Emeline Young Grover (1831 - 1917) Profile

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Emeline Young Grover

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Deseret Weekly

Pioneer Reminiscences

"Pioneer Reminiscences", Deseret Weekly, July 24, 1897, Page 27.

Deseret Weekly.

Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008

Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008, June 21, 1847, Page 7.

Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008.

Rich, Emeline Grover, Autobiography and diary 1890-1909, 25-29

Rich, Emeline Grover, Autobiography and diary 1890-1909, 25-29.

I think it was on the 14
th
 of June, <1847> that we (a number of large companies) Started on our journey accross the plains—Some with cow trains, Some with wilds Steers yoked with cows—while some had good ox teams and there were a few horse teams, and the beauty of this was, (If I may be allowed the expression) that of the teamsters of this medley outfit—there were 9 out of 10 who were girls, women, or children. I can but laugh now, when I look back upon that picturesque scene (for be it understood that I was one of those teamsters) and at the time it was no <laughing> matter but real, reality in the full sense of the term—Some there were who was equipped with big ox whip of 6 or 8 feet long who I doubt not had much seen, much less handled a whip of this kind and knew not ge from haw perhapse had been raised tenderly and who owing to scarcity of male members in our camp had to take the whip in hand and drive their teams—walking of course as they couldn't drive their unbroke ox teams and sit in the wagon, else when they espied a spear of grass out side the road of which there was but a faint track made by the pioneers[,] they would sometimes turn off and break the wagon tongue—all these things we had in our camps. But as I was going to say, it was owing to the scarcity of men in our camp in consequence of five hundred of our best were being called upon by our dear unkle [Uncle] Sam, to go to (Mexico—which was all right enough of course,) and then 500 men going out as pionee<rs>[.] these were heavy draughts on us at that time owing to our condition. 
One incident which happened while we were camped on the Platt[e] river of a laughable nature I must here relate—(for I can tell you we had to laugh sometimes),—we drove up to our camping ground which our Capt. had decided was a good place to stop (possibly because our teams had given out as was often the case) and we girls <s>unyoked</s> unhitched our teams &lt;from the wagons&gt;—drove them to the river to drink, a lady chum of mine just my age 16—drove her team just a head of mine—they of course were thirsty and tired so they went out into the Stream—half way across—they drank and then staid there as though they were in no hurry to come back. The girl called to them[.] they seemed to look happy and content to stay where they were—Oh! dear what shall I do—I cannot wade out to them? I looked arou&lt;nd&gt; and espied a young man coming with his team to water them—I said wait a minute. Just as she was about to wade into the water. See—there is a young man coming perhaps he will <s>take</s> have pity for you—Oh! no he won’t—it isn’t likely he’ll wade into the river for my cattle—well I said lets wait and see. He came up to us and of course could see what was our trouble—he said Shall I fetch your cattle out ladies?—She said if it [is] not asking too much of you—after he had Started in after them—She said to me, who is that young man? I told her I had never met him before—She replied I am going to set my cap for him, and sure enough they were very good friends all the way on our journey ever after this occurrence, and after the journey was ended they were married and have live[d] long happy life together. 
We travel'd on through a will [wild] Indian Country meeting with no serious trouble except now and then loosing Some of our cattle or sheep. Don’t think we had a death in our camp on the journey. When we arrived at Fort Bridger we found a Mountaineer Bridger by name living with a little [S...rad] of Indians—here we met my father and some of the pioneers returning, after, on to meet their families, we were overjoyed to meet worn out as we were to hear them say that they had found and located a stopping place for the Saints, for we had been three months on our journey and had began to think we were pretty good teamsters. Still all were willing to surrender the ox whip to its owner whenever demanded by its owner as they returned from their pioneer life, and the men also had a time of rejoicing on uniting with their family. Capt. Bridger gave us but little encouragement concerning our new home[.] he told my Father that he would give him a thousand dollars for every bushel of wheat that was raised in <s>Be</s> Salt Lake Valley. This did not in the least have a tendency to discourage us—we were also told that we had the hardest and roughest part of the journey to travel—I wondered how this could be, for I could picture nothing in my mind, that could be worse than what we had passed. We had walked 2 and 22 miles per day—and driven our ox teams sometimes one yoke and sometimes two yokes and unyoked them, and then cooke[d] our food and attended to camp work beside[.] And now to be told that the hardest part of our journey was just on a head—but we were still equal to the task—of course we were climbed over those two ranges of mountains[,] walke[d] up and down with face in hand[,] haw here and ge there until at last we reached the goal &lt;of our anticipations&gt; 
and were made happy about the 28th of Oct 1847 By entering and locating in Salt Lake Valley. Now we thought our labors at an end.

Transcript for Rich, Emeline Grover, Autobiography and diary 1890-1909, 25-29

Rich, Mary Ann Phelps, Autobiography of Mary Ann Phelps Rich [1951], 19-21

Rich, Mary Ann Phelps, Autobiography of Mary Ann Phelps Rich [1951], 19-21.

<center xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">THE WESTERN TREK</center>
My husband [Charles C. Rich] fitted up his wagons and teams and we left Winter Quarters in June, 1847; he having been placed in charge of a company of one hundred wagons. We traveled to the Elkhorn River, here we had to wait until all had crossed the river, as we crossed on rafts, and Mr. Rich had to wait until they all got over so he could tie the raft and bring the rope with him. There was one young man by the name of Weatherby, who was killed by the Indians while we were here, he died in our tent.
We traveled two abreast the whole distance of the Platt[e] River, for greater safety. There were thousands of buffalo on every side, which the men would kill, so we had plenty of meat. There were also hundreds of Indians to be seen at frequent intervals all the time we were traveling up the Platt River. They were very cunning, and we had to watch them very closely to see that they did not steal everything we had in our wagons. They would shoot arrows into our cattle and sheep; so we found it took more hands to herd the cattle and drive the wagons than we had anticipated.
The Saints had made an agreement among themselves that anyone who had brought a hired man or boy with them, should keep that hired man or boy until after harvest the next year so that no one would go hungry or starve after he got to the valley. Mr. Rich thought he would have to hire two more men or boys to drive two of the wagons. There was one of his wives Em[m]eline [Grover Rich] beside myself who had no children; so we volunteered to drive the wagons until we got to the valley. He did not think we could, but we persuaded him to try us one day and see. We did so well that we had our teams every day after that as regular as the men did until we arrived in the valley. We did not grieve or mourn over it, we had some very nice times when the roads were not so bad. We would make the mountans ring with our songs, and sometimes the company would get together and we would have a dance in the evening on the grass. We did not mourn but we rejoiced that we were going to the Rocky Mountains where we would be free to live our religion, and be acknowledged as wives. We felt that we wanted to do everything in our power to help Mr. Rich out, as his children were all small and he needed our help. I had never had very good health until I started on this trip, and I got to fee1ing so well that I felt it was a pleasure to take hold and do anything that lay in my power to help.
When we got to the Black Hills there was no water for the teams they were almost crazy for want of it, and when we got to the bed of the River they had to dig holes to get a little water, but they could not get half enough. Some of the men were greedy and wanted their teams to have all the water they wanted, which would not leave enough for the other teams. Mr. Rich had charge of the company and he had to appoint men to see that justice was done to each team.
When we arrived at the South Pass we met President Young and Company returning to Winter Quarters, they having gone to the valley and located Salt Lake City and appointed officers to act in the stake until they returned the next year; John Smith having been appointed President of the new stake in the valley and my husband, Charles C. Rich, first counselor and John Young second counselor. President Young and his company stayed with us one day to talk and preach to the people, telling us what to do and how to do, and whatever we did to sustain the authorities that were placed over us, and we all felt well after that and felt as though we would do our duty as far as we could.
Brigham Young and his company resumed their journey eastward and we traveled on to the valley. The roads were terrible, the mountains bad, the teams weak and it was very cold, but we were not discouraged; we felt that we would soon reach our destination, and that we would have a home in very deed when we got there. While on our juorney Mr. Rich's mother [Nancy O'Neal Rich] was taken very sick.
We arrived in Immigration Canyon on the first of October, 1847, and the longest place on my dress was just a little below my knees, I had walked through the brush, driving my team to keep them in the road, and could not stop to untangle my dress when it got fastened in the brush, but had to walk on, leaving part of my d[r]ess behind. We arrived in what is now Salt Lake City on the 2nd day of October, 1847, and found just a little fort of ten acres, and a few people who had arrived before. Mr. Rich looked around and picked out a place for a camp. The first thing we did was to care for his mother. We fixed a bed in one of the tents for her, and made her as comfortable as possible, but she only lived three days after our arrival, she being the first white woman to die in Salt Lake City.

Transcript for Rich, Mary Ann Phelps, Autobiography of Mary Ann Phelps Rich [1951], 19-21

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Freedom, Cattaraugus, New York, United States

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Sarah Jane Rich

Joseph Coulson Rich

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Eliza Ann Graves

Sarah De Armon Pea

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Charles Coulson Rich Jr.

Harriet Sargent

John Thomas Rich

Mary Bratton Rich

Hyrum Smith Rich

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