Lesson
35: “A Mission of Saving”, Doctrine and Covenants and Church History Gospel
Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 202
1. Introduction
a) This lesson discusses the
experiences of the handcart companies
b) Real theme of this lesson is
the Atonement
i)
Rescue
ii) Deliverance
iii) We have come into a mortal
world which, in comparison to our former home and the absence of our Heavenly
Father is like a barren desert
iv) We are unable to finish our
journey back to our Heavenly Father, absent a miracle, we will be forever
trapped in the wilderness, under the control of Satan
v) Our rescuer is Jesus
Christ. His Atonement allows him to
rescue us.
vi) In our daily lives, we
sometimes find ourselves in situations that we are not strong enough to endure.
(1) Our rescuer is Jesus
Christ. The enabling power of His
Atonement allows him to lend us strength so he can rescue us.
2. Background
a) Refer to handout
b) Missionary work in the
British Isles and Scandinavia was extremely successful during the late 1840's
and 1850's.
c) In 1850, Utah had 11,380
church members, while the British Isles had more than 30,000.
i)
To put this in modern terms, it is as if, the Utah Saints had to
finance most of the cost of bringing 4.6 million impoverished Church members
from Europe
d) The Perpetual Emigration
Fund –1849
e) Grasshopper plague in 1855
put the Church and its members under severe financial strain
i)
This is less than 10 years since the first settlers entered the valley
f) Reading 1 - Franklin D.
Richards, president of the European Mission, wrote to Brigham Young in the fall
of 1855: "We cannot afford to purchase wagons and teams as in times past,
I am consequently thrown back upon my old plan ― to make hand-carts, and let
the emigration foot it, and draw upon them the necessary supplies, having a cow
or two for every ten. They can come just as quick, if not quicker, and much
cheaper ― can start earlier and escape the prevailing sickness which annually
lays so many of our brethren in the dust" ("Foreign
Correspondence," Millennial Star, 22 Dec. 1855, 813; cited in Church
History in the Fulness of Times, 358)
g) In 1855, the First
Presidency recommended the use of handcarts for the emigrants
3. Health issues with
immigrants
a) At this time, European
immigrants took a sail/rail/wagon trip
i)
Complete trip from Europe to Utah often took 6 months
ii) 5 weeks on the ocean on
average on a sailing ship
(1) Seasickness was widespread
(a) During storms, the
passengers were locked below decks with sealed hatches to prevent seawater from
entering
(b) Significant diseases from
overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions
(i) Contagious diseases spread
rapidly
1. Cholera
2. Tuberculosis
3. Typhoid
4. Measles
5. Chicken pox
(ii) Significant danger for women
giving birth at sea
(c) On average, 1-2% of sea
passengers died at sea
(2) Liverpool to New York or
Boston was the sea route of the British Saints who formed the majority of the
Willie/Martin handcart companies
(3) Traveling to New Orleans
took 19 days longer, but immigrants could then go up the Mississippi, which was
faster and easier on them physically
(a) Brigham Young mandated the
use of New York in 1855 because of the disease problems associated with the hot
climate of New Orleans
(i) 24 of 220 Mormon passengers
died on a single ship in New Orleans harbor in 1854
1. Temperature between decks
was 120 degrees
b) Rail travel relatively quick
and safe
c) Overland Wagon travel
i)
Biggest danger was cholera
ii) Other infectious diseases
iii) Drowning during river
crossings
iv) Hostile Indians
v) Cuts and broken bones
vi) As the pioneers moved away
from the trailhead cities out into the wilderness, "Mountain Fever" –
likely tick-borne fever became more of a danger
(1) Brigham Young suffered from
this
d) There was a fatality rate of
about 6% for overland travelers during the middle of the 19th
century
i)
First party that arrived in Salt Lake in 1847 had very few deaths
ii) Later groups had higher
rates of sickness and death
e) An estimated 4,200-5,000 LDS
immigrants died during some phase of their travels from 1846-1869.
f) Source: Illnesses and
Mortality in Nineteenth Century Mormon Immigration, Shane A. Baker
4. 1856 Immigration Season
a) The trailhead for overland
travel kept moving West
i)
In 1856, the trailhead was divided between Iowa City, Iowa, and
Florence, Nebraska
(1) Railroad ended in Iowa City
(2) Buy wagons and handcarts in
Iowa City
(3) Leave all settlement at
Florence (formerly Winter Quarters)
b) 1,900 European Saints signed
up to cross the plains with handcarts in 1856
c) Five Handcart Companies in
1856
i)
No unusual problems with the first three companies
(1) Ellsworth Company left
Florence on June 9, 1856, arrived in Salt Lake City on September 26
(2) McArthur Company left
Florence on June 11, arrived in Salt Lake City on September 26
(3) Bunker Company left Florence
on June 23, arrived in Salt Lake City on October 2
ii) After 1856, an additional
five handcart companies would cross the plains with no unusual problems
d) Problems for the immigrants
who would be in the Willie and Martin companies began in England
i)
Delays in finding passage from Liverpool
e) When the Willie Company
arrived in Iowa City, due to misunderstanding between the Church's agent in
Liverpool and in Iowa City, there were no handcarts.
i)
Handcarts had to be built
ii) Because of the haste, there
wasn't time to season the wood, which caused maintenance problems on the trail
which slowed down the travel.
f) Martin Company arrived later
and also had to wait for handcarts
g) Both companies traveled to
Florence, where they rested.
i)
Disagreement among the Saints over whether they should leave Florence
or wait until the following spring
ii) Reading 2 - The chief
opponent to continuing the journey in 1856 was Levi Savage, who had been a
member of the Mormon Battalion and was returning from a mission in Burma and
India. He argued that the handcart pioneers could not cross the mountains so
late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death. After the vote
was taken to continue Brother Savage said:
"What I have said I know to be true; but seeing you are to go
forward, I will go with you; will help you, all I can; will work with you, will
rest with you, will suffer with you, and if necessary, will die with you. May
God in mercy bless and preserve us" (CHC, 4:89-91).
5. Travel of Willie and Martin
Companies
a) Willie Company left Florence
on on August 19
b) Martin Company left Florence
on August 25
c) On September 12,
approximately 325 miles west of Florence (near the Northeast corner of
Colorado), The Willie company was overtaken by a group of returning
missionaries from Europe in carriages and wagons, including the former mission
presidency of Franklin D. Richards, Daniel Spencer, and C. H. Wheelock, who
were going to General Conference. This group
had previously passed the Martin Company.
d) On September 17: The Willie company encountered their first
frost of the season
e) On September 30: The Willie company arrived at Fort Laramie,
still 500 miles from Salt Lake City.
f) On October 8: The Martin company arrives at Fort Laramie.
i)
To lighten their loads, the Martin Company cut the luggage allowance to
10 pounds per person, discarding clothing and blankets.
g) Each handcart was designed
to carry about 100-250 pounds and service 4-5 people
i)
Willie and Martin company were rationing their supplies. They started
with one-pound of flour per person per day, a little less for children. As they
continued their journey, they reduced their rations to one-half pound per day
then one-quarter pound.
(1) One pound of flour is 4 cups
(2) 4 cups is less than 1700
calories per day
(3) Malnutrition slowed progress
of handcarts, made the pioneers more susceptible to the cold and to illness
h) October 19 - Severe storms
hit the Willie and Martin companies West of Fort Laramie and their travels
slowed until they stopped near the Sweetwater River and Continental Divide and
were unable to continue.
i)
Reading 3 - Elizabeth Sermon, Martin Company - November 1856: "My husband's health began to fail and
his heart almost broken to see me falling in shafts. Myself and children
hungry, almost naked, footsore and himself nearly done for. Many trials came
after this. My oldest boy had the mountain fever, we had to haul him in the
cart, there was not room in the wagon. One day we started him out before the
carts in the morning to walk with the aged and sick, but we had not gone far on
our journey before we found him lying by the roadside, unable to go any
farther. I picked him up and put him on my back and drew my cart as well, but
could not manage far, so put him in the cart, which made three children and my
luggage. My husband failing more each day, the Captain put a young man to help
me for a short time. My other son Henry walked at 7 years old, 1300 miles with
the exception of a few miles.....
"My husband's sufferings
have always pained me and I can never forget them. Poor Rob's (age 5) feet
began to freeze. I cannot remember the place's; it was after wading a very deep
river (Platte?) the freezing commenced. We had no wood but sagebrush. I went
out and cut the sage to keep the fire all night. Covered them up with their
feet to the fire and cut some more and kept the fire as well as I could. My
clothes froze stiff. Well, we got through that night. Your father would not
walk now. He would get into wagon after wagon, only to be turned out. The cattle
were giving out and everyone had their friends, but the friend death, would
soon end his sufferings. John (age 9) and Rob had to ride, Henry (age 7)
walked, your father would take my arm and walk a little distance, fall on his
knees with weakness. We moved from Devil's Gate. I believe it was brother David
Kimball who carried us over a river (Sweetwater) and a great many more besides
us. My poor husband blessed him for so doing." (Faith In Every Footstep)
ii) Reading 4 - Elizabeth
Horrocks Jackson Kingsford in the Martin Company recorded the following on
October 19, 1856: "Some of the men
carried some of the women on their back or in their arms, but others of the
women tied up their skirts and waded through, like the heroines that they were,
and as they had gone through many other rivers and creeks. My husband (Aaron
Jackson) attempted to ford the stream. He had only gone a short distance when
he reached a sandbar in the river, on which he sank down through weakness and
exhaustion. My sister, Mary Horrocks Leavitt, waded through the water to his
assistance. She raised him up to his feet. Shortly afterward, a man came along
on horseback and conveyed him to the other side. My sister then helped me to
pull my cart with my three children and other matters on it. We had scarcely
crossed the river when we were visited with a tremendous storm of snow, hail,
sand, and fierce winds. . . .
"About nine o'clock I
retired. Bedding had become very scarce so I did not disrobe. I slept until, as
it appeared to me, about midnight. I was extremely cold. The weather was
bitter. I listened to hear if my husband breathed, he lay so still. I could not
hear him. I became alarmed. I put my hand on his body, when to my horror I
discovered that my worst fears were confirmed. My husband was dead. I called
for help to the other inmates of the tent. They could render me no aid; and
there was no alternative but to remain alone by the side of the corpse till
morning. Oh, how the dreary hours drew their tedious length along. When
daylight came, some of the male part of the company prepared the body for
burial. And oh, such a burial and funeral service. They did not remove his
clothing—he had but little. They wrapped him in a blanket and placed him in a
pile with thirteen others who had died, and then covered him up with snow. The
ground was frozen so hard that they could not dig a grave. He was left there to
sleep in peace until the trump of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall
awake and come forth in the morning of the first resurrection. We shall then
again unite our hearts and lives, and eternity will furnish us with life
forever more.
"I will not attempt to
describe my feelings at finding myself thus left a widow with three children,
under such excruciating circumstances. I cannot do it. But I believe the
Recording Angel has inscribed in the archives above, and that my suffering for
the Gospel's sake will be sanctified unto me for my good." (Elizabeth
Jackson, as quoted in LeRoy and Ann Hafen, Handcarts to Zion, 110-13.)
6. Rescue Effort
a) When the Bunker handcart
company arrived on October 2, Brigham Young thought that was the last of the
immigrants who would arrive in 1856
b) On October 4, Franklin D.
Richards and his company arrived in Salt Lake and immediately went to Brigham
Young to tell him about the two handcart companies still on the plains
c) The next day, October 5,
General Conference began and, although not scheduled to speak, Brigham Young
immediately stood up to address the Saints
i)
Reading 5 – President Young said, “ ‘I will now give this people the
subject and the text for the Elders who may speak. … It is this. … Many of our
brethren and sisters are on the plains with handcarts, and probably many are
now seven hundred miles from this place, and they must be brought here, we must
send assistance to them. The text will be, “to get them here.” …
“ ‘That is my religion; that
is the dictation of the Holy Ghost that I possess. It is to save the people. …
“ ‘I shall call upon the
Bishops this day. I shall not wait until tomorrow, nor until the next day, for
60 good mule teams and 12 or 15 wagons. I do not want to send oxen. I want good
horses and mules. They are in this Territory, and we must have them. Also 12
tons of flour and 40 good teamsters, besides those that drive the teams. …
“ ‘I will tell you all that
your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of
you in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such
principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the
plains’ (in LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion [1960],
120–21). (President Gordon B. Hinckley,
Conference Report, Oct. 1996, 117–18; or Ensign, Nov. 1996, 85–86).
d) The Saints responded quickly
i)
READ - "The response was impressive. Sixteen wagonloads of food
and supplies were quickly assembled; and on the morning of 7 October, sixteen
good four-mule teams and twenty-seven hardy young men (known as Brigham Young's
'Minute Men') headed eastward with the first provisions. More help was
solicited and obtained from all parts of the territory. By the end of October,
two hundred and fifty teams were on the road to give relief" (details from
Hafen and Hafen, Handcarts to Zion, 124-25; quoted from Church History in the
Fulness of Times, 360).
e) There was much suffering and
heroism among those who were in the rescue parties because the weather was
terrible.
i)
Reading 6 - Elder Henry B. Eyring said:
There are few comforts so sweet as to know that we have been an
instrument in the hands of God in leading someone else to safety. That blessing
generally requires the faith to follow counsel when it is hard to do. An
example from Church history is that of Reddick Newton Allred. He was one of the
rescue party sent out by Brigham Young to bring in the Willie and Martin Handcart
Companies. When a terrible storm hit, Captain Grant, captain of the rescue
party, decided to leave some of the wagons by the Sweetwater River as he
pressed ahead to find the handcart companies. With the blizzards howling and
the weather becoming life threatening, two of the men left behind at the
Sweetwater decided that it was foolish to stay. They thought that either the
handcart companies had wintered over somewhere or had perished. They decided to
return to the Salt Lake Valley and tried to persuade everyone else to do the
same.
Reddick Allred refused to
budge. Brigham had sent them out and his priesthood leader had told him to wait
there. The others took several wagons, all filled with needed supplies, and
started back. Even more tragic, each wagon they met coming out from Salt Lake
they turned back as well. They turned back 77 wagons, returning all the way to
Little Mountain, where President Young learned what was happening and turned
them around again. When the Willie Company was finally found, and had made that
heartrending pull up and over Rocky Ridge, it was Reddick Allred and his wagons
that waited for them. (See Rebecca Bartholomew and Leonard J. Arrington, Rescue
of the 1856 Handcart Companies [1992], 29, 33-34.)
f) The Willie Company was brought
into Salt Lake on November 9.
g) The Martin Company did not
arrive until Sunday, November 30
i)
Reading 7 - President Young was leading services in the old Tabernacle
when he learned of the arrival of the Martin Company. He said to the congregation, "The
afternoon meeting will be omitted, for I wish the sisters to go home and
prepare to give those who have just arrived a mouthful of something to eat, and
to wash them, and nurse them up.... Prayer is good, but when (as on this
occasion) baked potatoes, and pudding, and milk are needed, prayer will not
supply their place. Give every duty its proper time and place.... I want you to
understand that I desire this people to nurse them up; we want you to receive
them as your own children, and to have the same feelings for them.... Now that
the most of them are here, we will continue our labors of love until they are
able to take care of themselves, and we will receive the blessing. You need not
be distrustful about that, for the Lord will bless this people." (CHC,
4:100-101)
7. Aftermath of the Rescue
a) Nearly 20% of the people in
the Willie and Martin Companies died.
b) Reading 8 - Rebecca
Bartholomew and Leonard Arrington recorded: "A lesser-known aspect of the
handcart immigration, however, provides one of the most satisfying episodes in
Mormon history. The rescue effort mounted by Brigham Young before anyone in
Utah suspected the critical situation of the companies, the munificent response
of the communities throughout the territory, and the courage and endurance of the
rescue parties make a heartening story. In many immigrant journals, memory of
the rescue and the welcome in Salt Lake City dominates other experience; the
drama and the timelines of the deliverance is dwelt on far more often than
grief and disillusionment over the predicament. Those embittered were in the
minority; and even these, decades later, wrote emotionally, gratefully, of the
heroic men who saved them from starvation and death" (Rebecca Bartholomew
and Leonard Arrington, Rescue of the 1856 Handcart Companies, 3).
c) The Willie and Martin
Companies were not the only pioneers to be caught in bad weather. The stories of non-LDS responses to such
trials is not good.
i)
Donner Party Winter 1846-47 – Sierra Nevada Mountains, California – 87
people, 39 died and 48 survived - cannibalism
ii) Fremont Party – Winter
1848-49 – San Juan Mountains, Colorado – 80 explorers, 11 died – cannibalism
d) READ – The famous author,
Wallace Stegner, not a member of the Church, who was known for both his
non-fiction and fiction writing about the American West, wrote: "Perhaps
their suffering seems less dramatic because the handcart pioneers bore it
meekly, praising God, instead of fighting for life with the ferocity of animals
and eating their dead to keep their own life beating, as both the Fremont and
Donner parties did. But if courage and endurance make a story, if human
kindness and helpfulness and brotherly love in the midst of raw horror are
worth recording, this half-forgotten episode of the Mormon migration is one of
the great tales of the West and of America." (Faith In Every Footstep)
8. The Atonement
a) Reading 9 - President Gordon B. Hinckley said : "It is because of the sacrificial
redemption wrought by the Savior of the world that the great plan of the
eternal gospel is made available to us, under which those who die in the Lord
shall not taste of death but shall have the opportunity of going on to a
celestial and eternal glory.
"In our own
helplessness, He becomes our rescuer, saving us from damnation and bringing us
to eternal life.
"In
times of despair, in seasons of loneliness and fear, He is there on the horizon
to bring succor and comfort and assurance and faith. He is our King, our
Savior, our Deliverer, our Lord and our God." (Ensign, Nov 1991, p54).
b) Reading 10 – Alma 7:11-13
11 And he shall go forth, suffering
pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word
might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the
sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that
he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon
him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people
according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things;
nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take
upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions
according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the
testimony which is in me.
c) Reading 11 – Mosiah 4:16-21
16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those
that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto
him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up
his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself
his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my
food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his
punishments are just—
18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever
doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that
which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of
God.
19 For behold, are we not all beggars?
Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which
we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all
the riches which we have of every kind?
20 And behold, even at this time, ye
have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And
has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit
upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has
caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so
exceedingly great was your joy.
21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are
dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you
whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O
then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
d) READ – Mosiah 27:28-29
28 Nevertheless, after wading through much
tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to
snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.
29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness
and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous
light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and
my soul is pained no more.
e) READ – 2 Nephi 25:23 -
"For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can
do"
9. Conclusion
a) READ - President Gordon B.
Hinckley, speaking about the pioneers, said: "I will never get over being
thankful to them; I hope you never get over being thankful to them. I hope that
we will always remember them. … Let us read again and again, and read to our
children or our children’s children, the accounts of those who suffered so
much." (Church News, 31 July 1999, p5)
President Hinckley further
stated: "Stories of the beleaguered
Saints and of their suffering and death will be repeated again and again. …
Stories of their rescue need to be repeated again and again. They speak of the
very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ." (Ensign, Nov. 1996, p86)
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