. . . On the Saturday we had to get up early, have our breakfast and bid the dear ones goodbye. Poor father, I thought he could not get up, but he was just in time to see us off. Richard and Ann and Isaac and James went to the station with us. They gave me some small presents. Father gave me a sovereign. Poor little brother James did cry. He said, "O sister Bessey, I shall never see you any more." I told him when he got an opportunity to obey thegospel and then he could come here.

I felt very sorrowful at parting with my relations and could not help shedding a few tears. I thought James very unkind. He said, "What are you crying for? If you think more of your relations that you do of me and my relations, I will send you to them if you say so." I did not feel any better for such talk as that. If my mind had not been set on coming to Zion I might have gone back, but my religion was not so easy turned.

We arrived at London about eleven o'clock and home at Lewisham at about one o'clock. We found Mrs. Smith and the folks all well. They had sent us a letter telling us to come home as they had received word from Liverpool saying we would start on our journey to the Valley on or about 23 of February. So the next week Sunday before we started we spent the day with Brother William Henery [Henry] Smith and had a little supper party.

About 3 o'clock on Monday morning we bid the folks at Lewisham adieu and arrived at the station about seven o'clock Monday, Mr. Henery [Henry] Mager taking our luggage in his cart, we walking. We started with a ton of truck. Half of it had to be sold or given away. Most of it was given away and our boxes cut up for kindling wood. Only two got to the Valley.

Arriving at Liverpool late in the afternoon, we had not much time to look around. Father Smith and James went to try and get lodgings. Mother Smith and I thought we would like to look around, so started out and got lost. Father and James got lodgings and came to the place where they had left us. We had been gone from there a long time. They was vexed. I forget which of them found us. We kept quiet. We had a comfortable room with two beds in it.

The next day we was very busy making ready to go board ship. We bought some tins and some beds (they called them). They was so poor we could scarcely handle them. The tins was not much better.

On the 23rd of February [1853] we went on board the ship International and took possession of our berths. I believe ours was 75 upper berth. We had disagreeable neighbors just below us, the name of Bullok.

I wrote home as soon as we got to Liverpool, then again as soon as we got board ship and sent another letter by the tugboat.

We had a pretty good journey considering all things. We had a storm which [p.8] lasted nearly 3 days. The captain of the ship, one David Brown from Massachusetts, and his mates, one Archey Camble—I forget the name of the other—used to come and see us many times during the storm. They said they never traveled often with such a happy lot of people in their lives. We use to have meetings very often. The captain, his two mates, and all of the crew were baptized excepting the cook and his wife. They were Roman Catholics. On the 16 of April there was several weddings and holiday making. Some of them came here. The mate married one of the young sisters and came with our company across the plains. Most of the people were seasick. Our family were very sick. I never had better health and could not eat anything—could not get enough. I had a splendid time. We used to get up in the night and go on deck and walk about until near daylight. In the daytime I used to go on deck with several of the girls and read or do fancy work.

Father Smith did our cooking which consisted of boiled pork, rice and oatmeal gruel. We had crackers for bread, a little cheese, tea, and brown sugar. We took a little flour, a large ham, and two jars of gooseberry jam.

We arrived at New Orleans after a nine weeks voyage. It was Saturday afternoon when we landed. My Uncle Thomas Eatt came board ship to see me but did not know my Husband's name so did not see us. We stayed on board until the next Tuesday. On the Sunday the captain and his wife and several gentlemen and ladies came to our meeting. Some of the Mormon girls stayed at New Orleans. The did not behave themselves very good so chose to stay from the Valley.

On the Tuesday evening just at dark James and I thought we would take a stroll into the city to do a little shopping. When we was away a boat came to take us up the river to St. Louis. They was just going to start in about 2 minutes. After we stepped on the boat we started. Father Smith did give us a blessing. I think we was on this boat one week. I forgot the name of the boat. We stayed at St. Louis a few days. Then another boat came at about dark and we was two nights and one day on the river.

We arrived at Keokuk in the night or early Sunday morning. We was packed into a large barn or warehouse. There was about 4 hundred of us. Some of the people had money so could take more comfortable lodgings. We stayed there a few days and made wagon covers and tents and then moved into our tents. We had one wagon and one tent for 12 persons. We stayed about 5 weeks at this place.

I must here say I wrote at every landing place to my parents. At Keokuk I wrote several times. We met several of my old friends at this place. Brother and Sister Wayman met us there. There we met Mrs. Thimbleby and her son and daughter. They was on their way to the Valley. Her daughter was very sick. I went to see her. She was pleased to see me and asked me a great many questions about my husband. She said she would like to see him. She was quite amused at the account I gave her concerning my courtship and marriage and asked me a hundred questions. Her poor girl said, "I don't want to go to the Valley."

I said, "Not want to go and see you Henry?"

She said, "No, I couldn't think of having him for fear he would take more wives that me." She bid me goodbye. She died while we were camping at Keokuk with what is termed a broken heart. The young man she was to have been married [p.9] to came from Doddington—a good, kind person, Henery [Henry] Garner by name. He soon found another woman. They left the Valley and went to California.

The night before we started from Keokuk we had a heavy thunder and rain storm. The wind blew down our tent and gave us such a washout as we had never witnessed. Our bedding and our clothing were soaking wet, so Mother Smith said they must all be washed. So on Monday as soon as the storm stopped, at it we went. We had just got through washing and hung the things on the bushes to dry when President Jacob Gates came round to our tents. He told us to be ready to start on our journey in half an hour. Of course the things were not half dry. We traveled until dark, then camped in high grass which was very wet but we had to lay our bedding down in the grass. We did not take cold for the Lord can take care of his Saints.

We had quite a tedious journey but I enjoyed it. We used to rest on Sundays when there was plenty of food and water for the animals. We woman folks used to look out for wood and pack it in our dress skirts. Some time we was told to do our washing and cooking on Sunday as we would start Monday morning at sunrise. One Saturday we camped at a place where there was large beds of strawberries. I got up on Sunday morning as soon as it was light and gathered a large pan full and made some pies.

We walked most of the way. There were several sick persons in our wagon. We reached Council Bluffs on the 3 of July. The people celebrated the Fourth of July, so also our people, with firing of guns. There was several dances for both old and young. I suppose they had good times. We stayed at the bluffs several day, then commence our journey over the deserts and plains. When the weather was fair we enjoyed ourselves with telling stories or reading or gathering flowers to throw away; also gathering buffalo chips to burn. Some times the sun was so warm we would take off shoes and stockings and bonnets and have umbrellas. At another time we would have to put on all the wraps we could command.

The last 7 weeks we was traveling James had the chills and fever so bad his life was despaired of. He was not able to walk so he had to go into the wagon and so Mother Smith and I had to walk and then do all the chores when in camp. We got very short of food the last few weeks we were traveling. When we was two weeks journey from the Valley, Brother Gates sent Richard Waddington on to the Valley to see if there was any provisions could be sent out to the people. He came back to the camp. He had seen several people that had friends in the company and they came out with what provisions they could spare. Thomas Cottam came out to meet us and bought his ox team with some flour and potatoes and melons. He met us on the Big Mountain where we camped at night. We was very hungry and tired. I had had nothing to eat all day and for several days Thomas dare not let us have half enough to eat for fear we should be sick. We had some potatoes and hard or heavy dumplings and he gave us a little watermelon. Mother Smith got very sick with the change of feed.

We left Elder Gates' company and traveled alone over the little mountain and through Emigration Canyon. We arrived at Salt Lake City on the 29th of October, 1853, about six o'clock in the evening. The folks seemed very happy to meet after a separation of seven or eight years. I did not feel quite at home. They treated me so distant. . . . [p.10]

BIB: Smith, Elizabeth Fovargue, Journal, pp. 8-10, donated by Robert Banze.
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