. . . On June 4th 1863 I bid farewell to my father, brothers and sisters and sailed on the Amazon from the London Docks. I felt very sad as we sailed away, to see Old England fading away out of sight, and those I loved and did not know that I should ever see them again, and only my two brothers ever came to this country.

When the ship was in the London Docks, Charles Dickens came on board. His eyes was on everybody, and as he was walking about he was writing all the time.

The president of our branch in London, Brother Athay, and family, was on the ship and they were all very sick. In fact, everyone seemed to be feeding the fishes. I was not seasick. We were organized with President William Brimhall [Bramall] of Provo, Brothers [Edward L.] Sloan and [Richard] Palmer as counselors. We had some very rough weather. When it stormed the captain had the hatchways all closed down and it seemed as if we were shut in a prison. My companions were Ellen Derrick, and Ellen Hackman and Lizzie Cornell. We were in an upper berth, and Lavinia Triplet and her sister and cousin in the lower one, so there was seven of us and we all kept together till we got to Utah. They gave us the name of the seven sisters while on the journey. There was one death on board. A child and it seemed a sad sight to see it buried at sea. They dress the baby and then sew it up in sacking, then lay it on a board and put one end on the railing of the ship, them have prayers and services and them upend the board and the body slides into the sea.

There was a brass band on board and when the weather was fine there was singing, and dancing, and Brother [William] Brimhall [Brimall] held meetings. The brethren looked in all the girls' berths every night to see that no sailors had got in them.

On the 4th of July the captain hoisted the Stars and Stripes and celebrated.

The ship arrived in New York harbor July 18th. We rode by boat and rail through the states. We rode three days shut up in cattle cars with nothing but straw to sit on. My companion and I only had one dozen eggs to eat; that was all we could get. What little bread that there was to be got, the men got it for their wives and children. One of the baggage cars got on fire and Brother Athay's family's clothing was all burned and they had nothing but what they stood up in. We then went on a flat boat for three days on the Missouri River, and it was crowded, and we had to sleep just where we could get to sit down. We was cramped and very uncomfortable and the sailors were a rough set on men, and we were quite afraid of them for we seemed to be in a rough country. When we landed we were met by the brethren from Utah with their teams, and they took us to a place called Florence, where we camped till we were ready to start on the Plains.[p.1]

The captain's name was Daniel D. McArthur, and he had us seven sisters in one wagon. . . .

. . . When we got in sight of the mountains, the Utah boys gave a great shout, and up went their hats in the air. The mountains and canyons looked wonderful to us. After walking through canyons and over mountains, we came to a mountain that we could see Salt Lake City, and over the Valley, Then I felt very lonesome. I thought of the folks at home and wondered if I should ever see them again. I could not help shedding tears for I felt alone in the world. I knew the girls I had traveled with would go different ways. We went down into the city and camped.

President Brigham Young and others came to meet us and gave us good advice, especially to the young. . . .[p.2] [NO SALT LAKE CITY ARRIVAL DATE GIVEN]

BIB: Davis, Mary E. Fretwell. Autobiography (formerly in Msd 2050), pp. 1-2. (CHL)
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