Did Your Ancestors Cross the Plains

Sharing our Links to the Past
by Wally and Frances Gray

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FAMILY HISTORY TIDBITS
By Wally Gray

Did Your Ancestors Cross the Plains?

Have you ever wondered if your ancestors were among those saints who crossed the Plains by foot or wagon in the exodus?

The Church has provided online a remarkable tool to find this out. It is called The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868.

According to the site, “The Mormon Overland Travel, 1847-1868, is the most complete listing of individuals and companies in which Mormon pioneer emigrants traveled west to Utah from 1847 through 1868. [Nevertheless] it is an incomplete listing, as rosters have not been found for all companies. It also identifies sources to learn more about the experiences of each company.

“You can search for a specific person using the search form above or you can browse the list of companies alphabetically or chronologically.”

(See Resources below for directions in finding this site.)

All you have to do is to enter a name and, if they are on record of having crossed the Plains you can get the details including narratives written by the pioneers.

For example, enter the name Theodore Turley.

The search reveals he was age 48 and traveled in the Silas Richards Company of 1849. Click on that company and you see a picture of Richards along with the information that the company departed 10 July 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 25-29 October 1849.

Furthermore you are told: “About 100 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Kanesville, Iowa (present day Council Bluffs).”

You also may view a list of those known to have traveled in the company. A quick check reveals that eight Turleys were in the company. With the ages listed you can determine what the relationship was.

By clicking on Sources you can find some trail excerpts from the writings of company members and the sources of the narratives.

For example, Eliza Ann Pectol Hutchings tells us in , History of Shepherd Pierce Hutchings that:

“On the fourth day of July we joined Captain [Silas] Richards company of 50. And brother [Augustus] Farnum was Captain of our ten. We had a very hard trip crossing the plains. Shephard being a wagon maker he had to mend all the wagons that broke down besides standing guard every few nights, then drive a wagon and three yoke of cattle all day. It made it very hard for him. His outfit was one big wagon, two yoke of oxen, one yoke of cows, a small wagon and one horse.”

Dozens of companies are listed.

What About Handcart Companies?

I know of no online information on those in the Handcart companies. However I found a book that lists the ten companies and some of those in those companies. It is called Handcarts to Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1656-1860 by Leroy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen. It is in the Family History Library. It is also on film 1059487 Item 7. You can find out a lot about these companies if you Google Handcart Companies.

RESOURCES. The pioneer site is difficult to locate, so I placed a link to it on the home page of my web site at http://geocities.datacellar.net/wallygray25/. Scroll down. You also will find a link to Ann Lewis’s biographies on Turleys, Bushmans and related families as I mentioned in the last newsletter. Names are being constantly added to that site.