Book Review: "To Whom it may Concern" by William O. Ashton

 

Marvin O. Ashton was the father of Marvin J. Ashton.  He married a Jeremy making him my grandmother's cousin-in-law, and Marvin J. Ashton my mom's second cousin.  Marvin O. Ashton was presiding bishop of the church for many years.  My mother tells the story of his spending time with the family in Idaho Falls when he was there for a dedication.  He later mailed two-person piano music to my mom and her twin as they had played for him on the piano while he was there.  His visit may have also helped my grandparents on their way to reactivation and going through the temple.

The book is a collection of stories, ninety of them, and then other stories and lessons to tell the story.  A couple of them stood out.  One story is entitled python eggs.  He tells how in India, the native country of the pythons it is important to seek out python eggs and smash them with your heel before they hatch.  In this way they could prevent the dead venomous snake from being born.  He explained this further telling about a young man who absolutely refused a drink with his friends, even when they tried to force them.  This young man told a story about someone who had given in to that first drink, eventually became an alcoholic, and in a drunken stupor had forced his wife and baby out on a cold winter night.  When he realized what he had done the next morning he came to his senses, and found his wife dead, her body wrapped around the baby to keep him warm.  The young man said he had been that baby.  It is best o smash the python eggs before they hatch.

He referred to "Stop, Look and Listen several times.  I like this statement as I use to sing this song to the kids growing up.  He has another chapter called "Constant Aim" about a man new to farming.  He was trying to plow a field, and someone told him to keep his aim towards a mark, like a stone, at the other end of the field.  However he pigged a pig rather than a stone, and the pig kept moving.  As a result his plowing job was all over the place. 

Many chapters are time sensitive and geared to bishops.  It was written right after WWII.  By today's sensitivities we might refer to his attitude as being racist in light of comments about "Israelitish" people and "colored" people.  It was a different time then.

He also told the story "I can sleep when the Wind Blows."  This story is about the man hired after saying this sentence, and then when the big storm came he slept through it.  The farmer was disappointed, but then discovered the hand could actually sleep because he had already prepared everything for the storm. 

This book was an enjoyable read.  

Book Review: Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companie: As it pertains to Isaac and the Ashtons

Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies  Rebecca Cornwall and Leonard J. Arrington  Charles Redd Monographs in Western History No. 11  Brigham Young University Press 1981.

This is a very interesting piece of history.  For whatever reason, the last two handcart companies of 1856 were late, and without rescue all would have perished.  When Franklin Richards arrived in Salt Lake with a group of returning missionaries on October 4 he reported to Brigham Young that four companies were still on the plains, two handcart and two wagon, Brigham went into immediate action.  He convened a meeting that night to discuss what was needed, and then introduced the rescue of the handcarts as the theme of conference the next day.  Notes indicate Brigham Young was directly involved in the planning, how much provisions to send and how.  “One brother [Daniel Jones] was impressed that the president was in earnest; he seemed moved by a spirit that would admit of no delay.  Of course the rescuers met the Willie Company first; but not before they hit a significant storm themselves.  Brother Willie went forward, putting his own life in peril, and found the rescuers and encouraged them to come forward.  This lead to the scene at Rocky Ridge, where the handcart pioneers struggled up the rocky hill, and many of them perishing after giving their all.

The Martin Company was still imperiled.  The same storm had stopped them at the Platt, after the last crossing.  Our family lore says Betsy froze her feet at the last crossing of the Platte.  She would pass away we don't know where, but sometime between the last crossing and Martin's Cove.  Joseph Young, Abel Garr and Dan Jones as the lead scouts, found them in poor condition, and unable to move.  They asked Captain Martin to distribute food to the hungry Saints and informed them they must press on to Devil’s Gate where ten wagons of provisions were waiting.  They made an heroic effort to move on the next day, and after checking on the wagon companies, Dan Jones came back upon them in their struggle, “A condition of distress here met my eyes that I never saw before or since.  The train was strung out for three or four miles.  There were old men pulling and tugging their cars, sometimes loaded with a sick wife or children—women pulling along sick husbands—little children six to eight years old struggling through the mud and snow.  As night came on the mud would freeze on their clothes and feet.  There were two of us and hundreds needing help.  What could we do?  We gathered onto some of the most helpless with our riatas [lariats] tied to the carts, and helped as many as we could into camp on Avenue Hill.”  Isaac reportedly left bloody footprints in the snow.

The provisions for relief were almost exhausted before the Martin Company met the relief wagons, however provisions of clothing and shoes and socks were distributed.  This included “102 pairs of boots and shoes, 157 pairs of socks and stockings, 30 quilts and comforters, 100 frock coats and jackets of various kinds, 36 hoods, 80 petticoats and bloomers, 27 handkerchiefs, 14 neckties, and 8 pairs of mittens.”  AT some point Isaac found some shoes, it may have been here.  They were tight on his feet, but he still gave thanks for them.  The great benefit to the company was one of the young men.  Heber McBride (whose father had passed away a couple weeks earlier) would later say, “…As they were hearty and strong they took upon themselves to [do] all the work about the Camp and the Captens of companies had no more to say….  The men from Salt Lake would clean off the snow and pitch the tents and get wood for all the families that had lost their Father and then they would help the rest what the could.  Of note to Isaac’s history is the difficulty it was to pitch tents. In the letter Langley Bailey later wrote to Isaac he talked about the care and effort Isaac put into pitching the tent.  "You did stake it down well my dear brother."  Many of the tents were blown down one night, but Langley says theirs was not due to Isaac effort.   The pioneers were met with another northern storm while at Devil’s Gate.  The temperature dropped to eleven degrees and there were 18 inches of Snow on the ground.   (See p 22)  “Many of the immigrant men were so weak that it took them an hour to scrape clear a space on which to pitch their tents.  ‘The boys’ had to drive the stakes for them into the frozen ground.”  (p 22)
As Devil's Gate could not accommodate all of the pioneers, the handcart company moved to martin;s Cove.  For this they crossed the Sweetwater, cold and icy.   Valley boys helped many of the immigrants across.  Sarah and Mary Ashton would have been among those carried across.  However Isaac would have pulled the handcart across the river.  Langley had been a passenger, but most likely he rode across the river in the sick wagon.

Even though more provisions had not arrived, the weather improved slightly and on Sunday, November 9 they moved out of Martins Cove.   “Many handcarts ere indeed left behind, but only the very weak were permitted to ride in wagons.  (p 24)

November 11, as the immigrants were preparing their camp they were met by Ephraim Hanks.

Nov 2 Brigham Young expressed in early November, “We can return home and sit down and warm our feet before the fire, and can eat our bread and butter, etc., but my mind is yonder in the snow, where those immigrating saints are, and my mind has been with them ever since I had the report of their start from Winter Quarters on the 3^rd of September.  I cannot talk about anything, I cannot go out or come in but what in every minute or two minutes my mind reverts to them.”  More and more rescuers would eventually meet the handcart company.  There were over 200 rescue wagons on the trail bringing supplies, or just keeping the road open.
They arrived in Salt Lake City Nov 30, 1856.  Of this Isaac wrote, "President Brigham Young along with many of the other Brethern and Women came to welcome us and took us into their homes, fed and warmed us and gave us warm clean beds to rest our weary bodies."

Book Review: Mormon Polygamous Families

This is the last of the literature I will be reading to put together the chapter in Isaac's history on polygamy.  This book most closely comes to talking of what life would have been like in Isaac's family.  It does have some limitations.  It bases its view of polygamy on several sources, including interviews with husband, wives and children of polygamous families.  However most of these interviews were conducted with people after Isaac and his wives had passed away, including the Mexican Colonies.  They may represent a life that may have differed from the experience of Isaac and his family. 
However this book brings up many aspects of polygamy I had not thought of, and is a good resource in helping explain Isaac's lifestyle.  It also has a very good summary of the history of Mormon polygamy, and helped me understand this better.

Book Review: The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith

This book is written by Matthew Bowman and published by Random House in 2012.  It is an outline of Mormon history in general, but has a chapter on the polygamy question.  Of course this chapter is less intense on the overall picture of polygamy as some of the books I have looked at.  The book introduced me to the term "The Raid" describing the onslaught of federal marshals after the Edmunds Act in 1882.  Even with this increased scrutiny, polygamy was not going away.  The Edmunds Tucker Act went after The Church directly, seeking to take all their financial resources, which would have included the temples.  At this time St. George, Logan, and Manti temples were completed, with the Salt Lake Temple to follow shortly.  Can you imagine what would have happened had the government confiscated these buildings.  It was under this pressure, that President Wilford Woodruff received revelation of what would happen to the church if it did not abandon polygamy.  The Manifesto was of 1890 was the announcement that the church would no longer practice polygamy.
The other chapters do not really add to Isaac's history as they are about the Church in general.  It scarcely mentions the handcarts, and really doesn't address the economics in Salt Lake Valley.

Tell My Story Too; Jolene Allphin: stories of Mary Ashton, Isaac Wardle and Langley Bailey

Jolene Allphin has compiled hundreds of stories of handcart pioneers.  The stories include the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies, Hunts and Hodgetts Wagon Companies, and of the Rescuers.  Some of the stories are available on line at "Tell My Story, Too" where they are accompanied by the artwork of Julie Rogers, such as the painting of Sarah and Mary above.
Among these stories are a few of our ancestors.  She tells the story of Isaac John Wardle.  Isaac tells the story of his conversion in 1853, of getting a better prospect to earn money to emigrate, of his journey by ship, of his pulling Langley Bailey in the handcart.  Leaving Florence he had on the handcart Langley Bailey, 100 pounds of flour, and tent and camp equipment for seven people with John Bailey to help pull.  He was blessed by Franklin Richards and Cyrus Wheelock that he would live to see "the valley".  Langley felt bad about his brother and Isaac having an extra burden, and tried to get away one day.  His mother found him and reminded him of the blessing.  Langley rode on the handcart until the met rescue wagons from Salt Lake, and then rode in a wagon all the way to the Valley.
The journey was difficult.  There was a sandy trail, and later a snow covered trail.  Many gave up according to  Isaac, and were buried by the wayside.  Isaac himself collapsed at one time and lay for some time. 
Isaac is also known for chopping down trees at Martin's Cove, just over a little hill.  Orrin Wardle wrote of this is his history of Isaac.  This knowledge helped to identify the location of Martin's Cove many years layer. 
Isaac would later marry Mary Ashton.  She was also a Martin Handcart Pioneer.  Isaac likely met her through his friend, Alex Beckstead, whose brother married Sarah Ashton.
Sarah Ashton's history is also included, and this includes a history of the Ashton family.  The Ashton's struggled with finding resources to emigrate.  The handcart plan made this possible.  William and Sarah Ann Barlow Ashton had five daughters, one having dyed in infancy in England.  Another, Elizabeth, would pass away on board the Ship Horizon while docked in Boston.  Tragedy would further stalk the family.  Sarah would die in childbirth, one day journey after Florence.  The new baby, their sixth Sarah Ann, would die 16 days later. 
William Ashton left the company at Fort Laramie, joining the military, Company G, an infantry unit.  At any rate, the three remaining girls were left in the care of others, perhaps with the Barlows.  Betsy too would also succumb and is buried on the plains.  The two remaining girls, Sarah and Mary arrived in Salt Lake and were taken in by different families.  This history documents: "At some point Mary and Sarah found a home with the Hartfield family in Farmington, Utah.  At the age of 12, Sarah was living with the Joseph Carlisle family and working for them as a domestic.  homas W. Beckstead when she was 15. ... Mary was possibly living with them in S. Jordan, as she later married Isaac Wardle who had lived with and worked for Thomas Beckstead's father, Alex Beckstead, Sr. ... Mary and Isaac had one son who they named William Ashton [Haston] Wardle;  perhaps after Mary's father.  Mary only lived four hours after her son was born. 
Another history in this book if that of Langley Allgood Bailey.  In this history is included the letter written by Langley Bailey to Isaac Wardle in 1916.  This letter includes a heartfelt thanks for the assistance Isaac rendered him on the handcart trail.

Book Report: The Mormon Experience

Book Report The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton  Alfred A. Knopf  new York 1979
This book, published in 1979, provides a look at the history of the Church, as well as a look at the present day church in 1979.  I wanted to read this book to take a look at Mormon History after they had arrived at Salt Lake, although this book provided helpful insight into the earlier church and moves; and the reason for the moves—from New York to Kirtland and Missouri, and then to Nauvoo, and finally to Utah.  It has a very good section on the church in England, and the immigration of the Saints from England.  One thing I had neglected was the influence of the Book of Mormon in the conversion experience.  Membership in the church was hard; I don’t think many people jointed the Church for help with immigration or economic reasons.  There was a different motivation.
However I wanted to get some idea of the economic system, strengths and weaknesses, after they arrived in the valleys of the mountains.  The economic system of the Mormons had its foundation in agriculture.  This was hard work, but very doable.  The field of mining for the most part, was left to “gentiles.”  However the Mormons were active in developing railroads as well as telegraph offices across the state and West.  There were attempts to develop the iron business which at first were unsuccessful. 
This book deals extensively with the relationship between the church and the government.  This includes the Utah War, as well as the Edmunds Act and the Edmunds Tucker Act and their effect on the Mormon way of life, as well as the financial stability of the Church.
The last section did not proof very helpful to my study, as it dealt with modern and current issues, including people in the sciences and the arts.

My purpose in reading this book was to help in getting a feel for the environment Isaac raised his family.  There is a poem I found interesting.  It does not have a title or author: 
We plow, we sow and irrigate,
To raise the golden grain;
And diligently labor
To independence gain;
Some haul the wood from canyons wile,
Some tend the flocks and herd,
And all our moments are beguiled
By industry’s reward.
My Valley Home, my Mountain Home,
The dear and peaceful Valley.  (Arrington and Bitton p 142)

I see Isaac in several lines of this poem.  I understand he helped establish the road up Bingham Canyon to get wood.  He also grazed sheep over a large expanse of the South Salt Lake Valley.  At the reunion someone mentioned that the grazing area extended through three Mormon Temples, Jordan River, Draper and Oquirrh.

Book Review: Riverton Stake Materials, Second Rescue

When I visited Donna Olsen, my cousin in Riverton, WY,  she took us to Martin's Cove.  (This was before the visitor center.)  She also took us to the Riverton Stake Center and copied a bunch of materials for me--stories and  minutes with regards to the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies; first and second rescues.  I was left with a big packet of materials, including short synopsis Isaac's life, a day-by-day account of the Handcart Company and their rescue after they hit the snow. This includes journal information.  It keeps the Martin and Willie Companies separate, while telling the story of where each company was on a particular date.

This packet also included information of the second rescue, which resulted in over 4000 temple ordinances being done.  Many of the pioneers had passed away, and their temple work had not been done.  This included baby Sarah Anne Ashton, who was born on the trek, and lived a couple of weeks only.  This included dedicatory prayers, firesides, minutes of a special stake wide sacrament meeting, other interesting materials. 

I used this material mostly when I wrote the musical, but have enjoyed the talks and prayers around the dedication of the monuments.

Book Review: More than Miracles

More than Miracles: Extraordinary Stories from 17 Miracles.

This book is written by T.C. Christensen, who wrote and produces the movie, and Jolene S. Allphin who authored “Tell my Story Too” and was historical consultant for the movie.  It is published by Deseret Book, 2012.  It provides more detail on the scenes in the movie.  I previously reviewed the movie, which I must admit has a more profound effect, but the book likewise offers several good insights.
One of my complaints was the number “seventeen.”  Why call your movie 17 Miracles unless you are consigning yourself to 17 miracles.  Christensen explains that people find any number of different experiences they identify as miracles; from five to thirty.  I think a better title may have been just “Miracles.”  Then people wouldn’t be trying to count.  My thought, with regards to the handcarts, is there is no way to put a number on the miracles, as they were so plentiful.
Allphin explains how the ship Horizon had to return to port for a time due to the mutiny of the crew aboard the ship.  This is something I had not originally realized.  She also talks about the premonitions of rescue at Red Buttes, and the announcement that all had to prepare to die made by Edward Martin.  A fellow member of our high priest group mentioned he is descended from Jane Bitton Poole and there is a quote from her at this time.   After the meeting she decided if she was going to die, she would do so clean and went to the river to wash herself.  In returning there was a commotion.  She found a brother crying.  “She asked him what was wrong.  He answered, ‘Aye lassie, we’re saved!  We’re saved!’  Jane replied, ‘Then what in the world are you cryin’ for.’”  She also talks about the Blue-Winged Angel who came to save them.
Angels were plentiful on that trip, but were not always the heavenly kind.  There was heavenly intervention as mentioned by Francis Webster and others.  The rescuers were asked if they were angels.  And there were times when handcart company members served as angels to each other.
It is interesting how they portrayed “Last Crossing” rather than the crossing at the Sweetwater.  I know the pioneers were much affected by this crossing.  The movie portrays how this crossing lead to the death of George Padley.  In my family history it also had a direct influence on the death of Betsy Ashton, my great-great-great aunt, who family lore says froze her feet at this crossing and died soon afterward.  Also with regards to Isaac, we would have at the least pulled Langley across the river in the handcart.  If he helped any others, as some of the men, there is no record.
Christensen concludes the book with this line.  “…What the surviving record reveals clearly is that those who participated in that epic journey were driven by a faith, diligence, and courage that compel our admiration.”  While Allphin concludes, “Many faithful individuals lost limbs and loved ones to the cold, but they recorded strong testimonies of their continuing devotion to God and His Church.”

Book Review: ***Hard Road West

Book Review: ***Hard Road West: History and Geology along the California Trail

Written by Keith Meldahl and published by the University of Chicago Press 2007.  This book will tell you more about how mountains are formed than you can even think of to ask.  It then takes all that information and relates it to the pioneer trail.  Why to the pioneers choose the route they took, and how is it that those circumstances were there.  For example the pioneers tried to stay by water, fuel and feed whenever they could.  So it stands to reason that they follow rivers.  But how is it the Sweet water does not go in and out of mountain ranges, but presents a relatively smooth descent to South Pass.  This book gives the answer, explaining that at one time their were mountains there, and they fell.
Why does the trail wander into the Black Hills instead of hugging the Platte.  It happens the Platte goes through narrow canyons.  The book points out that the river in many places predates the mountains.  And that is why you have these narrow canyons like Devil's Gate.  The river was there as the mountain rose over millions of years, and slowly cut the chasm.
If you like geology, you would love this book.  If you want to understand the Pioneer Trail, and the hardships with the journey, this book is for you as well.

The Harp of Zion

Book Review: **The Harp of Zion

This is the first book of poetry published by the Church.  It was published in England, by the European Mission in 1853.  The poems were written by John Lyon.  It was published to support the Perpetual Emigration Fund. The book of poetry can be accessed on Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=ErgUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=theharp+of+zion&source=bl&ots=FMOu6qyxIq&sig=z_wareIzGLEQVy2H9l2OiEGQwcg&hl=en&ei=uEY9TNTSDIiCsQPinpifCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false
Thomas Edgar Lyon Jr. wrote an interesting article about the book in BYU Studies 27:1987 "Publishing a Book of Mormon Poetry: The Harp of Zion".
  http://byustudies.byu.edu/PDFLibrary/27.1Lyon%20f9ef2f49-2669-439f-8f18-407351cf305b.pdf
The book was to assist the PEF by selling for more than the cost of printing.  Eventually all the volumes were sold, but only after many were sent to Utah.  It took some time for the Church to recoup its investment.

A couple deserve mention here.  One of these is a poem with regards to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, carrying that name.  I encourages people to donate:

The Perpetual Emigrating Fund.

Come on, ye rich, with all your gifted store;

Give to the poor, and God will give you more!

Your feeling hearts, responsive to His call,

Will find His love and blessing best of all:

Yea, tenfold int’rest on the things you have,

And more than all your charities e’er gave!                 

Why should the rich not help the lab’ring poor?

Both are compell’d to know at mercy’s door!

As well the river scorn the stream and brook

From which it all its swelling greatness took;

Or the great sea retain her liquid store,

Nor give one drop to quench the parched shore;

As wealth withheld accumulated toil,

And say to Poverty,--Starve on the while!

Let richer Saints pour in their glitt’ring gold,

‘Twill pave your way to Zion’s mountain fold!

Ten thousand hearts, with prayerful ardour, seek

The means to live, yet mourn from week to week,

Who could be blest through your beneficence,

To go where labour gains a recompense,

Oh, then! Let love your names in sums record

What you will do for Zion, and the Lord!

Ye poor who labour, learn with pure delight,

How much in value was the widow’s mite!

How farthings multiplied to pence make pounds,

And pounds, to hundreds, thousands—have no bounds!

Till ever Saint reliev’d, and sinner stunned,

Will shout,--LOOK HERE! At this Perpetual Fund!

The author does not have a lot of gathering poems as you would expect, but there are some.   These are a couple examples:

Strike the Lyre

Poor outcasts we, still forced to flee,

By mad sectarians driven,

Condemned, despised, robbed, and reviled,

Without an insult given.

For many years we’ve sown in tears,

Yet, dauntless we’ll remain!

With Ephraim blest, we soon shall rest

So strike the Lyre again, again,

So strike the lyre again.

Song of Zion  (chorus)

Far away from vain strife

There’s a land in the West,

Where our friends live the best,

‘Tis the Valley of Life!

I want to quote a couple more poems I found enjoyable.  One dwells upon helping the poor, but also hits the theme that one needs to develop the means in order to accomplish this:

Practical Religion

With diligence we’ll still pursue

Those acts of grace and mercy due

To toil worn, lab’ring man!

We’ll help the helpless, and secure

The means of life to bless the poor,

And help them all we can.

Cholera was a big killer of the time, not only in England but around the globe.  Poor sanitation conditions were part of the cause.  Cholera was also a culprit along the Pioneer Trail:

Cholera

What wailing’s this I hear, at home abroad?

A strange foreboding of calamity,

Which all men dread, and few can understand:

At which the vulgar stare, and more profane

Would love to jest it out of countenance.

Yet, still it comes with stealthy, murd’rous step;

The grave and gay, alike before it fall;

The learned seem baffled at its dark approach,

And, as an antidote, propose what might

Have been a sure preventative to some,

If timely given!  But common charity

Must see its haggard victim breed disease;

And when its influence spreads, retire afraid

At what their sins have made! And say ‘tis DEATH!

Book Review: The Martin Handcart Company at the Sweetwater

Book Review: The Martin Company at the Sweetwater: Another Look.  This is an article published in the BYU Studies journal in 2006 (45, no. 3).  It was written by Chad M. Orton.  This article takes another historical look at the stories we have been told of the crossing at the Sweetwater.  The traditional story comes from Solomon F. Kimball who told how three 18-year old boys entered the water and helped the entire company cross the Sweetwater, and have effects from the cold the remainder of their lives, and all eventually dying from the consequences.  Brigham Young guaranteed them all Celestial Glory as a result of their sacrifice. 
Orton points out that this story, to a great degree, kept the handcart story alive in the minds of the members of the Church.  However, factually it does have some lapses.  There were more than three boys who entered the water; at least five and maybe more.  Others were doing other equally important duties that day.  Although those who entered the water were young, their ages varied from twenty-four to sixteen.  It is evident the boys did not carry everyone over the river.  The invalids were taken in wagons.  Some of the men forded the river, often pulling handcarts.  The women and children had first claim to being carried over the river, although some men were carried. 
It could well be that some of the young men had later health effects as a result—arthritis and such.  Many of them had careers which would have been difficult with physical limitations—teamster for instance.  They mostly lived long lives, and generally died from other causes. 
As to the promise from Brigham Young, it was elsewhere quoted as that they would be immortalized, which they have as thousands go to Martin’s Cover yearly and hear the story of their sacrifice.  Some even ford the river with a handcart.
This article lead me to a couple other shorter articles through the bibliography.  Belated Emigrants of 1856 by Solomon F Kimball was published in the Improvement Era February 1914.  Another is an autobiography of Janneta Ann McBride which is included in “The Story of the McBride Family” by Bruce I. McBride and David B. McBride.
This is an article which provides great insight to this event, and appears to be well researched.

Book Review: Church History Library

 

Church History: scribo to Zundle

 

This section of papers includes some interesting writings,  Most Importantly it has excerpt from one of the autobiographies of Isaac Wardle.  Of interest, which I hadn’t noticed before, is Isaac’s description of himself.  “Being a stron[g] man and having no relatives in the company I took a sick young man (eighteen years old) in my cart.”  I had not noticed that Isaac referred to himself as a “strong man.”  Isaac would learn that being a strong man could be a curse, as he was often asked to do extra tasks.  In his history he notes that he helped to bury many of those who passed away.

 

This (under the name scribe, tells the story of James Bleak.  He was a branch president who was promised by the gift of tongues, that not one of the family would be lost.  One morning, their son was discovered dead.  Brother Bleak worked on him for some time, with the assurance and promise not one would be lost.  He recovered, and eventually became an old man in Salt Lake.

 

This section includes a couple discourses from Brigham Young.  One he explains that had he been in the Midwest, the tragedy would not have ahppenned as he would not have let the pioneers travel so late in the season.  The Shoshone Mission journal is interesting becaue it talk of men already on the plains, who were called to help the rescue. 

 

Sister Alice Walsh Strong talks about the hardship of guarding every night, and the toll this took on the men.  Her own husband passed away. 

 

Brother Joseph Wadsworth of the rescuers offers this description of the Martin Handcart Company at fort Bridger.  “This was the saddest sight I have seen. The biggest part of them were given out and nearly frozen to death; some with their feet frozen, some with their hands frozen. It was a sight that would make one's heart ache just to look at them.” 

 

A couple of the articles in this section seem to belong with the Willie Company.

Book Review: Church History, Newspaper Articles

This is a series of articles available through the Church History website for the Martin Handcart Company
http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources/1,16272,4019-1-192,00.html
These articles show the commitment of the church to embrace its history, as it includes negative comments as well as positive.  It has a new story based on an ex "Elder" saying the deaths prove Brigham Young was not a prophet.  Another is a very graphic description of the handcart pioneers published in a New York newspaper.  It also has the description from the Deseret News.  There are also official publications from "The Mormon" church publication in New York.  There is a powerful discourse from Brigham Young.  There is one article I hoped would be available.  This is  the conference discourse of President Young that is quoted in the Hafen book.

Very useful series of articles

Book Review: Route from Liverpool to Great Salt Lake Valley

Boat and tug in Liverpool

This book, as a resource for Isaac's history provides some general details about the trek.  The author, Frederick Piercy traveled the Mormon Trail by wagon in 1853, and gives general information about the journey.  As he went the New Orleans route, there is some of Isaac's route which was different, however the coincided after Council Bluffs.   He gives general information on boat travel and wagon train organization which would apply to all the Mormon companies.  He also provides a series of sketches, which he drew in 1853; and give us a few of places only three years before Isaac passed.  This book was published by the Church's offices in Britain with Franklin Richards, publisher.  It is available free through Google Books.

Dress of English converts on the Mormon Trail

Shows a tent, which may have been similar to those of the handcart companies

On of the ferry crossings

Salt Lake City

Book Review: Church History Broomhead through Condie

This is a section from the Church History Library.  I have been going through all the entries there with regards to the Martin Handcart Company.  The best articles in this section were a couple written by rescuers;   William Broomhead and Harvey Cluff.  It is amazing to see the picture painted of the handcart pioneers from the perspective of the rescuers.  They talk of the high snow gong into the valley and over the big and little mountains, of the condition of the Saints when they were found, the hardships in getting them to Salt Lake, why  they went into Martin's Cove, etc.

There are also a couple women who wrote stories from Red Buttes, and how, just before they were rescued, the company was asked if they would be willing to lay down their lives for the Lord.  Hear rending stories.

Book Review: Church History; Scribo to Zundle

This is part of the trail excerpts available through the church history website.  In this bundle are many useful resources.  It includes discourses from Brigham Young, history of rescuers, newspaper articles, and remembrances written by Martin Handcart Company members.
The most useful I have found is an autobiographical sketch written by John William Southwell.  He was part of the Haven group, which was later combined into the Martin Handcart group at Florence.  He gives insight into why there was a division, as well as describes many of the happenings of this group.  AN interesting insight he gives is describing the actions of the young men, the day they were caught in a serious thunderstorm without their tents.  The eventually got them up, and had shelter over their heads.  However the were standing in two or three inches of mud, as they did not have floors.  The young men took knives and hatchets and chopped willows from a grove, and with these they were able to construct a floor of a fashion for the tents, and get they Saints out of the mud.

Brigham Young describes how his thoughts were with the Saints out on the plains.  He described how he couldn't get them off of his mind.  There is a report from Joseph Young, who came back as an express rider from the rescuers to report on the conditions of the companies.  These were the articles which I found most interesting.  I am adding quotes from this material to the history I am writing.

Of course the most important contribution for what I am writing is the excerpt from the history of Isaac Wardle.  The Church History site only includes those parts dealing with the handcart trek.

Book Review: ***^The Gathering of Zion

The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail is written by Wallace Stegner.  It was published in 1964 by University of Nebraska Press.  Wallace Stegner is a great story teller and writer, and the words he uses sometimes cannot be equalled.  I heard him quoted in 17 Miracles the movie.  He has a way of expressing himself that is very artistic.  However, I do not think he is a very good historian.  In the name of the story, he does not document his work, but just tells where what authors he referred to in each chapter.  It is very hard to track and verify, from a historical point of view.  Some of his history is wanting.  His telling the background of the church especially.  This is explained in his comments about bibliography and explanation that Fawn Brodie's work, "No Man Knows My History" is one of the works he deems "worthy of complete trust."  I tried to read that book, and could not get past the first few chapters, because Brodie was out for finding every lie about Joseph Smith and try to restate it is fact.  That is my opinion.  A book that relies on Fawn Brodie for any part of telling a story is lacking in my regard.  However, when he actually tells the story about the trail, and especially when he gets past an "attitude" that dominates the first part of the book, he does a better job of telling the story.  His chapters on the handcarts are classic.  He gives a description of the handcart pioneers which can bring you to tears.  I quote this in Isaac's history.

   In all its history, the American West never saw a more unlikely band of pioneers than the four hundred-odd who were camped on the bank of the Iowa River at Iowa City in early June, 1856.  They were not colorful—only improbable.  Looking for the brown and resolute and weather-seasoned among them, you would have seen instead starved cheeks, pale skins, bad teeth, thin chests, all the stigmata of unhealthy work and inadequate diet.  There were more women than men, more children under fifteen than either.  One in every ten was past fifty, the oldest a woman of seventy-eight; there were widows and widowers with six or seven children.  They looked more like the population of the poor farm on a picnic than like pioneers about to cross the plains.

   Most of them, until they were herded from the crowded immigrant ship and loaded into the cars and rushed to the end of the Rock Island Line and dumped here at the brink of the West, had never pitched a tent, slept on the ground, cooked outdoors, built a campfire.  They had not even the rudimentary skills that make frontiersmen.  But as it turned out, they had some of the stuff that makes heroes.

   Mainly Englishmen from the depressed collieries and mill towns… they were the casualties of the industrial revolution, life’s discards, to whom Mormonism had brought its irresistible double promise of a new start on earth and a guaranteed Hereafter.  They did not differ in any essential, unless perhaps in their greater poverty, from hundreds and thousand who had started for Zion before them.  But their intention was more brash—was so impudent it was almost sublime.  Propertyless, ill-equipped, untried and untrained, they were not only going to Zion, they were gong to walk there, nearly fourteen hundred miles, having their belongings on handcarts.  (Stegner , pp 221-2)

For studying the handcart pioneers, this book is a must.  Stegner has a way of writing which is very nice and so I would recommend this book.  However I would overlook some of his work with regards to background, and take it as his listening to the wrong sources, or deciding incorrectly who is the most neutral.

Book "California Saints", as it Pertains to my Family HIstory

California Saints was written for the 150 year anniversary of the Saints in California.  It was written by Richard O. Cowan and William E. Homer and published by Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 1996.  There are a few parts where the story told in this book, intersects with that of my family history, so wanted to mention these here.

In my family history, the first contact with California that I am aware of is William Ashton who served in the infantry from 1856-1861.  As part of his duties he marched from the Northern part of California to the Southern.  On another occasion he traveled from the Bay area south by steam boat.  He was discharged in 1861 from Benicia; and from there returned to England, from where he immigrated in his old age, and went to live with his one surviving daughter Sara Ashton Beckstead, and is buried in the Whitney Cemetery.  The book does not talk about this.  But it does provide insight into a couple other family history contacts with California.

  In the 1880s the Edmunds Tucker Act intensified persecution against the Saints, particularly those who were practicing polygamy.  Many Saints left their homes and fled to California, some as families and some as individuals.  Among those was Isaac Wardle, my great-great Grandfather.  Often wives and families suffered, being left without any means of support. 

WWII also brought an influx of Mormons to California, some of whom stayed.  My father was stationed on Treasure Island for over six months.  Among other things he said the mutual in Berkeley was like none he had ever seen.  He mentioned something in his writings I did not understand, having mother's day for someone.  I thought perhaps it was a general or admiral's wife, but this book answered the mystery for me.  "The servicemen brought wives, mothers and sweethearts to meet "mom and pop."  For three years the LDS military personnel at nearby Treasure Island honored Sister [Anna] Patton  on Mothers' Day with a special program.  Over the years Anna compiled more than twenty scrapbooks of correspondence from servicemen as they scattered throughout the world."

Of course family members have made California their permanent home.  I have lived here with my family since 1993.  However Uncle Orrin, Leo and Vernal all brought their families long before this.  I know Uncle Vernal lived in the Fresno area, Uncle Leo in the Bay area, working for the railroad during the war, and Uncle Orrin in Southern California.  We have all been part of the growth of the Mormon Church in California, where there are now (as of 1996) more than three quarter million members and 162 stakes.

Book Review: Church History, Durham through Jones

I have been going through the Church History Trail Excerpts for the Martin Handcart Company.  These can be found at the church website LDS.org.  http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysources/1,16272,4019-1-192,00.html
I am finding their is a great deal to go through, but the process is worth it.  However I have divided it into sections so I can keep track of where I have been.  In this section there is an excerpt from Dan Jones' book.  He was one of the rescuers and part of the express group that found the Martin Handcart Company.  He was also selected to spend the winter at Devil's Gate to guard the goods of the Saints that were left so they could use the wagons to cart the pioneers. 

There is a quote from one young man who noted that because some were sick, there was an added burden on others to carry them on their carts.  Of great import in this section is the journal of Jesse Haven.  He was captain of Company E from Iowa City to Florence.  This company was combined with Company F at Florence to form the Martin Handcart Company.  Jesse Haven then helped with the wagons.  I am convinced that Isaac was in this company until reaching Florence.  This is based on Langley's mother appealing to Captain Toone for a blessing for her son.  Captain Toone was with the Haven group.  He continues as a captain of 100 with Elder Martin. 

These pages also give an idea of the weather.  It went from in the 100s to below zero in a matter of a few months.  It also describes the problems with the Indians this year.  There were several attacks upon the plains, but they left the handcart pioneers alone for the most part.  There is a gruesome story of a wolf attacking and eating a man just before the last crossing of the Platte.  This seems to have made an impression on the pioneers.

Book Review: Mormon Country by Wallace Stegner

Mormon Country

Wallace Stegner includes a couple chapters about the handcarts in this book.  He starts giving a description of the handcart pioneers, and includes Isaac at the beginning of his description.  “They were British converts from the black-belt collieries…  He concludes this chapter with this description of the Martin and Willie Companies’ handcart experience.  “The story of these two caravans of Saints is a story of tragedy second in western history only to the tragedy of the Donnor Party.  The only thing the Donnor Party did that the handcart companies did not was to eat their dead companions.  The Mormons, apparently, were better prepared to die.  Their hope was fixed on heaven, not on the golden shore.  He described how the rations were reduced as the trial became harder in an effort to make them last until help would arrive.  “There was a law of diminishing returns against them.  The harder the way became, the less strength they had to get over it.  The more their bodies clamored for food and warmth, the less food and warmth there were.  The greater their need for haste, the slower their pace became.”

Statements such as these, help me to understand a bit better what the handcart trek must have been like.