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Ada Stewart

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Ada L. Phippen Hale Mahoney Walker, "History of Isaac Phippen," 2-3

Ada L. Phippen Hale Mahoney Walker, "History of Isaac Phippen," 2-3.

In the summer of 1848, we crossed the Missouri River back into the state of Iowa. My father secured a large farm where he raised a hundred bushels of corn that he sold to the gold seekers to get money to go to Utah. He also made wagons for people to cross the plains. My mother spun and made cloth for clothing and every effort was made to get fit out to cross the plains, with hard work and economy they got a good outfit together but as there were some poor that had to be helped to cross the plains, my father had a widow and three children in one of his wagons



On June 28, 1852, we were ready to start for Utah again. My father and mother left everything only that which they could put in two wagons. Left their farm and never got one cent for it; their home and nearly everything that was in it. Only a small stove and a chair or two; not even a table, but we had plenty of provisions and clothes and had no regrets for what we had left. The only thing was to get to Zion, the valley of the Mormons. We had quite a time getting started. The cows decided that they did not want to go to Utah but with much persuasion and some other things we got to the Missouri River. There were hundreds of wagons waiting their turn to cross the river. I think we stayed two nights before we could cross, as their was only one boat and two wagons with teams could cross at a time. Then their was all the loose stock to cross after. Father had gotten all his things over, they with a hundred wagons traveled several miles to a large flat where we camped and the companies were organized into fifties with a captain over each fifty families and a captain over each ten.



Our company was the 12th and our captain was Harmon Cutler. Two other companies were organized at the same time; the 10th and the 11th. We traveled together for several hundred miles for mutual protection. We saw lots of Buffalo and Indian scares. If there were wood and grass, and water for the teams, our captains always camped over for Sunday and held meetings and we generally had meeting on Thursday nights. There they sang the songs of Zion and rejoiced to think they were going to the valley. No one grumbled over their hardships. We went on and on and had dances. We stopped and dried Buffalo meat and washed our clothes when we stopped for a day or two. The women would take their stoves out and wash the clothes and bake up a lot of bread and cakes. When we milked the cows, mother would put the milk in the churn and when we camped at noon the butter would be churned and we ate the milk with our bread and mush. They never cooked at noon. That was a time to rest. When we got to a place called Ash Hallow, the Indians stole all our horses. So the captain had to have oxen draw his carriage the rest of the way to the valley. When we got to Independence Rock we had a wedding, lot’s of young people went through the Devil’s Gate. I wanted to go but mother would not let me. She said that I was to little.



Our captain was awful slow and some of the company got dissatisfied and said that the snow would catch us before we got to the valley. So they divided the company and put my father in as captain and we went along fine but had some snow in the south pass. We were all glad when we saw the valley of the Great Salt Lake. It surely looked beautiful to us. We beat the other part of the company by fifteen days.

Transcript for Ada L. Phippen Hale Mahoney Walker, "History of Isaac Phippen," 2-3

Ada Louisa Phippen Mahoney in How Beautiful upon the Mountains: A Centennial History of Wasatch County (1963), edited by Wm. James Mortimer, 417-418

Ada Louisa Phippen Mahoney in How Beautiful upon the Mountains: A Centennial History of Wasatch County (1963), edited by Wm. James Mortimer, 417-418.

In 1846 we had to leave our homes with hundreds of others. We had two wagons for our family and my brother's family, so we left everything and crossed the Mississippi River, and came to Winter Quarters, where we stayed until the summer of 1848, when we crossed the Missouri River into Iowa, where we lived until 1852. While in Iowa my father farmed, raising hundreds of bushels of wheat, corn and vegetables and other grains. We were there the winter after the Battalion boys went. In the summer of 1847, father planted a lot of foodstuffs, which helped us through the winter. Ada Louisa and her brother went to school in Iowa.



On June 23, 1852, we were ready to start for Salt Lake. So again my father and mother left everything except what they could put in two wagons. They left their farm and never got one cent for it, also their houses and everything that was in them, only a chair or two; not even a table, but we had plenty of clothes, but we had no regrets for what we left. We had quite a time getting started, as some of the others decided that they did not want to go to Utah, but with much persuasion we got to the Missouri River. There were hundreds of wagons camped there, waiting to cross the river. There was much sickness at this time, but soon all was well. As we traveled we gathered lots of buffalo chips. We had plenty of Indian scares. We saw thousands of buffalo; we also scraped and dried meat.



We always stopped Sundays and held services. Almost every night we danced and every Thursday night we held meetings and sang the songs of Zion. When we arrived at Independence Rock we had a wedding. A lot of young folks went through Devils Gate; I wanted to go, but mother would not let me.



When we reached the three crossings of Sweetwater the company was divided and my father was put in captain. Here we made better time, and there was no sickness. The weather was quite cold, and we had a little snow on the South Pass. We landed in Salt Lake City on September 27, 1852. We were three months on the road. As we came into Salt Lake we thought it the most beautiful city we had ever seen. We camped a few days with some friends in the First Ward. Father soon bought a house and lot in the Sixteenth Ward and we moved into it. We had nothing but a stove we brought with us (no table, bedsteads or chairs). But we were thankful that we were all well and in the land of promise.

Transcript for Ada Louisa Phippen Mahoney in How Beautiful upon the Mountains: A Centennial History of Wasatch County (1963), edited by Wm. James Mortimer, 417-418

Ada Stewart

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