32 The Journey to Utah, Pioneers of 1849

After practicing medicine for sixteen months in Kanesville, Iowa, a call was extended to Dr. Ezra G. Williams to prepare to leave for Utah in two months. His medical services were needed by three companies under the direction of Apostles Ezra T. Benson and George A. Smith. Ezra’s wife, Henrietta, recorded in her history that emigrants were dying at the Platte River for want of a physician. “We stayed in Winter Quarters two weeks, then crossed the Missouri River to Kanesville [where] we made a home for 16 months, then was called to get out of our house in 2 months¹ & start for the valley, as there was no physician for the three companies, 50 wagons each. The Emigrants were dying on the Platte River and the camps needed a Physician.”²

Rebecca Returns by Steamer to St. Louis

One of the three companies preparing to travel to the Valley was the Welsh Camp, led by Dan Jones. Elder Benson encouraged the Welsh members to pool their money and lend it to the doctor so medical supplies could be purchased as part of the journey’s preparations. The knowledgeable fifty-one-year-old Rebecca Williams was sent by steamboat to St. Louis to fill the order. Henrietta wrote: “Brother E. T. Benson went to the Welsh Camp, councilled them to loan money to buy medicines for the journey. they did so. Mother Williams went on the steamer from Council Bluffs to St Louis to get the order filled. Returning by land from Burlington Iowa in time for starting out.”³

Departure on the Fourth of July 1849

The Williamses departed Kanesville on July 4, 1849, in two ox-drawn wagons. Henrietta continues: “We had two wagons four oxen, 8 cows, 2 steers, provisions for a year, and a splendid stock of medicines, a nine month old baby, and a hundred and thirty-five dollars in debt to the Welsh Company, which was paid in one year from the time of starting from Kanesville the 4th of July.”⁴

From east to west, Henrietta’s record identifies fifteen spots along the trail, beginning with the starting point in Kanesville, Iowa, and ending with their final destination at Salt Lake City, Utah. The intermediate sites she mentions by name include Winter Quarters, the Elkhorn River, the Loup River, and the Platte River, in Nebraska; Fort Laramie, the Sweetwater River, Devil’s Gate, South Pass, and Fort Bridger, in Wyoming; and Echo Canyon, Big Mountain, Little Mountain, and Emigration Canyon, in Utah.

Traveling Arrangements

There were five individuals in the Williams pioneer company of 1849: “Dr E. G., Mrs. E. G., Dr’s Mother Mrs. Frederick G. Williams & an adopted son of the Dr’s sister Lovina Riggs named James Goddard, 10 years old,” plus Ezra and Henrietta’s nine-month-old daughter, Lucy Ellen.⁵ Rebecca drove her own wagon, while young James drove Henrietta’s. Dr. Williams rode his horse or drove his two-wheeled gig and tended to the sick along the wagon train. Of this, Nancy C. Williams wrote:

Jimmy, the ten year old, drove the double ox team for Henrietta. Rebecca drove her own team of three cows and the one steer. At milking time she would put all the surplus milk into her churn and the jolt of the wagon insured butter for the larders. The Doctor would ride his horse or in his two wheeled vehicle (called a “gig”). His work was to attend the sick in the different companies and at times he would help some sick man from the “gold diggers’ wagons,” for this was in 1849—the year of the great gold rush.⁶

Lonely Experience on the Banks of the Missouri River

Henrietta related an event that separated her from the rest of the group on the first night of their journey. Getting separated was a not uncommon hazard of travel. The first leg of their trip west took them across the Missouri River from Kanesville to Winter Quarters. Ferrying their cattle across had taken a longer time than expected, and, because of darkness, the family could not get across the river to join her, so she and baby Lucy Ellen spent the night in the wagon, alone on the shore. Henrietta remembered:

Memory serves to remind me of the trip across the Missouri River. We started down from the upper ferry 12 miles from Kanesville. Crossed to Winter Quarters. The Boat would float down stream to Council Point, up the River from Council Bluffs. Land the men and draw the Boat up stream by 3 yoke of oxen driven by teamsters, waiting for their turn to cross over. When our wagon was landed at the Foot of the Bluff, the Boat returned for the cattle to haul the wagon up the Bluff to Terra Firma. A very hard pull for several yoke of cattle. When the wagon reached the top, Dr Williams & hired man went back to camp for his Mother. It was then too late to cross more wagons. I remained all alone by the side of the River Bank all night. Further on was two Emigrant wagons camped, not of our faith. I asked them for a piece of bread for my Baby. they gave me a tin cup of mush with milk, a treat after looking in vain for the other wagon and folks to arrive after dark.⁷

Another account of the episode provides further details and highlights the impossibility of communicating with others due to the noise on the river. Henrietta recorded: “Crossing the Missouri, two wagons on the Boat, (Mrs. Johnson, the camp midwife), her daughter Mrs. Burns and Baby was in the wagon back of me. I looked at her, she looked at me, was all we could do for the noise of the River, and the Boat did not allow anything else. Camped alone in the wagon, Dr going back for his Mother. I begged my supper from Gentile emigrants, mush & milk.”⁸

Cholera Death of Henrietta’s Mother in Kanesville

The continuation of Henrietta’s narrative records that the family (Ezra, Rebecca, and James Goddard) crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska the next morning, whereupon the reconstituted company traveled together to the next camping place on the Elkhorn River. At the river camp, she wrote a letter to her mother in Kanesville, which was entrusted to the boatmen to deliver. Henrietta would not see her mother again. Although Elizabeth Pope Crombie’s death occurred a year after the family departed for Utah, I shall include Henrietta’s brief mention of it here, as this is the place where she recorded it. “They came next morning and we drove into camp to prepare for crossing Elk Horn River. The boatmen came to bid the camp goodbye, and took a letter to my Mother at Kanesville, who died next year at that place with the cholera. Several of her friends were laid in that cemetery at that time, and are sleeping with her till the Resurrection Day. July 20th 1850. Kanesville Iowa. Monday. my brother John was alone with her when she died. the sisters were afraid to stay, so many dying around them.”⁹

The notice of Elizabeth Pope Crombie’s death was published in the Frontier Guardian, together with a poem.

DIED, On Monday July 20th, at 1 o’clock, P. M., Mrs. ELIZABETH P. CROMBIE, formerly of Boston, Mass, aged 38 years.¹⁰

Farewell dear mother, repose in peace,
    From worldly care, y’ve received release,
Thy sons will meet thee, in a better clime,
    Where no death prevail, nor health decline.

Where life, eternal life, sustains,
    The vast assemblage on their domains,
Repose in peace, unto you will come,
    When God may call us to gather home.¹¹

Henrietta’s brother John H. Crombie left Kanesville and came to Utah in 1851 with Apostle Orson Hyde. He was bringing some of his mother’s things to his sister, which instead were taken or destroyed, along with thousands of dollars worth of property from among the company, in an attack by three hundred Pawnee Indians near the Loup River in Nebraska. John lost all he owned. Henrietta wrote:

1851. My Brother John H. Crombie started to the valley in company with Apostle Orson Hyde, Albert Carrington, Judge Broelhus, Wm. Gooch & others. Near Loup Fork, three hundred Pawnee Indians robbed the company of several thousand dollars worth of property. My brother was in the wagon with Dustin Amy. he was sleeping on the ground when a Little Indian snatched the pillow from under his head, ripped it open, scattered the feathers in the air, setting up a whoop with the Little Indians, who was looking at him. he lost all he had. Mother died the year before in Kanesville, with the Cholera. July 20th 1850. he was bringing a few of her goods to me. The year mother died she sent a very nice parcel by Mrs. Browett who died on the plains. I never got them.¹²

Fording Rivers with the Welsh Singers

Henrietta described the process of fording the Loup River in Nebraska, which involved tying ropes to the wagons, lowering them down the steep banks into the water, and making networks out of willows so the wagon wheels wouldn’t get stuck in the sand. Dr. Williams walked in the stream hanging on to the yoke of the wheels. The Welsh Saints, unaccustomed to river crossing, would try to rush through quickly urging on their cattle, yelling in both Welsh and English. Henrietta recalls:

The crossing of Loup Fork, men making network of willows to avoid the wagon wheels sinking in the quick sand. Steep banks to descend into the water, men tying ropes to the wagons to lower them into the water easily. Dr. Williams wading the stream, hanging to the yoke of the wheels, while the men shouted to the leaders to travel to the opposite bank. Brother George Albert Smith led the Welsh Saints Company. he said the company talked Welsh & English to their cattle, till they learnt how to gee, haw, buck, to perfection. When they started through a River they struck for the other side, to avoid the noise all hands made, they were scared into rushing through quickly. ¹³

This was the first company of Welsh Saints to journey to Utah. Although Henrietta does not mention it, there were a number of gifted singers in their company who formed a choir that rehearsed twice a day and sang throughout their transatlantic voyage and at camp while crossing the plains. “These Welsh had crossed the Atlantic holding choir practice aboard ship. Sixty-year-old John Parry, a distinguished former preacher and stonemason from North Wales, had kept those who signed up for the choir to a practice regimen: 10:00 to 11:30 mornings and 4:00 to 5:00 afternoons. At Winter Quarters and then out on the plains, in the company of leader George A. Smith, Parry directed what they called the George Smith Company Choir.”¹⁴

On October 12, 1849, Captain Dan Jones wrote about the ox-driving skills and singing gifts of his Welsh charges: “The Welsh are holding up under the difficulties of this journey, and are learning to drive oxen better than any expectations, and are winning praise from all the other camps of the Saints for their organization, their virtue and their skill, and especially for their singing.”¹⁵

Once in Salt Lake, the rehearsals continued and the choir was invited by Brigham Young to sing at a number of events, including general conference. Thus, the Welsh singers formed the nucleus of the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and their leader, John Parry, was its first musical director.¹⁶

Food Preparation

Cooking with buffalo chips for fuel began after they left the Loup Fork on their way to the Platte River. Henrietta recalled: “After leaving the Loup Fork River, we travelled towards Platte River. Dog Town was lively they would pop their heads out of their holes and bark as we passed them on the prairie. there we commenced to pick buffalo chips for cooking, using our dress skirts for chip baskets. Aprons were scarce. We saved them to wear to cook in taking them off & laying them among the dishes for next time.”¹⁷ Henrietta, envious and perhaps a little resentful, observed that Rebecca had a stove in her wagon that saved her from having to cook on the ground like the rest of the company. “Mother Williams had a stove in her wagon enabling her to cook, and not use the ground as some were obliged to. Wet weather was very trying for cooks with wet chips & sagebrush, and willows that were very green.”¹⁸

On one occasion three buffalo rushed ahead of the wagon train. On another, three disoriented antelope ran inside the corralled wagons. In both cases hunters were able to kill them and provide needed meat for the travelers. Henrietta recorded Rebecca’s expression of testimony that the animals were sent by God. She wrote:

Three buffalo rushed acrossed the Bluff ahead of the travelling camp. The hunters rushed forward killing one. Fresh meat tasted very nice in that country. Towards the mountains, nearing the south pass, we were getting meat hungry as the camp were driving in the cattle to move the wagons. Three antelope ran inside the corralled wagons, stood and looked at the women as if they were amazed. they were beautiful creatures. men rushed for their guns. before the deers could think where they were they fell. the meat tasted as good as they looked. never could campers be more thankful and appreciate the Hand of Providence than then. Mother Williams cried right out the Lord is on our side. he sent those animals into camp. he knew we needed them We had feasts and feasts.¹⁹

Friendly Visit by the Sioux Indians

Unlike the destructive encounter her brother had with the Pawnee Indians near the Loup River two years later, Henrietta recorded a friendly visit by the Sioux Indians near the Platte River and remarked how beautiful and intelligent their women appeared. “The Sioux Indians on the Platte River, came around the camp trading buckskins. The squaws were very pretty, intelligent looking, happy lot, decorated with beads and ornaments. Charging around camp on their fine horses, so unlike Utah Indians.”²⁰ Henrietta also wrote of an encounter on the trail with two deserters from Fort Laramie, Wyoming. “We met two deserters with one horse and one gun. They tried to claim a horse that was found by one of the brethren in Silas Richards Company. When we arrived at Fort Laramie, the Officers inquired after them. Letters were posted at the Fort, to be sent to friends east & west. Many a night the wagon covers was soaked through we were obliged to put quilts up inside to keep dry.”²¹

Washing Clothes and Cooking in the Cold Wind

When the wagon train reached the Sweetwater River in western Wyoming, the companies stopped to make repairs and prepare for the climb over the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. In one account, Henrietta wrote of the snowstorm they encountered, of her daughter’s illness with whooping cough, and of her own serious bout with the flu. She also wrote that the means of transportation on their journey was a great challenge to her faith. “My eldest daughter had the whooping cough for her part of the long journey [of] four months. 3 days camped on Sweetwater creek in a heavy snow storm. I was very sick with flu at that time. Crossing rivers in ferry boats and ox wagons did not agree with me. it strained my faith to the utmost.”²²

In another account of the Sweetwater encampment, Henrietta provided a different perspective by adding some humor:

Another reminiscence of past time occurs to my mind as I write. Dr says it should be in rotation [chronological order]. I defy any mind to keep these stories in rotation, unless they have a stronger brain than mine, at the present time of writing. One Sunday we camped to shoe the cattle, reset wagon tines. Mother Williams took the teamster to the creek to make tines while she washed her own wearing apparel. they knew I was no cook. they left that job for me. I built a fire after gathering buffalo chips and getting it started, the wind playing with it as it pleased. Put the Dutch oven on to heat, the cover by the side of it. Made a pie of cooked dried apples, putting it in the oven, the cover still heating. I turned toward the wagon several yards away from the fire for safety. my baby helping to cook her fashion. A nice cow sneaked up, helped herself to the warm pie and sneaked off, when a girl called to me to look at my pie.²³

In the continuation of her narrative, Henrietta explained that she also burned the biscuits, which vexed her mother-in-law.

I had a hard time cooking the biscuits, jumping in and out of the wagon, climbing over the provision box, watching my baby girl, getting what the Dr wanted. It was his misfortune never to find anything he was looking for. the fire had its own way of burning. Dr said enough about them. when Mother Williams came back and saw them, the sight of them raised her ire. She gave way to her vexation. I thought, O, Zion, will we ever reach thee?²⁴

The thieving-cow and burned-biscuit event occurred on the Sweetwater River near the place where Helen Mar Whitney had buried a child the year before while on her own journey crossing the plains to Salt Lake. “It was in the neighborhood of the grave of Helen Mar Whitney’s daughter, a few weeks old.²⁵ When arriving at the valley, I reminded her of it. She showed me the dress it had on when it died.”²⁶

Observations Taken at Devil’s Gate

After the Sweetwater River incidents, Henrietta tells of Dr. Williams proceeding alone to make observations along the creek in Devil’s Gate. His climb over ridges, rocks, and creek was difficult; she was surprised when he returned, not realizing he had left the wagon train.

One day at noon we were travelling towards the mountains. Some one said that creek runs through Devils Gate. Dr Williams started out alone to take observations. went part way. concluded he might better go on than return to camp ox train. It was a lonely looking place. he jumped over rocks to the other side of the creek as no further progress could be made on that side. was obliged to let himself down the ridge to the bank of the creek. After tedious climbing up the ridge, it was not far at that point of rocks from the camp he was coming out of the Devils Gate when I caught the first glimpse of him, not knowing he had left camp train.²⁷

Climbing the Mountains

The most difficult part of the journey came at the end, where the wagon train had to climb two steep mountains in Utah, appropriately called Big Mountain and Little Mountain. On these steep slopes, passengers had to leave the wagons, which had to be pulled with ropes to make the climb. Dr. Williams had purchased a pony at Fort Bridger for Henrietta to ride, but the incline was too steep and she ended up walking.

Journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving in the valley 28th of October 1849, our daughter being 13 month old. Healthy & well after having the whooping cough on the journey. Her Father bought a pony for me to ride up the Big & Little Mountain & carry her in my arms in the saddle. the mountain was too steep, the saddle slipped sidewards & backwards & causing me to give up the effort & carry her in my arms up the steep ascent. Stopping to take breath & look at the teams tugging the wagons up hill, while the gravel would roll from under our feet & the teamsters would call out don’t throw your gravel down here. when once on top sat down to look into the beautiful valley.²⁸

In a second recounting of the ascent and descent over the mountains, Henrietta continued the narrative of events by telling of their entrance into Emigration Canyon, where they crossed the creek eighteen times. She also wrote of the visit by Brigham Young and Newel K. Whitney with their wives, who came up to meet them and welcome them into the valley. Henrietta wrote:

When we [went] to Fort Bridger, Dr Williams bought a pony [for me] to ride up the Big Mountain. it was so steep the saddle would slip. I could not ride astride so I walked up & packed my 13 month old daughter a few rods, then stop[ped] and look[ed] down at the teams, the boys and men standing on the wheels to keep them from rolling back, while resting their teams, calling to us as we stopped to rest (don’t roll your gravel down here). It was impossible to step without rolling gravel down the mountain side. We camped at the foot of the Big Mountain on the east side at night. Then travelled up the Mountain & down the other side, camping at dark for the night, then travelled over the Little Mountain, camped in a grove. next travelled to Emigration Kanyon. Crossed the creek 18 times. Camped. Looked into Salt Lake City, then camped in the mouth of the kanyon for the night. The Welsh Company, G. A. Smith Captain, went down to the city. Next morning Sunday. Brother Brigham & N. K. Whitney, and wives and others came to meet us & welcome us to the valley.²⁹

President Brigham Young had been following the progress of the pioneer company that included the Williams family, which was led by Ezra T. Benson, George A. Smith, and Dan Jones. He included an update on their condition and gave an estimated time for their arrival in Salt Lake City in the “Second General Epistle of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from the Great Salt Lake Valley, to the Saints scattered throughout the earth,” dated October 12, 1849. A portion of the epistle reads as follows:

Elder Dan Jones, from Wales, is within a few days travel, accompanied by a portion of the Welsh brethren; and the remainder are located on Potawatomie lands. Elders George A. Smith and Ezra T. Benson are in the same vicinity with Dan Jones, accompanied by their families, and large companies of saints, from whom we received an express five days since, which left them in universal health and prosperity. They will probably be here in two weeks. We have sent teams to help them on their journey.³⁰