Pioneer History
See below for 3 stories of individuals who participated in the Pioneer Treks, A brief History of Handcart Pioneers, and books that can be read for more in-depth study of those who walked those 1,300 miles.
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Emily and Julia Hill
Emily Hill at age 12 heard the gospel from some missionaries in England. She wanted to join the church but her parents forbid her from doing so. Later her older sister Julia, 15, also heard the missionaries and also desired to join. Both of them tried to read the scriptures and strengthen their faith while hoping someday to join the church. When they were 16 and 19 they were permitted to join and went to work to earn money to come to Salt Lake. After making enough money, they boarded the ship Horizon, much to
the sadness of their parents, and traveled with the Willie Handcart Company. They assisted a widowed mother with 5 children throughout the journey. These 2 young teenage girls stuck together and at one point, Emily, freezing herself, lifted Julia from the snow and got her going again after collapsing at the summit of Rocky Ridge. After suffering much, both girls ended up making it to Zion and both married men from the rescue party. They each had lives full of difficulty after arriving in Salt Lake. They both buried several children, and Emily had her first husband abandon her and 2 small children. But they never lost their faith and bore testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel until they died. Emily was told that her gift of poetry would bless thousands. Her poetry was later put to music and she wrote the lyrics to “As Sisters in Zion” and the Primary Children’s song “Let the Little Children Come.”
James Kirkwood
James Kirkwood was an 11 year old boy with tremendous courage. He traveled from Scotland with his mother and 3 brothers. His father died a few years prior to their leaving. Traveling with the Willie Company, his main responsibility was to watch over his 4 year old brother, Joseph Smith Kirkwood. One morning they left their camp near the Sweetwater and had to make a 15 mile climb in a horrible snow storm. They became separated from their mother in the storm. 4 year old Joseph’s shoes had worn out and his feet were numb. He fell down and started to cry. James tried to encourage him, but Joseph couldn’t take another step. James carried him on his shoulders, then in his arms, and then back on his shoulders. They were one of the last into the camp that night. Finally they saw the fire burning ahead and new they were close. With determination, he had faithfully carried out his task and saved his brother. James was so exhausted from the cold, starvation, and from carrying his little brother, that he sat down next to the fire and never spoke another word. He died the next morning and was buried with twelve others.
The McBride Family
Robert and Margaret McBride and their 5 children joined the church in England and boarded the ship “Horizon” and headed to Zion. During the long pull across Nebraska and Wyoming, Robert and Margaret became so weak they had to rely heavily on their two oldest teenagers, Jenetta (16) and Heber (13). They became the caretakers of the youngest 3 children. Heber wrote, “Mother being sick and nothing for her comfort, she failed very fast. She would start out in the morning and walk as far as she could. Then she would give out and lie down and wait until we came along. …Father also began to fail very rapidly and got so reduced that he could not pull any more at the handcart …. No tongue or pen could tell what my sister and I passed through, our parents both sick and us so young”. These two valiant teenagers put their mother and father in the handcart, on and off, and pulled them along when they were too weak. Unfortunately their father passed away after crossing the Platte River more than 25 times one day, needing help himself, but instead helping others across. 16 year old Jenetta later wrote: “No matter what it cost, it was worth it. All my life I bore testimony of my thankfulness that I had
made the journey…. 13 year old Heber later wrote to his granddaughter: “I know the gospel is true. It is worth all the suffering we went through for it. Be faithful …. And the Lord will guide you and bless you throughout your life.”
A Brief History
of the
Handcart Pioneers
By the mid-1850s the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints needed a less expensive ways to move poor immigrants from Europe to Utah. The Perpetual Emigrating Fund that loaned to the needy was depleted, due to a series of poor harvests that left the church with only a meager fund to help immigrants buy the high cost of wagons and oxen. Therefore, President Brigham Young announced on 29 October 1855 a handcart system by which the church would provide carts to be pulled by hand across the Mormon Trail; “Let them come on foot with handcarts or wheelbarrows; let them gird up their loins and walk through and nothing shall hinder or stay them.” As a result, between 1856 and 1860 nearly 3,000 Pioneer emigrants joined ten handcart companies—about 650 handcarts total—and walked to Utah from Iowa City, Iowa, (a distance of 1,300 miles) or from Florence, Nebraska (1,030 miles). This was, according to historian LeRoy Hafen, “the most remarkable travel experiment in the history of Western America.”
Books to Read
1 - The Price We Paid, by Andrew D. Olsen
2 - Tell My Story, Too, by Jolene S. Allphin
3 - Journal of the Trail, by Glazier and Clark
4 - Ensign December 2006, Go and Bring Them In - pgs 40-51
5 - The Second Rescue, by Susan Arrington Madsen
6 - Through Deepening Trials, by Robert Moss
7 - I Walked to Zion, by Susan Arrington Madsen
8 - Remember, by Riverton Wyoming Stake
9 - Fire Of The Covenant, by Gerald N.Lund
10 - Handcarts to Zion, by: Leroy R and Ann W Hafen
11 - Miracles of the Martin Handcart Company, by Joanne Mellor Felix
12 - Rescue of the 1856: Handcart Companies, by Rebecca Bartholomew and Leonard J. Arrington
13 - Sweetwater Rescue: The Willie and Martin Handcart Story, by: Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg
