LIFE SKETCH of James William Hurren and Ingra Toolson

LIFE SKETCH OF JAMES WILLIAM HURREN
 (1889-1960)

Photo from a pea factory card, Smithfield, UT

*This history is a combination of grandfather's obituary that was put in the paper at his death and what I--Sharon Evans Belnap, remember growing up close to him.

James William Hurren born December 2, 1889, at Hyde Park, Cache, Utah. All his life he was called JW and that is what he will be referred to in this history. He was the son of James William David Hurren and Margaret Ann Ashcroft. He died July 9, 1960, at Meridian, Idaho, at the family home.

He married Ingra Toolson in the Logan Temple, October 4, 1911. He and Ingra had two sons, William Keith of Kuna, Idaho, Wendall T. of Hyrum, Utah; three daughters, Alice H. Douglas of Salt Lake City, Bernice H. Evans of Meridian, Idaho, and Margaret H. Haslam of Hazelton, Idaho.

JW received his elementary education in the Hyde Park public schools and attended the BYC at Logan, Utah. He served as a missionary in the Southern States from 1911 to 1913.

JW and lngra resided at Hyde Park where three of their children were born. They later moved to Smithfield after a brief stay in Trenton where my mother, Bernice, was born. Their third daughter, Margaret was born in Smithfield where they finished raising their family.

JW was an active church member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He served on the Benson Stake High Council for 12 years (1922-1934). He worked in the various organizations of the church, including president of the YMMIA and a teacher in the Sunday School. He was also active in civic affairs.

He lived as the Savior taught, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." He made donations to all church and civic organizations. He was always considering the welfare of others.

In 1946, JW and Ingra bought a farm and moved to Meridian, Idaho. They lived on Amity Avenue. He retired from farming in 1957. He enjoyed fair health until his illness. He died on July 9, 1960 of acute myocytic leukemia.

He possessed a deep abiding faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and strived to live his life in accordance with the commandments of God.

I, Sharon Evans Belnap, will now try to mention some specific incidents I remember about my grandfather, JW, as I was growing up. 

•  Grandfather was a hard worker. When we would go out into the field to haul either long hay or baled hay he would always do his best to keep up with my father, Dean Evans.

•  Grandfather was much older and obviously had "rheumatism" in his hips because he walked along with a distinct limp, somewhat like the old time movie actor, Walter Brennan, and he would say, "I've got a catch in my get-along". 

•  Grandpa was a tease, although he never did anything to me. He would find mice and snakes hiding under the hay piles and the snakes he would grab a hold of and toss them up on the hay load and scare my brothers. I am sure he didn't do that often or my brothers would have refused to tromp the hay for him. But the amusing thing about this situation was he was afraid of mice and when a mouse was found under the hay piles ready to be thrown up on the hay load (which was quite often) he would start to yell and dance around until the mouse was out of sight. My uncle, Alton, and my dad, Dean, would laugh in private, not wanting to make fun of my grandfather, but I am sure they found that scenario very funny. I certainly did.

•  My grandfather was an avid reader of church books. Whenever he wasn't working he was reading. He was really smart when it came to reading about the church doctrine. He really knew the gospel. So much so that when fast meeting was held in the ward every month my grandfather would periodically stand and bear his testimony about a particular principle of the gospel. My brothers and I were always embarrassed because he would invariably take too much time and would sound like he was preaching instead of bearing his testimony. Whenever he would stand Bruce and I would say under our breaths, "Oh, no-o-o-o". I would give anything to hear his testimony of principles now.

•  In the 1950's television was becoming popular but my parents could not afford a set and also did not want a television set. My grandparents had bought a brand new set and so we went over every weekend to watch the Ed Sullivan Show, the Lawrence Welk show and Liberace. We dearly loved those shows. But there was one outstanding problem with this arrangement. My grandparents loved to have us come but sometimes we were a little reluctant to go. You see my grandfather had a lovely recliner that he sat in and reclined. He would naturally take off his shoes to totally relax. Well he had the worse smelling feet I have ever smelled in my whole life before or after him. My grandmother would admonish him to go wash his feet but he never did. He would always say it didn't bother us so why should it bother her. We all sat there and never said a word. Occasionally my mother would say she could smell them but none of us ever said anything. We had our chance to speak up but we never did. I know I wanted to watch those shows more than anything and I think I was afraid my parents would have taken us home had we put up a fuss. Anyway that is a source of amusement in my mind whenever I think of my grandfather.

•  Another incident that happened was a ride to stake conference in Boise. We belonged to the West Boise Stake and had our stake conference in Boise. Grandfather loved cars and he had some fairly nice ones during his lifetime. One car I remember in particular was a green Oldsmobile. He took Bruce and I to stake conference in it. He drove all the way to Hiway 20 and went to Boise on that road. That was quite a few miles north and then quite a few miles east. Of course, Bruce and I wondered why he chose that road to drive on. Well we soon found out. Grandfather wanted to see how fast the car could go. Well, he got it up to 90 miles an hour and I was really scared. When he started to slow down when he got to 70 miles an hour it felt like we were crawling. I have never gone that fast before or since in my whole life. We didn't even have seat belts to put on either.

• My grandfather was very kind, but he was quite set in his ways. He really thought he knew what was best, not only for himself but for grandmother too. When he was sick and he knew the end was coming soon he really wanted to live. He would hallucinate that there was something growing just outside the door that would cure him and he wanted my grandmother to find it. He needed it. Would that have been true I am sure it would have been picked, ground up, steeped and used. Maybe there was something out there, who knows. He died of leukemia.

 It was really a fascinating thing that grandmother was always the sick one and grandfather the well one. But when he was dying grandmother rallied a lot and took care of grandfather until he died not thinking about herself and her problems. Of course, the children came to help. I know that mother (Bernice) was there every day to help. But nevertheless I am sure grandmother was blessed a lot to be able to take care of grandfather. She lived another year before she died.

I lived very close to my grandparents for quite a few years. My grandparents were very different in their temperaments and personalities consequently there was quite a bit of yelling going on. Grandmother did the yelling and my grandfather always listened to her and then went out and did exactly whatever he wanted to do. But I know they loved each other very much. We should always remember that.

 Written by Sharon Evans Belnap (granddaughter)

The following is the remembrances of Bruce Evans, oldest grandson of James William Hurren.

When grandpa would talk in church he never had notes [because during his mission he never used purse or script.  Everything was memorized.] Regarding his mission in the Southern States he said that he was once tarred and feathered and driven out of town.  He was married when he went on his mission. (1911 through 1913).  

Grandpa used to bring hay to the barn in Smithfield.  The barn still stands today (May, 2011).  When Sharon and I played outside in the barn we would jump on the hay and tumble down.  The hay was brought from Amalga to Smithfield.  Grandpa had an old truck and we both sat on the front fenders straddling the lights.  I remember he had German prisoners come to the farm to work.  One time I caught a fish.  It got caught in a culvert.  A German prisoner came and helped me get it out.  

During World War II about 7,000 German soldiers were kept as prisoners of war in Utah, mostly in Ogden. Some of them remained after the war ended.

Grandpa had a chicken coop between the house and the barn.  Grandpa would chop chickens’ head off with an ax over a stump.  One time I chased Sharon with a dead chicken that had its head cut off.  Sharon ran to the house screaming.  Dad was there and I got a spanking.  I was put in the attic room and had to stay home while my parents and Sharon went to the World War II victory celebration (at the end of 1945).  I used to go to grandpa and grandma’s place and play outside with little toy soldiers on a ditch bank.  I would have battles with tanks, soldiers, etc.

Sometimes I had to clean the chicken coop.  I had to shoo the chickens of the nests and gather the eggs.  That wasn’t scary but snakes were scary.  

I remember going up on grandpa’s farm (120 acres).  Along the canal on the south side there were blueberries.  We would pick them.  Boy they were good tasting.  I remember grandpa changing water (irrigation), gathering hay and working in the field a lot.  He was always working.

One night we were watching TV at grandpa’s house.  He was stretched out on a couch.  A mouse came across the floor.  He jumped and let out a big yell.  He didn’t like mice.

 One time grandpa was changing his garments and I saw his truss for his hernia.  I was startled.

During the second half of my mission I heard of grandpa’s illness.  I was upset.  I cried.  At his funeral after my mission I just sobbed.  I wondered how come Brent was not crying like me.  I was around grandpa a lot but grandma was always in pain.

After my mission and the death of grandpa I was given grandpa’s car, a 53 Oldsmobile, 2-door Holiday sedan with a cream top and a green bottom.  I went 110 miles per hour in that car.

MEMORIES OF GRANDMOTHER HURREN

All I remember about Grandmother was she was hugging and supporting.  I remember when grandmother had kidney failure.  Mother would go and tend her for many years.  Most of the time she would be in such pain and would say, “I want to die”.  Mother took good care of her.  Mother was really attached to her mother and would visit her almost every day.  Mother would go to grandmothers and would dig her scalp to get rid of her dandruff before mother shampooed her hair.  This ritual was carried out once a week.

James William David Hurren--Margaret ann Ashcroft--maternal great grandfather

*This story was told to Wendell, Bruce's maternal uncle. It is retold and transcribed here by Sharon Evans Belnap---sister of William Bruce Evans--2-17-2012

Miracles of the Mission Field

Where:  Holland
When:  Late 1890's
What: JWD Hurren was serving a mission in Holland.  It was a very rough time for him and his young family that he left at home in Utah. As a missionary, he was often hungry and without sufficient food.


After arriving home from his mission, JWD was unpacking his belongings with his beloved wife, Margaret Ashcroft by his side. As they were unpacking his clothes from his Holland mission, his wife found a napkin and she asked him where did this napkin come from?

He reported to her that one day, he was walking along near a bridge and was starving because he had not eaten. On a bridges railing, he found a napkin. Inside the napkin was a sandwich that he ate.

His wife said with tears in her eyes, "This is my NAPKIN."  I have had a missing napkin out of our set for a long time.

Other Family Connections on this Line:


Younger sister of James William David Hurren--Phebe Jane (Hurren) Hyde

--HYDE PARK UTAH HISTORY

--Website from ASHCROFT


---Charles Leland and Wanda Reese Ashcroft---Charles and Margaret Ashcroft were siblings--James Hurren and Charles Ashcroft were COUSINS--and SO FORTH!

---Charles Leland and Wanda ASHCROFT--Story is of WANDA Ashcroft---DISTANT COUSINS! (

Life Sketch of Margaret Ann Ashcroft

                         LIFE SKETCH OF MARGARET ANN ASHCROFT

I was born in Hyde Park, Cache Co., Utah on February 10, 1865. My father was Henry Ashcroft. He was born 30 Nov. 1833 Upholland, Lancashire, England. He accepted the gospel in England and there he was baptized on December 15, 1849 by Peter Rowbotham. He was then 16 years old. At this time he was living at Roby Mill. While freighting through Upholland he met my mother, Mary Glover. She was born 28 May 1837. The daughter of Wm. and Elizabeth Naylor Glover. My mother was the ninth child of a family of twelve, seven girls and five boys. Upon hearing the gospel she accepted it and was baptized a member of the Latter Day Saints Church 6 June 1851 at the age of fourteen years. Six brothers and sisters joined the church also.

My parents were married about 1852 in England. Prior to the year 1854 he and his young bride made preparations to emigrate to Utah. Together they had saved enough money to pay in advance for their passports to America. This was seven pounds fifteen shillings, amounting to $38.75 in US money. Before leaving England on their journey to America while they were still at the wharf, his mother, a small frail lady came and bade them farewell. They sailed on the Clara Wheeler ship from Liverpool 27 November 1854, arriving at St. Louis, Missouri January 22, 1855. They started the tiresome trek across the plains 12 September 1855. Captain Isaac Allreds company. Arriving in Salt Lake 2 November 1855. 


Their first home was at Payson, Utah, where my oldest brother Wm. Henry was born. My second brother James Albert was born at Goshen, and died a month later. In May 1860 James Mack and family and my father, mother and brother came to Hyde Park. My next or third brother George Franklin was the first white boy born in Hyde Park, 2 July 1861. The first girl of our family, Mary Elizabeth, was born and died 2 months later. I was number five. I was born in a log room situated one block South and one half west of the old rock meeting house now used for U. I. C. Car station. The 9th of May 1867 my father died. I was a little past 2 years old. 


This was a terrible blow to his two young wives who were both in delicate condition. My father's second wife Elizabeth Ann Barton had two sons and gave birth to another 5 months after his death. My fourth brother, Charles Robert was born seven months after the death of my father. But they struggled together waiting on each other and caring for each other's children. Later my mother married Robert Daines on 28 Dec. 1868. Three sides of our log room was moved to the Daines lot and joined on their old log granary. This was East of the old Daines home. 


My mother, Mary Glover, was a hard working industrious women and an immaculate house keeper. She had high ideals and a religious nature. Among my earliest recollections was my humble home. We had two home made high-posted beds one in south east comer and one in south west comer of our room. We had a chest and boxes of clothes under one. A trundle bed under the other, Valance around the bottom part of the bedsteads, curtains around the top. A table in north east comer, stove in the center of the north, with one window and door at west, a window at north. The floor was boards one foot wide. The ceiling was boards laid on top of the joint with a trap door in the center. This attic served as a store room. The only way of getting up there was by placing a chair on the table. After we had lived here for some time, Grandpa Daines bought a clock. This was placed on the home made shelf. Mother draped asparagus on both sides for the flies to roost on this kept them off the white washed ceiling.

I will remember being taught to help sort the potatoes in the spring putting the seed potatoes in one pile and potatoes for the family use in another pile. The rest we washed, peeled and grated to make starch, and how sore my hands were from grating them. Our next spring job was to help prepare the wool for making the rolls from which we spun the yam that made the cloth for our clothing. When I was old enough, I did the spinning of the yam. This work lasted from the time school was out until it started again in the fall. We worked from daylight till dark, six days a week.

In the Spring of 1872, my mother moved into part of the Daines horne. The 26th day of May 1872, May was born, her first child by brother Daines. The lOth September 1874 Emma was born. About this time, the Daines horne, which housed three families, was filled to overflowing. 


So Aunt Jemima moved to the John Gloomfield [Bloomfield?] horne. This was one block west and one north of the Daines horne. Later Aunt Jemima wanted to move back. So my mother moved to the lot where Wilford now lives. This horne was three rooms and a pantry. Two rooms were concrete and one was adobe. I lived in this horne until I was married. 


The 10th of December 1878 my mother gave birth to twins, Wilford Glover and Nora Jane. I was then less than 14 years old and took charge of all the household duties. The only help I had was on wash day when Jane Thurston was hired. Many times I have rubbed on the board all day and hung clothes on the fence after dark, wading in snow up to my knees. My mother was very poorly all winter. Nora had gatherings on her neck and we carried her for about six weeks, day and night. It was six months before my mother was able to corne into the kitchen. 


I well remember a gray cotton plaid dress I had with a full skirt and long sleeves. I wore this when I was about 16 years old to the dances and Sunday School for one year. It was picked to pieces and washed and made on the wrong side and worn for one more year. I knit my black woolen hose for winter and black cotton hose for summer also many pairs for the family. My panties were made long enough to button over my knees. We also wore cotton chemise made of factory. They were long and full.

Our shoes were high laced or buttoned. The higher the better. They were always greased with mutton tallow. We wore heavy sox over our shoes for rubbers when it was very wet weather. In those days every one made butter and sold to the Christian Lees Store. My mother and I would take all this butter of many colors and work it up and remold it to send to Salt Lake City and sell. My mother would take chickens to clean and I would help pick chickens until late in the evening. We also made head cheese for the same store.

In the summer when the apples were ready, we had apple bees. Mother would invite several young girls in and they would help peel and dry apples. Many bushel would be peeled and dried in one evening. They were dried on the roof of our house. Mother would wash and strip rags and than we girls would have rag bees. They would last all day and would be sewed by hand. These were woven and sewed into carpets for our homes.

I did housework for Lydia Reeder, Celia Woolf, Mary Woolf, and Ellen Woolf. I would wash on the board all day then scrub the floors after dark. I learned to sew by helping make baby clothes for the twins. Then later I helped Lizzie Daines sew for others making many beautiful dresses.

Forms of recreation was dramas and dances. The music for our dances consisted of violins. Some of the ones that used to play were Chris Christensen, Patterson D. Griffiths, John Follett, and Andrew Griffiths. Someone always called for the square dances. Round dances were not allowed in my day. I remember going to Smithfield to dance with my half brother James A. Daines, my best and only boy friend was James W Hurren. I went with him when he was home for about five years.

Some of the time he was away working on the railroad from Swan Lake, Idaho to Butte, Montana. Then he spent two winters at the university taking a normal course preparing to teach school.

I went out dressmaking to earn money for my trousseau. This consisted of 3 or 4 pair of pillow slips, 4 pieced quilts, a feather bed, four sheets, and a pair of pillows.  My bedding was folded, tied in a sheet and taken over to the Hurren home.  We married June 10, 1886 in the Logan temple.  Early that morning Charles England and Phebe Woolf and James and I left for Logan temple to be married.  We traveled  in a light wagon with two spring seats.  That evening we went to Mother Hurren’s for our wedding supper.  She was an excellent cook and had made us a delicious wedding cake. While James was going to school in Salt Lake he lived with Nettie Leeker. After our marriage she sent us a cream colored glass berry set. This with 3 or 4 other glass dishes was the extent of our gifts.


PICTURE of life-long friends:

June being a busy month, our wedding trip was postponed until August. Then the four of us with the same light wagon with bows over the top left and went through Gentile Valley on a trip for one week.  We came back through Logan Canyon. We took our food along. We had all the chicken and fish we could eat. We also took a gallon of honey and at Soda Springs we stopped and fixed us a drink putting acid with the water from the Spring.

We lived at mother Hurrens for three years. In September of 1889, we moved to the lot where we now live. We had a one room house with a lean, this lean was a pantry and a small entrance. This is our north bedroom now. The second of December 1889 the first child James William was born. He was the first one to bear the Hurren name. Grandfather Hurren would come every day and ask how is our boy. Emma Daines worked for us. I was poorly most of the winter. It was Spring before I could go out. James had rheumatism and was down most of the winter. We had some winter. Our next child, Mary lone was born 19th February 1892. Two years later Clarence Ashcroft was born on 14 May 1894. Then came Carrie, born 26 Jan. 1897. She was married and had two sons, Lee, and Hurren and passed away. Our next son was Henry Reeder. He was born 27 August 1899. Then David Glover, born 27 February 1902 and last came Eulalia 4th April 1906. Making a family of 4 sons and 3 daughters.

On June 10th of 1901 my husband left on a mission to the Netherlands. At this time we were planning to build on to our two rooms. On Xmas day we had dinner in our new home and February 27 David was born. I also sent money to immigrate two Dutch children, Daniel and Annie Milligan on January 18, 1913. My husband was called on a short term mission to California. When he was released Eulalia and I went to meet him in California. Eulalia was seven years old at the time.

I taught the New Testament class in Sunday School. Sang in Hyde Park Choir until I was married. I was called to work as second counselor to the Retrenchment Society now called the U. L. M. I. A. for eight years. Released December 1889. Chosen a teacher in Primary worked in this positron until 1916, which was nine years. Then chosen as President of Primary with Lettie Neilsen and Louise Ballam as counselors. Worker here seven years. Called to teach Religion Class in 1924-25 with Mortin C. Reeder as principal. I received an award of appreciation for my services. I have been a Relief Society teacher for many years sustained some 20 years ago. Here I had charge of the work and business with Nettie H. Reeder as assistant. I acted as chaplain in Daughters of Utah Pioneers for two years.

I have pieced many quilts, made rugs for myself and children, one quilt for each grandchild. I also learned to net at the age of 70. I keep a large beautiful lawn, shrubs, and flowers and vegetable garden.

Some of the interesting people I have met are Nicholes G. Smith, Charles Card and 1. Golden Kimball, Brigham Young came through Hyde Park and I went to see him. In early days Pres. Wilford Woodruff came to supper. Mother cooked a delicious meal and Page 5

Pres. Woodruff asked for buttermilk. Other church presidents I have known are as follows: Joseph F. Smith, John Taylor, President Grant, and President George Albert Smith.

My husband and I took a trip to Yellowstone with Roy and Ione about 12-13 years ago.

June 1938 we, William, Margaret, Connie, Phyllis, James William and myself attended the Ashcroft reunion held at Kibab, National Forest in Arizona. We stayed four days. It was an outstanding event in my life. It was really a thrill to see some of our kin. They were so happy to see us as well. Another Ashcroft reunion held in Hyde Park June 9, 1941. About 100 present. Dr Feliz Ashcroft came by plane from California to be present. In later years I have greatly enjoyed doing Temple work. Now at the age of 78 we have 19 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren.  We enjoy life and love to have our children and grandchildren spend an evening with us.

We still attend our meetings whenever possible and have a great love for the gospel and its teachings and have tried to teach our children to do what is right.

This story of mother was written as she told it to her daughter-in-law Carrie F. Hurren.

Margaret Ann Ashcroft Hurren died at the family home in Hyde Park, Utah, August 12, 1950.  The funeral service was conducted August 15, 1950, the Hyde Park LDS Chapel.  Bishop J.W. Hyde presided.  The service began at the home where her son, President C.A. Hurren offered the prayer.  Music was by the Hyde Park Choir.  Invocation, E.M. Weiler of Salt Lake City.  Special music was given by a trio composed of Jennes Hurren and her two sisters; and violin solos by William Douglas, husband of Alice Hurren.  Speakers were Bishop J.W. Hyde, R.S. McQuarrie, and uncle Wilford Daines.  The benediction was by C. Leland Ashcroft.  Dedicatory prayer was by a son, Bishop David G. Hurren.  Paul Bearers were Sidney F. Hurren, Bruce Hurren, Weiler R. Hurren, David A. Gittins, R. Hurren Waite, and William Dean Evans, grandsons and grandsons-in-law.

Eulalia Hurren Gittins

Benjamin Williams and Mary Watkins Williams-daughters ran DAIRY farm

LIFE SKETCH OF MARY WATKINS 
and Benjamin Williams

Mary Watkins was born in 1825 near Aberyaveny, Breconshire, South Wales.  She died at her home in Logan, Utah, 5 April 1911.  Between these two events were eighty-six years and between the two places there is a stretch of seven thousand miles.  Every year was a test of native skill and every mile was a test of faith, courage and endurance.  Through the stretch of years the whole world saw enormous changes and civilization experienced marvelous advances.  It is doubtful that any stretch of years ever witnessed so much advancement before and may ever witness so much again.  In that stretch of miles lay the busiest and most progressive activity of the world.  Western Europe lived in those progressive years and was identified with that most active pathway.

Mary was one of the youngest in a family of nine children.  When Mary was but seven years old her mother died and when she was nine her father died.  These were poor people who made their living by the labor of their hands.  They knew by experience the advantages of skill in doing common things and that the menial tasks of life are dignified by the art of doing them well.  Mary Watkins was blessed with parental training for only a few years of her early childhood, but all through her long and fruitful life she recalled with satisfaction and gratitude the heritage she received from her parents, that of specialization in not only a matter of method but a knowledge that excellence always commands the highest respect.

When the children became orphans they went to live with relatives.  The older ones were put out to work and the younger ones also as they became less tender.  Mary went to live with her father's brother.  In a few years, however, she was put into a good family of the "Gentle" class to work for her living.  The children became scattered.  They lost frequent contact with each other and each waged the struggle for existence practically alone.  Mary forgot the exact month and day of her birth.  Life was so full of stern realities there was no place for the celebration of more birthdays.  She knew she was born in the Fall.  She could easily have adopted any one of the Fall months and any one of the thirty days but she was honest.  Like a scientist in true scientific spirit she concluded that there must not be a conclusion unless the facts justify it.  So she went through life never knowing exactly when she was born.

In Breconshire where Mary Watkins lived there was a canal which accommodated small flat boats and these constituted the system of transportation for the community.  While in the vicinity of this canal one day she saw a small child fall into the stream.  She was some distance away so she ran with all the speed she could muster, spotted the child beneath the water, plunged in and dragged it safely to the bank of the canal.  It appeared to be "gone" but a little first aid skillfully applied revived the child and it was soon alright again.  This was the first life she saved.  In her lifetime she saved many, especially in rescuing them from extreme and dangerous sickness.  Indeed, it may very properly be said that one of her most outstanding services in the world was that of relieving the sick and distressed and that many besides the child in the canal were snatched from certain death by her skillful and timely service.

She has often paid respectful tribute to the family of "gentlefolk" in which she found a home.  They were good to her, fair with her, concerned about her standards and morals and they saw that she was taught to work.  The policy of these "gentle folk" was not to "work her hard" but to teach industry and skill.  Mary learned to do everything in a household of plenty, to do everything economically and skillfully and above all to live and behave as gentlefolk should.  Although she never went to school she acquired a skillful training which many never get though they go to school for years.

When she was about twenty-one years of age she married Benjamin Williams of Llanidloss, Montgomershire, North Wales.  The exact date of the marriage is not known as whatever original papers and certificates there were have been lost in the long and hazardous travels of subsequent years.  Benjamin Williams was born about 8 November 1823.  This date is certain within a very few days.  He was, therefore, about two years older than Mary.  From the date of this marriage the life of Mary Watkins is so closely associated with that of her husband that it can scarcely be considered separate stories.

Benjamin Williams was a coal miner.  Soon after he married Mary Watkins the two became thoroughly interested in the "land of the free and the home of the brave."  Industrial opportunity seemed to be good in America.  To remain in Wales with the prospect of forever being a coal miner was too forbidding.  The new world held out a more promising future for ambitious people.  They decided to immigrate to America in some way and take their changes there.  Small savings were put together for many months and by the time they had been married two years there was enough in the home treasury to pay the transportation of one of them across the Atlantic.  Work was said to be plentiful and wages good in America.  Progress could be made there more rapidly then in Wales.  They decided Benjamin would immigrate first and Mary would follow as soon as future savings made it possible.  Consequently, Benjamin sailed from the British Isles bidding them goodbye on February 16, 1848.  He landed in New York on 28 March, 1848 at the end of a voyage of six weeks.

His training as a coal miner, together with the Pennsylvania coal fields offered him immediate opportunity.  He went to Pottsville and secured work.  Wages were higher, savings accumulated more rapidly, and within ten months Mary was able to sail for America.  She arrived in New York in December 1848 and quickly joined her husband in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where they made their home for a little more than four years.  Their first child, Mary Ann, who was born in Wales and came over with her mother, died in Pottsville.

The Williams family lived in one part of a house in Pottsville and another family lived in the other part of the same house.  Mary soon became acquainted with their neighbors and she found them to be very good people.  The habits of these new neighbors were very much above the ordinary and the family worship, to which they were accustomed, was something unusual and beautiful.  Mary spoke of it many times to her husband, Benjamin, who was away at work so much of the time and had not had the opportunity of acquaintance.  Several times by listening carefully they heard these neighbors at prayer in an adjoining room.  Acquaintance grew more intimate and friendship became stronger.  Mary found her neighbors to be such good people and their religious habits so exemplary that she concluded they must belong to some very high class religion.  One day she ventured to inquire of the woman herself and was told thy were Latter Day Saints, commonly known as "Mormons".  The Williamses decided that such good "fruit" as this neighbors family was to her was a guarantee of the genuineness of Mormonism.  Mary had been embittered against Mormons by agitators in Wales.  Benjamin was suspicious about this "good" family which he did not know as well as Mary knew them.  His policy was to leave them alone.  Her policy was further investigation.

Following visits from Mormon Elders and invitations to attend Latter Day Saint services, Mary spent her Sundays in further investigating Mormonism.  Benjamin at first was opposed to his wife's interest in Mormonism and usually spent a portion of his Sundays in getting together with gangs of working men in places where they could indulge their merry and sometimes rough behavior.  Generally there was boxing and wrestling that often turned into nothing less than fighting.  Everyone was supposed to take his turn when it came his way and one day Benjamin was forced into a "turn" from which he got such a severe and abusive whipping that he decided to quit the gang and go with his wife to church. 

 A few times at the religious services of the Latter Day Saints helped to open his eyes and he, as well as his wife, became enthusiastic converts to the church before they had been in Pennsylvania a year.  They joined the church in 1849.  Mary was baptized some weeks before her husband by Thomas Davis and Benjamin later by Thomas Richards.  This can well illustrate the results of Latter Day Saints living exemplary lives before all men.  It was this more than argument that brought the Williams folks into the church.

Important events were transpiring rapidly.  Married in Wales about 1846, comfortably settled in Pennsylvania in 1848, converted to the church in 1849, they began planning to gather with the saints in Salt Lake Valley.  They knew how to save and accumulate so they went to work for the next great event.  In less than four years they were ready for the long journey.  They left Pottsville on the 17th of February, 1853.  They went by train from Pottsville to Harrisburg and then across Pennsylvania to the Ohio River.  They sailed on a river boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Missouri to Winter Quarters.  At Harrisburg they met with a very great and unfortunate loss.  It seems that when they left the train it was necessary for all travelers to identify and claim their own baggage.  Brother Williams saw his baggage after it was unloaded from the train but being engaged in something else he delayed for a time going to the baggage room to claim his property.  When he did finally go his baggage was gone.  Someone else had claimed and taken it away.  Rolls of bedding, bundles including numerous articles of clothing and useful things for a home far away in a wilderness were all gone.

These were the very things they had been accumulating for several years in preparation for the journey and now almost the whole savings were gone.  All they had left were the few things carried with them in one or two hand satchels in the coach.  They could just as well have taken their journey two years before.  Mary came near giving up.  The loss was so great to her.  She felt so badly that she was actually sick.  There were many sympathizing friends to give comfort and offer assistance and the Elders administered to her and gave her such a good blessing that she regained courage and they went on.  After they reached Salt Lake City, that is a year or two after they had sustained that very important loss, one of Mary's friends identified some of her lost baggage being worn by someone in Salt Lake City.  She felt sure in her own mind but in as much as she could see infinitesimal possibility of being mistaken, she never made a claim.  Her behavior in this regard reveals one very fine trait in her character.  She would rather suffer great wrong than make a wrongful accusation against another.

They crossed the plains with the Thomas Davis family.  Mariner W. Merrill, who afterwards became an apostle in the church, was in the same company.

Brother Williams drove an ox team for his passage and Sister Williams did camp cooking for her passage and the passage of their little daughter, Mary, two years old. Benjamin and Mary walked nearly the whole distance.  It was a long and tiresome journey but their company was well organized and well managed so that there were no serious accidents or incidents during the whole trip.  They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 12, 1853, after a constant march of nearly seven months.

A short time after arriving in Salt Lake City they moved to Farmington where they made their home for six years.  They acquired property on the south side of Farmington Creek between the present location of the Bamberger and Oregon Short Line Railroad tracks.  They built a comfortable one-room log house on the north side of the street which leads west from the city to the Short Line depot.  For culinary purposes they carried water from the creek.

While they were living in Farmington there were a number of incidents that occurred which are still interesting.  One year food became very scarce.  For a while it looked as if many people would starve and many actually did go hungry much of the time.  Grasshoppers and crickets had been so numerous that the crop loss was very great.  There was not enough grain raised to sustain life on a proper basis.  Everyone was under rations and everything possible was being done to make what little grain there was last until another crop.  Mary's family was so nearly destitute for food when the first harvest did occur that even one more day would have been serious.  As their last sack of flour was being used day by day Sister Williams took out a small pan of flour from the sack and divided it with her neighbors.

The first harvest of the new crop in her vicinity was a field.  She went to this field, gained permission to glean after the men were through harvesting, took her gleaning home and threshed out a pan of barley by hand, ground it in a coffee mill and made bread.  While this was going on they were all hungry and bread never tasted better.  This barley bread made that year by Sister Williams was probably the first bread made that year in Farmington from the new crop.

Another incident or set of incidents of interest and of importance was the Echo Canyon War.  This called for a great deal of guard duty to which Benjamin was called repeatedly.  In order to sustain and support him in this work Mary made soap and sold it to the neighbors who were not as expert as she.  She made a great quantity of the soap that went to the Salmon River Mission.  She also made crackers for which she has left a recipe.  She would take one pound of butter, ten pounds of flour, sufficient salt and seasoning if desired and mixed these together with water or other moisture.  Excellent crackers resulted from expert mixing and this process is one and difficult.  It is necessary to use an ax or some other heavy instrument to found the folds of dough together before the process is completed.  Finally, the dough is pounded out flat, cut in small squares and baked.  The crackers keep well, in fact the longer they are kept the better they get.  Her crackers were very excellent.  She would make seamless sacks full of them at a time in preparation for the well-known "thirty days".  There may be better crackers made today but probably not with the limited facilities and materials and not for the purposes served at that time.

 It was while they were living at Farmington that the move South occurred.  Mary had a good supply of soap and crackers and other necessary things for this event.  They had acquired a farm wagon and this was drawn by an ox and the family cow.  They took everything useful out of their one-room house and filled it full of hay.  They had been instructed to leave their homes so that they could be quickly "fired" in case the threatened invasion of hostile army should make it necessary.  In case they could return to their homes again the hay would serve a useful purpose.  Their move was to the Payson bottoms at the south end of Utah Lake.  As it was well known, the threatened invasion did not turn out to be the terrible crisis expected and the Williams Folks and their neighbors soon came back to Farmington.

When they were just ready to leave Farmington on the move South an accident happened to their little daughter, Mary that might have been fatal to her had it not been for the healing power of the priesthood through faith.  The child attempted to leap from the wagon alone for some little thing that seemed important to her and fell beneath the wheels.  One wheel of the wagon passed over her legs and another passed over her head.  Sister Williams was ill in a bed in the wagon with a baby and did not see the accident but heard something fall to the ground and felt the wagon pass over something.  She called to her husband to investigate.  When Brother Williams saw what had happened and saw the child lying as if dead on the ground the shock was so great to him that he fainted.  Friends gathered quickly and came to the rescue.  Elders immediately laid hands on the child, exercised the power of the priesthood and in a remarkably short time the child regained normal health and not a serious thing had happened to her.  This gave them assurance that, although sorrows and hardships came their way at times, the Almighty was kind to them and always sustained them when they were in trouble.

In the early Spring of 1859 they moved to Cache Valley.  Wellsville, first known as Maughan's Fort, had been settled the all before and by spring seemed pretty well taken up so they were among the very first company to come to Logan.  A town site was quickly laid out and the Williams family settled in and built a house on the block where the Thatcher Bank now stands.  After some scouting had been done, it was planned that Logan settlers would raise their crops at Summit, now Smithfield, and build their houses at Logan.  Water for irrigation could be more easily diverted from the natural channels at Smithfield and crops would not need to be fenced to protect them from the livestock that would be kept at Logan.

Soon things looked fearful.  It looked like war more than Peace.  The Indians seemed excited and ready for trouble.  Presently the Indian Chief from the north side of the river came wading across to the south side and aired his grievances at the white man's trespasses and wanted to know what the white man's plans were.  Israel Clark had been in the Salmon River Mission event and understood the Indian language.  He acted as spokesman.  The Indians had learned what the white man's bread was and they were very fond of it.  This fact was made the basis of the negotiations.  They were shown that the coming of the white man would be a good thing for them.  They could swap buckskin for bread.  As soon as the proposition was thoroughly understood, the chief waded back across the river to the north side and conveyed the proposition to his comrades.  There was opposition and careful consideration.  Sometimes the cause seemed lost and again it seemed more promising.  Finally the chief came wading back to the south side of the river with information to the effect that the proposition was agreeable.

Even though the first settlers of Logan had a good understanding with the Indians, the natives were not to be trusted too far.  Many of them found it very difficult to keep their distance from the settlers and annoyed them a great deal.  Often times while the white men were at work in the fields or away in the canyons for building timber the Indians would sneak up to the camps where woman and children were alone and annoy them for food.  No violence ever happened as far as the Williams folks and the Indians were concerned, which is probably evidence that the natives never intended their annoyance and their begging to cause the fear that it really did.  To protect themselves from possible violence and in the interest of safety, the settlers kept pretty close together, kept their guns and ammunition ready for any emergency.  They did their work very much together, lived in their wagons until their houses were built, all went to the farms and fields at Smithfield together and returned to Logan together so that they nearly always were completely mobilized.  Threats actually did occur at times and on occasion it was necessary for the settlers to make all haste in moving into Maughan's Fort at Wellsville for protection.  Sister Williams recalled with interest during her later life a few times when in the dead of night they were all called hastily for immediate flight to Maughan's Fort from their fields in Summit.

By Fall of 1859 there were several houses in Logan, the Williams house being one of the first if not actually the first one to be lived in.  Their mansion was a one-room log structure with dirt, roof, braided willow door, factory windows, a fireplace and a straw floor.  Sister Williams says the willow door did not fit very well and that Indians used to come up to her house and look in at the family through the gap over the door.  Before the first winter actually set in the willow door was replaced by a lumber door and the factory windows were replaced by glass, but people actually occupied their houses before they even had factory windows or willow doors.  There were only open spaces where windows and doors were to be.  When this was the case, Indians availed themselves of the opportunity very often of using these open spaces for peering into the houses for long periods of time, sometimes for hours.  It may have been human curiosity or primitive astonishment at the marvelous works of man before their eyes or even sometimes savage greed that compelled them.  Indeed, if they saw a loaf of bread or some enticing morsel of food laying on the table, they would simply walk right in and take it.  All this occasioned great fear on the part of women and children and kept all the men ever on alert.  It was a great relief to have glass windows to shut out the cold and lumber doors that could lock and keep unwelcome callers on the outside.  Sister Williams found a great natural resource in Logan all along the river and all over that section known as Logan Island and through the willows everywhere.  There was prolific growth of hops.  Hops found a ready market in those days as they do now.  Sister Williams gathered and sold many a bale in the early days and received in exchange all kinds of merchandise necessary in the household.

Within a very few years after the first settlement of Logan there were several thousand people in Cache Valley and Logan was a thriving little city.  Brother Williams was allotted some acreage if choice land northwest of Logan, according to the old plan of allotment  used so successfully by the church in colonizing the country.  The original allotment of land made to the Williams folks was kept by them in clear title as long as they lived.  Great credit for this excellent record is due to Brother and Sister Williams for their great industry and their very commendable thrift.

In the early sixties (1860's) they disposed of their property on the Thatcher Bank block and in the trade acquired an excellent one acre lot in the third ward, the northeast corner at third north and fourth west.  This lot was also kept all their days in clear title as well as in production and attractive condition.    It should be said here too that every foot of their fields was a model of good husbandry as long as they lived.   Brother and Sister Williams were so contended and happy and so satisfied with their home and farm in the mountains of Zion among the saints that as long as the years rolled on they were often heard to say in their beautiful Welsh dialect, 

 "I 'ouldn't give our little home and our little farm for the whole wor-r-ld."

Brother Williams used his homestead right when the proper time came by taking up a grazing homestead in the foothills at Black Rock, northwest  of Petersboro about two miles south of Cache Junction.  This homestead was in the main a resource of Sister Williams.  There were no sons that grew up in the family to assist Brother Williams in the operations of the farm but there were six fine healthy daughters.  Dairying was woman's industry in the earlier days of Utah and with these find daughters for expert help and this homestead in the hills, Sister Williams saw a promising dairy industry.  For many years they carried on a small but most successful dairy.  Not having but a few dozen mild cows of their own, they would lease milk cows of other people for the summer months and pay for their use in butter and cheese.  She was most expert in the manufacture of these two articles and never found it necessary to leave her own home to find a ready market.  Life-long customers have said many times that nowhere else could butter and cheese be obtained that could compare in excellence with hers.  In order to prevent any waste in the industry all unused materials from the dairy were fed to hogs and in the late fall or very early winter they always had a good number of these to supplement the regular income.  A skillful butcher was always employed to dress the hogs and Sister Williams took care of the curing herself.  The skill with which she could cure hams and bacon, make sausage and head cheese, rendered lard and put to use every morsel of the carcass was something phenomenal and something which the most modern packing plant could envy.  There was not a thing wasted.  In the final operations of curing meat unusable portions were very expertly made into soap.  For all these articles she found a ready market without any effort.  She never had enough to supply the demand of the many people who would come to her home to buy.  Her dairy industry demonstrates one of her useful places in pioneering activities.

She was very skillful in making up wool, another of her gifts as a pioneer woman.  In the cleansing and carding operation she could not be excelled in managing the spinning of yarn and making up cloth.  She taught these crafts to her daughters who also became expert and the family did much custom work in textiles to help the pioneer community as well as themselves.

Notwithstanding her great usefulness as an industrial expert in a pioneer community, her most useful serves were to the mothers.  She learned faithfully the art of midwife when she was a mature young woman in Wales.  She went out with doctors many times while she was learning.  She observed the proper methods of assistance, helped the doctors under whose instruction she was learning and in numerous instances took full charge of cases herself under the observance of doctors.  She became very skillful and very thorough.  The exalted importance of the expert midwife in the pioneer community has probably not yet been fully stated and no one could overestimate the enormous good Sister Williams did in this most important service.  She took numerous mothers through the "dark valley" as the terrifying experience has been so often called and brought hundreds of little ones safely into the world and nursed them to recovery with the skill of the best of trained nurses.  Many of her friends have seen her hurrying along to this service and generally have observed tha she carried some articles of food or clothing to help her cases along.  The meager charges she made were scarcely noticeable.

Bishop Anthon Anderson, a man of wide experience in the church, speaking at her funeral service, said she had done more for her sex than anyone else he knew.  Her home discipline was most successful.  She insisted on uncovering honesty and obedience, making sure always that her demands were fair and reasonable.  As a member of the church she was loyal and faithful.  As one in the community she was unusually loved for her charity in spiritual as well as in material things.  Her code of ethics and her working regulations were the gospel of Jesus Christ.  On this "rock" she planted her feet firmly and never once surrendered her position.  Probably the first word to properly describe her would be "justice" and following these in quick succession would be "kindness, industry and skill" and then "great and useful in the world" come to mind.

Following are the children born to Brother and Sister Williams:

Mary Ann 17 July 1848 Wales July, 1950, Pottsville

Ann 21 July 1850 Pottsville 20 Sept 1850

Mary 16 May 1852 Pottsville

Rebecca 16 May 1854 Pottsville

Joseph and Hyrum 4 April 1857 Farmington Died the same day

Jarriett 7 May 1858 Salt Lake

Sarah Jane 2 June 1860 Logan

David Benjamin April 1962 Logan Died when 9 months old

Martha 8 May 1864 Logan

Emma Rachel 14 Sep 1867 Logan

The above names without death dates were all still alive in 1933 when this history was written.  They have all passed away now this history is recopied in 2007.

The children who died passed away in infancy.  The others all lived long and constitute worthy fruit of a worthy tree.  These living children now aged or closely approaching old age, look back in love and reverence upon their honorable parentage, live sweet and beautiful lives and bless all whose lives they touch.  They are all mothers of many find children and grand-mothers and great grandmothers of many many more.  If Brother and Sister Williams could see them and it may be they can, their hearts would be full of gladness to know that the hearts of all this posterity are lovingly turned to them and every one blesses them for their courageous acceptance of the call of the Master and their violent struggle to so noble an end.  All their posterity are honorable, free and prosperous people.  Had it not been for the courageous move made by young Benjamin Williams and his young wife, Mary Watkins, all those people might now be coal miners in Wales or servants in the house of "gentlefolks".

James and Eliza Reeder Hurren--maternal great grandparents

This link will take you to a history of James and Eliza Reeder Hurren.--maternal great grandparents to "Bruce"

Eliza Reeder is the sister of Robert Reeder. She traveled with her husband, James Hurren, and her siblings and parents on the Willie Handcart Company.

Stories of Willie Handcart Trek

Story 1:  Quotes from the survivors

Story 2:  Photo of monument at Temple Square

Story 3:  17 Miracles--Movie about Willie Handcart Company

Story 4:  Following in their parent's footsteps!

Story 5:  LDS Archives of Eliza Reeder  and James Hurren

Blogs of Relatives

MKBair

Leland and Wanda Ashcroft--story about WANDA

James and Eliza Reeder Hurren--AFTER reaching the SLC Valley

HISTORY OF JAMES HURREN AND ELIZA REEDER HURREN 

AFTER REACHING THE SALT LAKE VALLEY 

When James and Eliza Hurren reached the valley their first concern was little Mary's frozen legs.  She was placed on a bed in the Tithing Office and a doctor examined her.  He said he could do nothing for her as mortification had already set in. He visited her the next morning with his instruments expecting to amputate her legs.

"She will die easier," he said.  Her father protested.

"This little girl didn't walk a thousand miles to have her legs cut off.  If she dies, she will die with her legs on."

The Hurrens were taken into the keeping of the bishop of the Third Ward.  Robert Reeder, in remembering the kind care that he received, explained further,

"I did not stay long.  I had a brother, George, in Brigham City and with my brother-in-law, James Hurren, I started to walk there.  My brother-in-law was stronger than I and he soon left me behind.  I remember a good lady who took me in one night and fed me when I was almost worn out.  That was Sister Bankhead and she lives in Wellsville now (1917).  Someday I hope to see her again and let her know that I shall always be thankful for the food and shelter she gave me that night."  Because of weakness, Robert was unable to walk erect for many weeks after his arrival at Brigham City.

We can assume from the fact that Robert made no mention of Eliza and the children when he told of his and James' 60-mile walk to Brigham City, that she and the girls remained in Salt Lake City while James procured  the help of George Reeder and that George took a wagon back to get the four.  Mary's children remembered being told that the family went to Brigham City in a wagon.

After their arrival at George's home, a pioneer nurse, Mrs. Snyder, looked at Mary's limbs and recommended trying fresh raw beefsteak on them.  Fresh meat was not available in Brigham City (then called Box Elder) so James walked 20 miles to Ogden and obtained some round steak.  This was placed on the frozen parts and in several days the rotten flesh dropped off.  They trimmed the sinews and applied a homemade ointment to assist in the healing.  Mary was able to walk again in two years.  When she grew up she married, became the mother of a large family and was a great nurse in Brigham City and surrounding areas.  Her testimony was that if she had her life to live over again she would not want to avoid any of the hardships that had come her way.  She believed trials were good to teach us to be humble and to appreciate our earthly existence.

James and Eliza too, many times, when inquiry was made as to how they felt about their handcart ordeal were quick to reply.

"With all our trials, our weary traveling, burying our dear ones, piling our clothing and bedding by the wayside and setting fire to them, we have never once felt to murmur or complain or regret the steps we have taken."  Adolph Reeder wrote the following:

"The question has been asked, Why was not their lot made easier in the great effort of crossing the plains?  No one except Providence might give the completely satisfying answer, but it can be pointed out they grew in character and understanding.  They were patient and long suffering.  Their faith in God and in their church was unshakable.  Their great endurance made great people of them and their faith was sufficient to sustain them and establish an ideal for their descendants to follow."

In the fall of 1855 George Reeder had moved to Brigham City (Box Elder).  This settlement was under the direction of Lorenzo Snow.  For the two years before that he had lived and worked in Salt Lake City.  The move was made in company with his sister Mary, her husband Anthony Metcalf and a friend, James Bywater, whose journal enlightens us:

"Anthony Metcalf … was married and was ready to move up to Box Elder in company with his brother-in-law George B. Reeder, and they were prepared to locate in the North Indian Country in a new settlement of Box Elder Creek… I joined with them about September 20, 1855.  We journeyed to Fort Box Elder--walking the trail together and our baggage came in the wagon of a friend.  The fort was crowded and President Lorenzo Snow advised the people to settle on lots and build permanent homes.  We secured or filed one each--namely 4-5-6--Plot A Blk 27 Brigham City survey.  We formed a partnership and agreed to help each other build three homes during the fall and summer of 1856.  We rented the Adobe Mill from Father Watkins, paying 1/16th of all we made.  Reeder prepared the clay and we soon made several thousand adobes and dried them in the sun, tromping the mud with bared feet.  All the houses were to be 12 x 24 feet long and one story high.  Built first on lot 5 for Brother Metcalf, hauling rock for foundation and the needed timber from the mountains, put on a willow and sod roof with a bare floor or dirt.  We all lived together the winter of 1856.  A hard winter, Brother Reeder's cow got mired and we killed her and ate her along with the vegetables he drew from the Willard tithing office using credit he had received for produce in Salt Lake City.  But the provisions were short.  We built two houses in 1856 and made several thousand adobes for construction of the social hall opera house.  Food was scarce and we ate the cattle that died or drowned from the ice breaking with them."

Willie Handcart Journey-James Hurren and Eliza Reeder History

JAMES HURREN AND ELIZA REEDER HISTORY

WILLIE HANDCART JOURNEY

Although Eliza Reeder had known James Hurren all her life, when he came to stay and work at her father's farm, she was beginning to have new feelings for him.  As they became better acquainted she felt feelings of being very much admired, of having someone happy to chat with her a few moments between various jobs in the fields and with the flocks.  They had both been raised in Linstead Parva, England.  It was very pleasant spending the evenings in front of the fire on the Reeder hearth.  Their sentiments progressed to the desire to spend their lives together and their pledges were made.  They got married and stayed where they were because Eliza was needed to help with her younger brothers and sisters as her mother had died a few years previously.

Two strangers, men from America, came into the countryside and preached about a new religion.  These men stirred the East Suffolk folk with the things they told about.  It caused many a heated argument.  The men called themselves Mormons or members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Though many people seriously doubted the truth of the missionaries' message, those of the Hurren and Reeder households were among the first to declare that they believed the gospel principles that were being taught.  In due time the entire household of baptism age were baptized.

It was the burning desire of the new members of the church to gather with other saints in far away Utah.  The saints in England had been told they were going to travel to Utah with handcarts.  This arose an excitement in England about the prospects of arriving in Utah sooner than had been expected.  The Hurrens and Reeders readied themselves to go to Liverpool where they would board the ship, Thornton.  They sold all their furniture and said goodbye to their friends.  Those traveling to Liverpool and subsequently America were James Hurren, age 29; Mother, Eliza, age 26, daughters Mary (8), Emma (4) and Sarah (2), Grandfather, David Reeder, 53, Uncle Robert Reeder, (19) and aunt Caroline Reeder, (16).  They were each eager to see all the interesting sights.  They traveled over sea, land and finally a river boat took them up the Iowa River a short distance to the campground where the companies were to be organized for the long trek ahead.

Brother James Gray Willie would be the captain of the group.  He was known as Captain Willie.  Willie's group was disappointed to discover that the promised handcarts and tents were not waiting for them.  They quickly started making handcarts using green wood.  Some people sewed tents. Three companies of handcarts had left before them and severely depleted the supplies.  As their handcarts and tents were being made they learned what it was like living on the edge of the frontier.  Some had never pitched a tent, slept on the ground, cooked outdoors or built a campfire.  They had none of the skills that make frontiersman but they had some of the stuff that makes heroes.

On the day they were supposed to gather up everything and leave, Eliza gave birth to a baby girl, Selena.  She lived for about 15 days and died. The company was well organized.  The strength of the company was equalized as much as possible by distributing the young men among the different families to help them.  Several carts were drawn by young girls exclusively.  The young and strong went along gaily with their carts, but the old people and little children were to be seen straggling a long distance in the rear.  Sometimes, when the little folks had walked as far as they could, their fathers would take them on their carts and thus increase the load that was already becoming too heavy as the day advanced.  But what will parents not do to benefit their children in time of trouble?

The Hurrens and Reeders along with other handcart pioneers were interested in the beautiful countryside through which they walked, with such different flora and fauna from that to which they were accustomed.  Animals and fish were plentiful and sometimes became meals for the travelers.  Also enjoyed as food were the abundant wild fruits and berries.

The 300-mile trek across Iowa to the Missouri river was relatively pleasant.  While at Florence decisions had to be made.  The elders seemed divided in their judgment as to the practicability of their reaching Utah in safety at so late a season of the year, and the idea was entertained for a day or two of making our winter quarters on the Elkhorn, Wood River, or some other eligible location in Nebraska; but it did not meet with general approval.  A meeting of the elders produced all but one in favor of going on to Utah.  Levi Savage used his common sense and his knowledge of the country.  He declared positively that to his certain knowledge we could not cross the mountains with a mixed company of aged people, women and little children, so late in the season without much suffering, sickness and death.  Because they could not reach Utah with the amount of flour they had been assigned, the elders decided to put 100 lbs more flour on each handcart to help with provisions.  This flour was used first, the weakest parties being the first relieved of their burdens.  They had to continually fix broken down handcarts because of the extra weight.

James Hurren was considered the strongest man in the company.  He was also well.  Captain Willie told him after seeing him putting several more flour sacks on his handcart that if there was only one man who made it to Utah it would be James Hurren.  Grandfather Reeder sometimes dropped from exhaustion.

In their native lands the emigrants had heard a great deal about the American Indians and expected to see many more of them than they had thus seen.  The emigrants had heard tales of Indians killing men, women and children.  So when on an afternoon a band of Indians suddenly appeared at close range the saints were extremely frightened.  It turned out they were friendly Indians and members of the Willie company were most intrigued with them.  In fact, it was quite a treat to finally see Indians in the wild and up close.  The whites were grateful to buy some buffalo meat from them.

They had an incident where one evening their cattle stampeded.  The men went in pursuit of them but found they were 30 head short.  They looked for a long time but then assumed the Indians had run them off.

In the middle of September they had their first frost and it was a severe one.  The way became more uphill.  The Hurrens were anxious to get moving before the weather got too cold.  Aunt Caroline Reeder was a big help with the little girls.  The girls now remember with fondness how she encouraged them.  Often she sang with them as they walked along. 

They reached Fort Laramie, Wyoming on the last day of September.  The commandant kindly let the people buy from the military stores.  They determined that they would not have enough provisions to make it to Utah and so they reduced the allowance of flour.  It was determined that Fort Laramie was half way between Florence and Salt Lake City and the last half was by far the hardest, being mountainous, high altitudes where winter came early, rocky roads and often sparse feed for the livestock.  But they went on.

Grandfather David Reeder, though extremely weary pulled his cart that day. On many an occasion he had given part of his ration of food to others. For his evening meal he ate red berries from a wild rose bush.  After everyone else was in bed Eliza checked her father and lovingly tucked the covers around him.  

Her heart ached at how weakened he was from exposure and lack of nourishment.  During the night he breathed his last tired breath, and was buried the next morning after Eliza wrapped him in a precious sheet.  His fortitude had never failed, though he was often cold, hungry, and exhausted.  His family would miss him.

It became so difficult for many to pull their carts over the rocky road and up the steep grades that articles of clothing and bedding of all kinds were piled by the way and burned, it being impossible to carry them.  This lightened the carts, which were breaking down frequently but it left the improperly clad emigrants with more exposure to the piercing winds and bitter cold that came. It is rather ironical that the buffalo robes some bought at Fort Laramie helped keep them warm, but could cause their death carrying the extra weight. Some were discarded.

Death was quite common now.  Captain Willie could see the men were beginning to be worn down by hunger and scarcity of clothing.  Many a father who was devoted to his family, pulled his cart with his little children on it until the day preceding his death.  Men were seen pulling their carts in the morning, give out during the day and die before the next morning.  Each death weakened their forces.

"Nights were getting colder and some would sit down by the roadside and die.  Aunt Caroline (17 years old) after traveling all day and seeing the camp being made for the night took off her apron to tie some sage brush in to bring into the camp.  She sat down to rest, leaning on her bundle, exhausted.  They found her chilled and dying and carried her into camp.  She died without gaining consciousness.  She, too, was placed in an unmarked grave.  Her death was another real loss to us but we must go on as the nights are getting colder." (This was written by her brother, Robert Reeder.)

Robert continues, "Our rations were growing shorter and we reduced them by common consent from day to day...potato peelings and rawhide off old handcarts were good if we could get it.  I myself, set by the campfire with brother Hurren and scraped and singed the hair off a piece of hide, some that had been taken off discarded handcarts that had been pulled through the sands hundreds of miles.  It was hard but we would boil and soften them and cut them up in small pieces and put them in our pockets to chew on the road the next day and it helped to keep life in us.  The way they ate their meager ration of flour was to cook it into a gruel and drink it warm.

They traveled on in sorrow and misery day after day.  Some days we were able to travel a good distance, but other days we traveled but a few miles.  Finally, we were overtaken by snow.  It fell several inches deep as we traveled along, but we dared not stop, for we had a 16-mile journey to make and short of it we could not get wood and water.

Apostle Franklin D. Richard told President Brigham Young the Willie and Martin handcart companies were still back on the trail.  This was October 4.  President Young called upon the bishops and people in general to raise immediately 60 mule and horse teams and all the supplies to aid the saints back on the trail.  There was much bustling gathering supplies for the destitute saints.

Back on the trail the company was resting for a short time at noon.  A light wagon driven by Joseph A. Young and Stephen Taylor came into camp and told the people that a train of supplies was coming from Salt Lake and it would be there in a couple of days.  The saints continued their travels until they reached a point they had no more provisions at all.  Captain Willie and another man were assigned to go meet the oncoming supply train and urge them to hurry.  They were able to finally reach the supply train and relayed that the people just a little ways ahead were freezing and starving and would perish without immediate aid.  The supply train continued on determined to reach the saints and rescue them.  On the evening of the third day after Captain Willie's departure, just as the sun was sinking beautifully behind the distant hills, on an eminence immediately west of our camp several covered wagons, each drawn by four horses, were seen coming towards us.  The news ran through the camp like wildfire, and all who were able to leave their beds turned out en masse to see them.  A few minutes brought them sufficiently near to reveal our faithful captain slightly in advance of the train.  

Shouts of joy rent the air, strong men wept till tears ran freely down their furrowed and sunburnt cheeks, and little children partook of the joy which some of them hardly understood, and fairly danced around with gladness.  Restraint was set aside in the general rejoicing and as the brethren entered our camp the sisters fell upon them and deluged them with kisses.  The brethren were so overcome that they could not for some time utter a word, but in choking silence repressed all demonstrations of those emotions that evidently mastered them.  Soon, however, feeling was somewhat abated and such a shaking of hands, such words of welcome, and such invocation of God's blessing have seldom been witnessed.