Friday 20th - Took rail for Liverpool. Day spent in business. Took lodging at Mrs. Powell's, Crosshall Street. In the evening attended the circus with several of the brethren.

Saturday 21st - Meeting in the office. I have been rebaptized by Brother John Kay in a tepid swimming bath, a nice place. Brother Pratt and Ray confirmed me [p.69] & bestowed a peculiarly good blessing upon my head. I feel thankful unto God, my Heavenly Father, for his great kindness manifested toward me thus far. & I do most sincerely & humbly pray unto him to grant unto me a pardon of all my past sins & assist me by the power of his Holy Spirit to do his righteous & holy will by living my religion in word, thought, and deed, that in the end I may have guaranteed unto me eternal life in His great kingdom. In the name of Jesus, Oh Lord, I ask thee to give me strength, wisdom, & understanding, that I may live to do good & only thee & thy will to know. Even so, Amen.

Sunday 22nd. 10:30 a.m. At meeting in the Saints hall assembly rooms. McKenzie Street spoke a while to the Saints. At 5 p.m. attended a council meeting at 6 a preaching meeting Brothers Hatch and Pratt spoke. Brother Pratt promised us in the name of the Lord a good & prosperous voyage across the sea & plains if we would obey counsel and live our religion. We had a glorious time.

May 23rd - Weather cold & stormy. In the office assisting the clerks.

Thursday 26th - Past few days engaged in the office writing & assisting in booking emigrants for the George Washington. This day engaged in getting our luggage aboard of the ship. Great confusion & anxiety prevails on all such occasions, but I am quite sure that less confusion characterizes of movement our people than those of other classes. Instead of excessive property, inebriety & grumbling which are prominent characteristics of emigrants generally. We observe with pleasure a contrary or opposite course with our people which goes to prove that all are prompted by the same spirit & motive endeavoring to do unto others as they wish to be done unto. All were on board by night. At 11 p.m
. the ship went into the stream.

Fri. the 27th - Slept on board during the night. Early in the morning went ashore & returned again at 10 with a number of brethren & sisters amongst whom Brothers Benson & Ray. At a meeting held after our arrival the following organization was entered into: Brother James R. Park was appointed president over the Saints, Brother J. B. Martin & Charles R. Dana were appointed [p.70] his counselors. The ship is divided off into 5 wards. The following men were appointed bishops over these wards viz. Brothers Dilta [Dillie], Evans, Hall [Hatt], Ashby, & Carrigan. Each ward is divided into districts & a teacher appointed over each district to see that the public & private prayer is attended to & that wards are kept clean & pure by frequent ventilation, sweeping & washing. A. [Amos M.] Musser was appointed secretary for the ship. All these officers were sustained by unanimous vote.

. . .

Brothers Pratt, Benson, & others made us glorious promises & poured down upon our heads blessings in great profusion with a fervency becoming apostles of the Most High. May the blessings predicted, some of which were life, a prosperous voyage, and a pleasant time, be fully realized, & may our conduct in every respect such as to merit those blessings & may also the blessings of high heaven poured out as propitiously upon all our brethren we leave behind is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus, Amen.

The George Washington (a noble name) is an A-1 vessel and registers 1649 tons. She is well adopted for carrying passengers. Every passenger has 10 cubic feet allotted him for the luggage & a berth sufficiently for his person. All (according to law) [- -] are adult passengers & have had to pay £4.5 for their passage; under eight, and over, £3.5, infants one shilling. Each adult all allowed the following scale of provisions: 132 [-] of water, 3 ms of bread or biscuit [-] of flour, 1 ms of oatmeal, 1 ms of rice, 1 ms of peas, 1 ms of beef, 1 m pork, 2 ms potatoes, 2 ounces of tea, 1 m sugar, a of mustard, a 1/4 ounce of ground pepper, 2 ounces of salt, & 1 jill of vinegar. The water is issued daily. The above is a [-] scale of provisions. The provisions are of the best quality. [p.71] The vessel has 816 passengers on board & with a few exceptions they are all Latter-day Saints bound for Zion via Boston.

Sat. 28th - at about 5 a.m. we weighed anchor with the assistance of a tug. Passed down the River Mersey into the Irish Channel & in a few fleeting hours we were out of sight of land. A dense fog assisted amazingly in obscuring it. It is soul cheering to listen to the songs of Zion issuing forth by ardent spirits from the pure hearts of my brethren & sisters. They collected in groups over in the vessel. Those more immediately applicable to our circumstances, mission, etc. are chosen, such as "Yes, my native land I love thee", and "On the gallant ship we ride", "The gallant ship is underway", etc. "To Leave My Dear Friends," etc., etc. We left the tug with a fair wind. We have also [-] of the guard appointed to see that a watch is stationed at every hatchway every night to prevent ingress of strangers & unnecessary egress to Saints after a certain hour of the night. We have on board English, Welsh, Scotch, Irish, Swiss, & Yankees, a medley of people & languages. The captain [-] is from appearance a thoroughbred, "Jonathan." He appears kind, obliging, & affable with all. The chief mate [-], tho quite repulsive in appearance & somewhat rude in his manner, is nevertheless obliging when approached in a condescending manner. The second mate [LINE DRAWN THROUGH THE REST OF THE SENTENCE] surgeon.

Sunday 29th - The morning quite rough and the wind varying. The visages of the Saints begin to [-] a longitudinal length equal to that of Uncle Ned's digits & as ghostly as the witches of Endor dismissing their reports with becoming liberty & freedom. A.M., had meeting in the 1st deck. Brothers Park, Martin, Dana, & Evans spoke upon things pertaining to our welfare on ship board, making great promises. [p.72] P.M., about 7/8 of the (or more) Saints are seasick. Some have truly a tough time. Some are very sick indeed & most all are in their berths too unwell to wait on themselves. The well are obliged to clean up after and wait upon them. This they do with a spirit becoming Saints. I have been administering to a great many of them.

Tues. 31st - Yesterday & today very stormy & unsettled. Out of the whole number of passengers about 800 of them are all down with seasickness, many of them too helpless to render themselves any assistance. The G. [George] W. [Washington] might with propriety be called a floating hospital. At 1/4 before 10 o'clock p.m. Mrs. Mary Anne, wife of Thomas Jenkins was delivered of a fine daughter. The sisters, although sick, mustered up sufficient courage to help in this accouching the doctor, Mr. [-], & myself acting in our respective spheres as best we could. [THE NEXT SENTENCE IS CROSSED OUT]

Wed., April 1, 1857, Up till past 2 with Mrs. Jenkins. All day engaged in working upon the Saints. Oranges, lemons, red herring, preserves, & jams are very necessary things for to bring along on a sea voyage. The winds are quite contrary.

Thurs. 2nd. A very heavy sea outside which created a heavy or constant heaving within. The ship tossing to & fro personifying a [-] person. The Saints are very sick & require more attention than I & the few well brethren can impart unto them. The wind is dead ahead & we have but little sail set.

Fri. 3rd - More calm. The Saints, like a swarm of bees in the morning or after a storm begin to show themselves very numerously over the two upper decks. I am truly glad to observe their convalescence. It is a great relief to the well ones and much greater to themselves.

Sat. 4th - Winds more favorable but few sick. A.M. I acted as steward in supervising the issuing of the rations. I had 10 assistants & yet it took 5 hours to issue provisions for one week for the whole company. P.M., got all on deck and fumigated the vessel by burning tar between the decks which is productive of much good in creating a healthy atmosphere.

Sunday 5th - A.M., meeting on the lower deck. & p.m., meeting in the upper deck. Good & spirited times. Joseph, infant son of Brother F. [Francis] Kirby [Kerby], was blessed by several of us elders, President Park being mouth.

Mon. 6 - At 2 p.m. this day all are assembled on the upper deck & held a conference. As usual, as onshore all of the authorities from Brother Brigham to last ordained were unanimously sustained by uplifted hands. Brothers Park and others addressed the assembled Saints & all felt first-rate. It is peculiarly pleasing to observe the order and the good feelings - the saintly decorum & the religious observances of the Saints of God on board of this ship. The wind is strong & favorable promoting our interests at the rate of 12 or 13 knots per hour.

Tues. 7 - The wind is still fair. I regret to have to notice that we have on board 2 very sick females, one sister by name of F. [Frances] M. Puddiford & the other, Mrs. Jenkins, who was a very few days ago confined. She is quite delirious & I fear will not recover unless a change is soon effected.

Wed. 8 - Sister P. [Puddiford] is much better but Mrs. J. [Jenkins] is worse. Her disease has reached its acme or zenith. We hope and pray for the best.

Thurs. 9 - Wind favorable & pretty strong. Going at the rate of 9 knots per hour. The passengers gradually convalescent. Some few still very local in their habits i.e. they remain in bed yet.

Fri. 10th - At about 12 o'clock last night Brother John Shuttleworth, aged about 60 years, departed this life after an asthmatical illness not ameliorated by seasickness of over 4 months. He was quite indisposed when he left Liverpool but it was thought by his son, who came with him & his friends, that sea air would be a source of blessing to him. His severe illness not in the least mitigated by the mucous seasickness gradually assumed a more alarming aspect until at last his constitution had to yield. At 8 this morning, his body after a few minutes of exhibition for the gaze of friends
, was sewed up into a sheet, a bag of sand fastened to his feet, lowered over the bulwarks into the watery grave. May he rest in peace.

This morning I had 2 teeth pulled. They were both decayed.

We have many testimonies to sustain the conclusion that the Gentiles believe that the protecting hand of the almighty hand of Providence overrules [p.74] our emigration. A party writing from America to a friend in Scotland told him to emigrate in a Mormon vessel with the Saints asserting that the charter ships that never sink nor meet with disasters. An owner of a ship after hearing that several of our elders were on board of his vessel that set sail from America that had been out rather longer than anticipated exclaimed, "If they are on board she will come through safe." A captain after taking a cargo of our people across the Atlantic said he would rather take our people for a trifle than "Irish cattle" for full price. We have gained a notoriety amongst captains & shippers for our cleanliness, order and decorum, &c, &c, &c. In the evening had several good exhortation meetings & with others. I spoke a short time.

Sat. 11 - Wind fair & all things going on pretty smoothly. The sick are gradually improving.

Sun. 12 - This morning Sarah Ann, daughter of Sarah Ann Coggle of Southampton, died of fever 11 months old. It was buried in the deep. The mother is not here. Brother and Sister Hatt [George and Mary] were it's adopted parents. A.M., had meeting on the main deck & p.m. & evening, had another good one on the lower decks.

Mon. 13. Wind quite unfavorable. The sick convalescent.

Tues. 14. Wind favorable. Burned tar again between decks.

Wed. 15. Went ahead again. In the evening experienced a light gale. Much rain falls & has been falling scarcely missing a day since we left Liverpool.

Fri. 17 - Yesterday wind much calm. About 1 o'clock this morning Mrs. Mary Ann Jenkins, wife of Thomas Jenkins, age twenty-five years from Herefordshire, England, died of [-] mania, or inflammation of the brain following childbirth. After a brief prayer offered by myself she was like her two predecessors consigned to the watery deep as the only resting place we could find for her body. She leaves a husband & 4 small children to lament her loss. We paid her every attention we could. I had 4 brethren & from 10 to 16 sisters taking turns in waiting on herself & child. Several children on board have the measles. Many are troubled with diarrhea and others with constipation. [p.75]

Sat. 18 - Up early (after a restless night's rest occasioned by severe earache), attended to the issuing of provisions, I trust for the last time. We issue about 20 barrels biscuit, 4 tierce beef, 4 barrel pork, 4 bags of rice, 5 barrels flour, 5 oatmeal, 4 sugar, 4 barrel of peas, chest of tea, a barrel vinegar, besides pepper, mustard, salt, &c. every Saturday. We are gradually and surely drawing near our destined haven, Boston Bay. Have been & is still so fully occupied in taking care of the sick & helpless that the time passes away without my noticing it & to me the aquatic journey thus far has been extremely brief. P.M., several of the brethren have been considerably burned through a barrel of grease tipping over & catching fire in the galley & so imminent did the danger appear that fears of no ordinary magnitude were entertained by some for the safety of the ship. The cry of, "Fire! Fire!!" was heard distinctly & repeatedly but happily the deck & everything was wet caused a heavy fall of rain & by throwing water profusely, the flame was soon subdued. The sick are convalescent. P.M., the between decks were again fumigated by burning tar. In the evening helped cast a devil by the name of "Heehrel" out of Sister Mary Dyer.

Sun. 19 - 2 good meetings this day. In the evening rebuked another evil spirit by name of "Cosheon" in connection with by brethren from Sister Mary again. The Lord acknowledged our administration & blessed be his name. A good wind all the day. About 10 o'clock in sight of the Cape Cod Lighthouse.

Mon. 20 - Early this morning we anchored inside of Boston Harbor perhaps 2 miles from the city. A more beautiful harbor I have not seen. Thus in 22 days we have made a voyage across the Atlantic. The Lord has sustained us all the while & blessed us in an almost unprecedented manner; more hereafter. Brother Park went ashore leaving orders for me to ascertain who had not paid head money &c, that said have paid it. Got through about noon when all the passengers were summoned before the emigrant commissioner to answer to their names, &c.

Lucky for us, we got into the harbor this morning early, for it had been blowing a gale all the day.

Tues. 21st - Most of the night making out a new list of all the passengers. Got them all in bed at 9 last evening & then went to work in a successful manner. This morning rougher than ever. A [p.76] strong gale blowing the GW [George Washington] draws her anchor. The strength of the wind is unprecedented in this harbor by the officers on board. I am & have been as busy as a bee writing, making out lists, reports, &c, &c.

Wed. 22nd - Weather more calm. President John Taylor came on board. Got the Saints together & received some instructions from him. I've been very busy writing, making memorandums all for & concerning the disembarkation & business of the passengers. Brother Taylor has contracted with Mr. J. Q. A. Bean, principal agent for the Lakeshore & Michigan Southern Railroad line, for the transportation of our people to Iowa city & elsewhere. The fares are much reduced. We are charged but $10.50 per head, adult; under 16 $5.25; under 6 free. 100 pounds of luggage free & $3.50 per 100 pounds of extra luggage. This is truly very reasonable. 4 officers attending & accompanying the Saints go free. Those going to St. Louis pay the same fare. Those going to Cincinnati $9 those going to New York $2.50 per head, per adult; price for all under 16 years. Mr. Bean has requested me to collect the train fares of the emigrants & guess at the weight of their luggage & receive pay for its freight, &c, &c. This morning we hoisted anchor & with the assistance of a steam tug, arrived in due course at the [-] wharf (river at Boston).

Thurs. 23rd - I commenced last evening at 8 o'clock to collect the railway fares, &c. and have been assiduous all the night long just consummating the collection at break of day this morning. It was a job of no small magnitude to wake the people up, exercise patience till they found their purses, metamorphosing English and French coin into American, making change, guessing at the extra luggage, keeping account of who paid, how many paid, [p.77] what paid for, where emigrants going, &c, &c. Of course I had help. All forenoon straightening accounts with Mr. Bean & the passengers. I have collected $3,900.87 train money on passengers & extra freight. P.M., accompanied Mr. B. [Bean] in his chaise to the Boston & Worcester Railway Depot to see the Saints off who disembark this morning. A special train was deputed for their especial purpose. 420 went to Iowa City & St. Louis, 9 to Cincinnati, 106 to New York, others elsewhere, & a number stopped here or in this state. Brother Park accompanied the Saints to Iowa City & I have been by Brother Taylor deputed to remain here & see to the disposing of the extra provisions, paying of [UNCLEAR, POSSIBLY head] money, & clearing & forwarding boxes of merchandise, getting off Saints, making reports, &c, &c, &c. I am to follow in a few days by express. I do not remember of ever before having so many "irons in the fire" at the same time & to prevent them getting burned. I had been obliged to exert my mental & physical faculties to nearly the zero of their strength. I regret to have to record the death of Sister Charlotte Stead [Steed], age 67 from Marlboro Worcestershire, England who departed this life this morning. She will be interred in one of the Boston cemeteries. She died of [-]. Mr. Freeman & Captain Storer called to see me & expressed much joy in meeting me. They were officers on board the "Niobe" when [p.78] Brother Leonard and self went to Bombay from Calcutta in her several years back. About 5 o'clock Brother Taylor left Boston with the Saints for New York & Philadelphia.

Fri. 24th - Elder Taylor brought me a letter from Mr. Dunlap. All day busily engaged with the business left me to accomplish. Got the last Saints off for London in Canada. I intimated to Captain Commings that I intended speaking encomiously of him, his officers, & the doctor with a report I proposed making out for publication in the "Mormon." He thanked me & told me [if] I felt like writing an article upon our decorum, sobriety, morality, cleanliness, &c., he would have great pleasure in putting his name to it. I in turn expressed my thanks for his kindness.

Sat. 25 - I am putting up at Sister Melissa Rice, who has received me very kindly and administers faithfully to my wants. Her husband is not a member of the church. He is in California. They are under tolerable easy circumstances. While Sister Rice & her sister were yesterday witnessing the Saints making their exit at the railway station, one of the light fingered gentleman without solicitation & with an eye single to the comfort of his own back & belly, very clandestinely extracted a purse containing $40 some promissory notes, &c. from Sister Rice's pocket. This is quite a loss and we presume it is gone for good. The customs house Mr. [-] officer very kindly permitted the luggage of the Saints to pass without even a slight formal examination. This saved a great deal of time & trouble.

This morning succeeded in selling the extra provisions left on board the George Washington to Mrs. Taylor and Warren. They are to be got out & weighed on Monday next.

On visiting Mr. Armstrong for the purpose of pay the head money for the passengers staying in Massachusetts, I learned that a list of those who left the state as well as a list of the remaining is required. I had to accordingly set to work & make 3 lists again. I presume I have written the names of all the George Washington passengers over 3 or 4 times already & it is no small job to set down & transcribe 812 names of fixing & prefixing the number of their tickets together with their ages.

Sun. 26 - Writing till after midnight last night & all day this day. I am making reports for the "Mormon" & "Star" [THE MORMON AND MILLENNIAL STAR ARE LDS PERIODICALS] office concerning our emigrants business, &c. At 7 p.m. attended meeting in the Saints meeting room, Tuckermans Hall. We had good attendance & I spoke with good freedom.
Brother James F. Cleary from the Valley presides over the Boston Branch. His address is 771 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Sister Rice's address where I am staying is number 11 West Orage Street. It was pleasing to observe in the congregation numbers of familiar faces from Europe. The Saints feel well. I shall never forget the kindness of Sister M. Rice. She pays me every attention to make me comfortable. May the Lord abundantly bless & reward her for her goodness, Amen.

Mon. 27 - Raining most of the day, my discharging stores.

Tues. 28 - Discharged and received pay for the extra stores amounting to over $1400. I paid administration money on 143 passengers at $2 per head, passed receipts & [-] everything, & at past 5 p.m., [-] food by to brethren & took rail via Worcester & Western and Allen's Point where I took the steamer "Connecticut" for New York. The steamer is a magnificent one.

Wed. 29 - Arrived in New York this morning [p.80] bright and early. Went to the "Mormon" office. Found Brother T. B. H. Stenhouse . . . [THE DIARY IS ILLEGIBLE FOR THE NEXT SIX LINES]

Thurs. 30 At 6 this morning left New York to sail for Albany, 144 miles. We passed up the beautiful Hudson River.

The scenery delightful. The Catskill Mountains [-] with was plainly discernible [- - - - - - -] Albany. [-] gave me a free ticket to Buffalo about [-] miles. Left Albany at 12 noon, reached Utica at 6 p.m., Rochester at 9 p.m., Buffalo 11 p.m. Left 1/4 past 12. The roads are very dusty. The dust of [-] in great [-] in the cans.

Fri., 1st May - Erie at 5 a.m., Cleveland [-] at 1 p.m. At 12 at night last night, took tiny occasional naps of long or shorter durations on the seat. The rails are very unevenly laid which causes much jolting [-] the cars [-] mode of conveyance in England is to be preferred to the mode in this country. The first class cars alone in this country are to be preferred to those in England but with this exception the remainder of the arrangements are not near so complete. Put up at Chicago at the City Hotel.

Saturday 2nd - Mr. John F. Tracy gave me a free ticket to Iowa City. Left Chicago at 9. Arrived at Rock Island at a 1/4 before 5 p.m. Crossed the Mississippi River to Davenport. Arrived in Iowa City about 9 p.m. The wide prairies look natural & the numerous prairie hens seen along the line bring to mind pleasant reminisces. Our friend in the lead without ceremony run against a man & shoved him off the track without however doing him serious injury. While coming along I overheard a private tete-a-tete between two parties upon the merits and demerits of "Mormonism." One said that a party of 1500 passed Cleveland a few days since for the west. He said he did not wish them any particular harm but would have been gratified to see them all go over a bridge and break their necks. Very liberal! Put up in Iowa City at the [UNCLEAR, POSSIBLY Crummy] House.

Sabbath, 3rd - Morning, hired a buggy and went to the camp about 2 miles distant where I found the Saints in good cheer, feeling well, & looking well. I found Brother James A. Little in camp. He has bought [p.81] cattle and wagons but will not be here for some while yet for there is not grass sufficient to sustain the cattle. . . . [p.82] [ACCORDING TO HIS JOURNAL (pp. 16-17) HE ARRIVED IN SALT LAKE CITY SOMETIME BETWEEN SEPT. 4-24, 1857]

BIB: Musser, Amos Milton. Diary (Ms 8140 1), vol. 1, pp. 69-72,74-78,80-82. (A)
(source abbreviations)