyfriend Terry. I was star-struck, more impressed than I’d been meeting Paul McCartney.

Terry de Havilland. Cobbler to The World. Courtesy of matchesfashion.com

Terry de Havilland was the cobbler of the moment, a genius. I had several pairs of platform shoes including a multi-coloured snakeskin pair, a rip-off of Terry’s design. He was very nice and friendly as a proper cockney cobbler should be, and despite his trendy credentials as nice as pie. His shop was on the Kings Road, “Cobblers To The World”, and I’m pleased to say he is still making fantastic shoes.

My recipe is for a Beef Cobbler, real rib-sticking comfort food.  You don’t need  a Dutch oven to cook a cobbler just the modern equivalent, the casserole dish.

Beef Cobbler

Beef Cobbler

Preparation time : 10 – 15 minutes

Cooking times : 90 minutes (but can be started the day before and cooked in two stages)

Ingredients : (makes 3 or 4 portions)

For the filling,

2 or 3 tbs beef dripping

2 tbs plain flour

Rock salt and freshly ground pepper (to season the flour)

975g beef, I used shin of beef, cut into generous cubes

225g banana shallots, sliced (or 2 small onions, but the shallots are sweeter)

300 ml beef stock

300 ml red wine

4 pickled walnuts, quartered, with 125ml of the vinegar from the jar

2 tbs tomato purée

Bouquet garni of thyme, parsley and bay tied together

For the topping,

450g plain flour

1 tsp English mustard powder

5 tsp baking powder

Salt and pepper

110g butter, cubed

50g walnuts, crushed

2 tbs chopped parsley

300ml milk

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Some fresh sage leaves

Method :

Melt 2 tbs of the dripping in your casserole dish (mine is 23cm diameter and 10cm deep and it is cast iron). Dust the cubed beef in seasoned flour and brown in batches in the melted dripping before removing with a slotted spoon to a plate.

Add the remaining dripping and soften the shallots., then de-glaze the pan, shallots and all, with the wine, the stock, and a wine glass of the vinegar from the pickled walnuts. Stir-in the tomato purée and return the meat to the dish. Add the pickled walnuts and tuck-in the herbs, take care that the meat is covered by the stock, if not add more beef stock or wine. Cover the casserole with the lid and simmer very gently for three-quarters of an hour.

While this happening, prepare the pastry top. Sift the flour and the baking powder into a large mixing bowl and season with pepper, salt and the mustard powder. Rub in the butter till the mixture resembles bread crumbs and then add the chopped parsley and the chopped walnuts, and stir-in the milk. Knead lightly in the bowl, or tip out and knead, whichever suits you, till everything is combined.

Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes, or until you are ready. Remove the herbs from the casserole. Take the chilled dough and flatten it with your hands so you have a circle roughly the same size as the casserole lid. You could press the lid gently onto the dough to give you a template for the amount you need to make the cobblers.

Cut across the dough in opposite directions and take each square and using your hands roll it into a ball before flattening it slightly and placing on top of the meat in the casserole. When you’ve finished brush the dough with egg-wash and scatter with some fresh sage leaves.

Cover the casserole with the lid and put into your oven pre-heated to 200C for 10 minutes. Then remove the lid and continue to cook for a further 20 – 30 minutes at 190C.

The cobbler will be golden and crisp on top and underneath steamy, sticky, and soft, the dough having wrapped itself around the beef!

©2012 David Porter

In the Company of Angels by David Farland is a
moving story, told through the eyes of three historical characters: James Willie, the handcart company’s captain, Eliza Gadd, the agnostic wife of a faithful British convert and a mother with several children, and Baline Mortensen, a Danish child, sent ahead to America by parents who feared persecutors in Denmark might target her. The storyline is familiar: The 1856 Willie Handcart Company gets a late start on their westward journey. Traveling with poorly constructed carts made of green wood and without sufficient provisions, these Mormon pioneers suffer horrendous losses as the weather and terrain turn against them. Salvation comes via a massive rescue effort,  launched from Utah by Brigham Young immediately upon his learning of the  company’s plight. Farland overcomes the foreknown plot with top-notch  characterization. Readers—especially LDS readers—will respect Eliza Gadd, whose pride both drives her away from acceptance of the Mormon gospel and propels her to travel west with the Mormon converts. Likewise, readers will give their  hearts to Baline, the spunky and kindly young girl who voluntarily works—and  suffers—as much as any adult on the journey.

However, thecharacterization of James Willie is, in my eyes, the most remarkable and memorable, the element that exalts this book above the traditional fare of faithful Mormon novels. It is also the characterization which is most likely to put off some devout LDS readers. Willie, the company’s captain and priesthood leader, is presented as a flawed man. But not flawed according to the school of Gerald Lund, who tends to conveniently craft a character’s weakness as his strength. Willie’s flaw is more real-world; it is his stubborn exercise of a faith that borders on arrogance. It can be painful to read about Willie’s certainty that God will stay the storm and provide for the physical needs of this band of traveling Saints, knowing God will, in the end, do no such thing.  That said, Willie’s flaw is not so much misplaced faith but that his faith has a tragically limited scope. While Farland leaves room for readers to reach their own conclusion about Willie, he depicts the company’s leader as a hero who learns the hard way that faith is complicated, that sometimes trusting  in God means submission, not protection. Farland’s rendition of Captain Willie is a triumph which places In the Company of Angels squarely in the “edgy” category of LDS fiction. Serious students and serious writers of serious MoLit are advised to read and study this aspect of Farland’s novel.

But usually where there’s meat, there’s also some gristle. This is the point where I should give a spoiler alert, or issue a warning that I’m about to discuss the ending of the novel. Theoretically, though, this isn’t possible because I can’t spoil an ending that doesn’t exist. For a reason I cannot fathom, Farland chose not to write this story to an appropriate conclusion. In fact, he leaves both the survivors (literally) and the readers (figuratively) out in the cold by not taking the Willie Handcart Company into the Salt Lake Valley. For that matter, he doesn’t bring the bulk of the rescue party to them. Rather, he leaves the sick and freezing survivors at a mass grave beside a camp, only aware that full rescue is pending. Considering how many times the characters had their hopes dashed along the way, plotting an end that isn’t the end of the journey, but only the hope of the end of the journey, is more than unsatisfying. Its  disastrous.  It’s like ending a “true” football movie before the winning touchdown, or a film about the Triple Crown before the final lengths are run. It makes no sense. I cannot know what the author was thinking as he put the final period to his manuscript, but I suspect that, because the final chapters of In the Company of Angels are emotionally charged, Farland mistakenly thought the gravitas of these final scenes would be enough to overcome the expectation his readership has of seeing these Saints arrive in Salt Lake. He was wrong.

To be fair, Farland does use his Afterword to provide biographical sketches of the historical characters and, through it, he explains to readers how the lives of the actual people played out. But an Afterword is not a functional part of a plotline. Traditionally, it is an explanation of how the book came to be. While the sketches are very interesting to read, Farland’s reliance on them to finish out the plot is something just shy of negligent.

Still, in spite of its problematic non-ending, In the Company of Angels is a valiant, emotional re-telling of one of the most moving chapters of early Mormonism. I rooted for these characters, hoped not only against all odds but against historical fact that things would go well for them, and I cried with both joy and sorrow throughout. This is a novel that bravely sets out to paint a harshly realistic picture of events. Punches are not pulled for the sake of delicate Mormon sensibilities. It is well worth a reader’s time and deserves its status as a Whitney Best Book of the Year. Certainly, the novel’s glitches do not cancel out its triumphs, and I encourage Farland to continue bringing his edgy side to Mormon fiction. I consider it a must-read in Mormon historical fiction. Just plan on reading the Afterword as if it were part of the main plot.

Reader/Reviewer Discussion, posted to list 7.14.2001:

Wm Morris: I think is a fantastic review, Lisa.

Rsponse:

WM, thanks for the compliment.

Audience is key here. I considered discussing that about the novel. If Farland only hopes for Mormon readers, then your argument has legs, though I think wobbly.
Very wobbly. But let me stick with audience and save the exacting details about
wobbles for another time.

You are right. Mormon readers do know what happened to the Willie Handcart Company, but who else does? Unless its some 5th grader who just finished a unit on westward expansion in their elementary school, not many do. There is evidence
in the text suggesting  Farland did not intend this novel to be solely for Mormons. For instance, at one point he interjects his authorial voice and explains what a priesthood blessing is. He wouldn’t do that if he only thought he was writing for Mormons. Here’s the paragraph:

A blessing was a ceremony performed by Mormon men who held the priesthood. Just as Christ had healed the sick and raised the dead in his day, men who held the priesthood would lay their hands upon the head of the sick and call upon God to heal the person. (107)

If you’re going to say all his readers know what happens to the Willie Handcart Company, I think you’d have to say they’d all know about priesthood blessings. He wasn’t writing only for Mormons and therefore would have been foolish to assume everyone knows what happens to the Willie Handcart Company. Why write the Afterword in the manner he did if he was relying on everyone already knowing? (Of course, I don’t think he needs this kind of explanation at all. Its Tell, not Show. Show your non-member audience what a blessing is. They aren’t stupid. But that, too, is another discussion. And one I’ll be addressing some at lisatorcassodowning.com within the next day or so.)

I understand that those familiar with the story may be okay with the ending, and you are right: it is because they already KNOW the ending. At the conclusion of the novel, I, for one, am not satisfied that I’ve seen the full arc of Eliza’s character, particularly in light of the suppositions Farland makes about her in the Afterword. If Farland is going to make the assumptions he makes about her, he should bother to write it out. Wow. Think of the emotion he missed there by not taking her story to completion. If its powerful in exposition in the Afterword, it would/could/should be over-the-moon good written fictionally.

I believe if he’d written the “proper” ending, even the readers who know
the ending would be happier. Of course, we’ll never be able to prove readers
would like the story better if it were written out because that ending wasn’t
written. There’s no comparison to make between the two. But like I said, would
audiences have liked the movie Secretariat more if the movie ended before they actually saw the horse win the Belmont? Everyone knows he’s going to win. But we all know it wouldn’t be the best ending of a film.

Again, the book is strong and shouldn’t be missed. But I stand by what I wrote. And I love David Farland, Dave Wolverton, or any other incarnation he takes on at a later date. But he made me want to scream on this one. So I kinda did in this review.

Lisa Downing

In appreciating, respecting, and admiring that he has such a proud ancestral heritage and lineage, I began to feel like I needed to learn more about my own lineage. And I set about to do so, learning of a strong maternal Norwegian emigrant lineage and an equally strong paternal German emigrant lineage. But that is as far as it got for me – people’s names but not so much their stories. I have to admit I envied my husband who had actual accounts and stories of his emigrant English lineage in the Mormon migration under Brigham Young . Having learned of and read my husband’s book, I had a great empathy for the hardships the people of the handcart companies endured in their pilgrimages, with the Willie and Martin handcart companies enduring the unendurable.

Reading the later book by David Roberts, ‘Devil’s Gate, Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy’ I found myself in an uneasy place in recognizing this historical migration does not belong strictly to Mormon history but more appropriately belongs to American history. The unease for me, I think, comes in the efforts by the LDS Church to minimize the extent of the cruelties and hardships endured by the emigrant migrants in making their way from native countries to the great Zion of Salt Lake Utah by a means prescribed by one man – Brigham Young and adhered to by his ardent followers – the early Mormons.

Essentially I am struck by how it was conceivable in his mind (Brigham Young) that women, children, men should travel in approaching winter months across the Rocky Mountains with so little in the way of clothing and food; much less the tortuous manner of travel in the energy required to be exerted in pulling handcarts minus anything resembling conditions facilitating the necessary amount of sustenance required to do so day after day.

With an inaccurate record of the recorded deaths along the treks of both the Willie and Martin handcart companies, it is nonetheless considered by history to be one of the greater tragedies of the American migration westward, with an exceedingly high number of (un-necessary) deaths. The number of deaths from the combined Willie and Martin handcart companies could be put at approximately 200, exceeding the number of deaths on the historically famously known Donner Party pilgrimage.

In what appears to be a long term historical effort by the LDS Church to turn human travesty and needless suffering into a story of faith and testimony elevating the LDS Church and beliefs, at the expense of the real faith of those who suffered, I find that I have come to resent the presentation of this history that has been so guarded by the Church in a false belief that it belongs to Mormon history. As long as it is permitted to belong to Mormon history, the narrative of the story is colored by the agenda of the LDS Church. That I do not resent, but rather understand and permit that the Church like any other institution wishing to present itself in a more favorable light will write the narrative to it’s own agreeable satisfaction.

However, the history of the Willie and Martin handcart company does not belong strictly to Mormon history, nor does the LDS church have ownership of the narrative. It is a history that better belongs to the whole of American history, and not in the glorious form of hardy, valiant and persevering souls as is presented in Mormon history but to be added to the numerous tragedies that abound in the American history of westward migration.

I recommend the book and even taking into consideration that the author wished to compile the content in a way as to point to accountability and culpability of Brigham Young and his adherents in this fatalistic crossing, one cannot help but come away from the book disturbed with the mechanisms that fostered the horrific conditions suffered by the people of these two handcart companies who undertook the journey. Their Personal Faith is a testament to Faith with a capital F. I am not sure it is a testament or testimony to the belief set of the LDS Church or Mormon beliefs, but I absolutely know it is a testament of Faith.

How dare the LDS Church take credit unto itself for the strength and determination of the personal faith of those pioneering souls!They came and they persevered with an internal and personal faith beyond the comprehension of the LDS Church. I claim their courage as a testimony to human capacity of internal faith that fosters extraordinary human endurance in the face of great odds. I believe such faith rarely belongs exclusively to any Church but is unto itself the depth of which faith can help humans to persevere in the face of much adversity.