After living in London eleven years, I left to go with my parents arriving at Liverpool, December, 1855. My parents, James and Amy, and sisters, Maria, Sarah, and Jane, and brothers John and Robert, John's wife and two children, left Liverpool on December 10, 1855, on the ship John J. Boyd. Tamar and Zilpah were to leave the next July with Zilpah's husband, John Jaques and their child. Ann Loader Dalling had left England the year before and was living in Springville, Utah. Two brothers, Jonas and Marshal, and sisters Eliza and Emma remained in England. They did not join the L. D. S. Church.
Our company was on the sea about eleven weeks, due to the stormy weather. The vessel was rocked very hard and we tumbled around in great shape. One night the captain, while intoxicated, kicked the stove over and the ship caught on fire. Once while the storm was raging, the curtains of my berth separated and a bright light shown through and I saw a person whom I had never seen before standing in the light which was so bright I could see the color of his eyes; they were brown and he had lovely hair. He spoke to me saying, "Fear not; you shall be taken over safely." Then the curtains were drawn. I called to father and mother in the next berth, and told them not to fear for I believed I had seen the Savior and they felt to rely on this promise. [p.260]
The captain picked up and cared for a crew from a vessel that had been wrecked. Some of these sailors had broken limbs. Our supply of fresh water became short and we had to cook with salt water. There was a large company of Saints on this vessel, Scandinavians, Germans, and a few English in charge of Brother Canute Peterson of Lehi, Utah. John Loader and wife buried their baby girl in the sea, and most all were seasick. After they got better, they enjoyed the voyage.
We arrived in New York the latter part of February 1856, and then went to housekeeping; all that could, got positions. Maria and I did sewing in a cloak factory. Sarah and Jane went out as nurse girls. Father got work in gardens, thus we were preparing means to continue the journey to Utah. We expected to stay in New York for a year, but we received word to go to Iowa, and be prepared to leave with the handcart company in July. We left New York in June, 1856, for Iowa, where we found Tamar and Zilpah's family. We all joined the Edward Martin Handcart Company, except John and his wife. They remained in Iowa and came to Utah nine years later. We left Iowa, July 28, for Florence, Nebraska.
When this company left Florence, Nebraska, Aug. 27th, it consisted of 576 persons, 146 handcarts and 7 wagons. We traveled in companies of tens, fifties, and hundreds, captains over each, and all under a general captain of the entire train. We had much sickness and a number of deaths, and many hardships on the journey on account of starting so late in the season. Storms overtook us in the mountains, and all suffered terribly from cold and exposure. The handcart companies who left Florence in early summer arrived in Utah before cold weather set in. . . . [p.261]
. . . There were many deaths on this journey, John Jaques and wife lost their little girl. We arrived in Salt Lake on November 30, 1856, eleven months and 20 days after we left Liverpool. . . . [p.263]
BIB: Archer, Patience Loader [Autobiography], Our Pioneer Heritage comp. by Kate B. Carter, vol. 14 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1971) pp. 260-261, 263. (CHL)
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