In my opinion, this is the best book dealing with the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies. He avoids the problem of combining the two stories, by dedicating chapters to each company and telling the story of when is happening in the journey. He does a good job of telling the conditions on the ship, and on the handcart trail. He also dedicates significant space to telling personal stories.
This book has a section dedicated to the Ashton family, and the Bailey family. Isaac is portrayed in both of these sections. The history of the Ashtons includes the separation from their father, while Sarah Ellen and Mary Jane were the only daughters to arrive in Salt Lake, their mother and three sisters having passed away on the plains. They were taken in by other families. Sarah married into the Beckstead family, and Isaac later married Mary. Mary died young in childbirth, and Sarah was the only surviving of the family in Utah and moved to Whitney with her husband. Her father later joined her, but passed away after only two years. Her husband also passed away leaving Sarah a widow.
The story of the Baileys is also related, telling of his illness, being pulled across the plains by Isaac and his brother John; but subsequently being promised in a blessing that he would live to see the valley. He lived to the old age of 91.
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