George Barton Hicks (1805 - 1885) Profile

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George Barton Hicks

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Deseret News

14th Company

"14th Company", Deseret News, September 18, 1852, Page 2.

14th Company, John B. Walker, Capt., wife and 5 children; James Dailey [Dayley] wife and 8 children; Elizabeth Meckam [Meekam] and son; Joseph Bidlecom [Biddlecome]; Geo. Bidlecom [Biddlecome]; Wm. Pope, wife and 5 children; John Page, wife and 4 children; Davis McOlney, wife and 4 children; Billey [Billa] Dixon [Dickson], wife and 5 children; James Woodward, wife and 3 children; Mary Ann Elivens and 3 children; R. W. Nobles, wife and son; Zial [Azail] Ri[g]gs, wife and 3 children; Benour Chase and wife; Wm. Heap, wife and 5 children; ¬[Ezekiel] Hopkins, wife and 6 children; Lewis Whitesides, wife and daughter; Cragun [Origin] Southworth; Sam’l Curtis; Ralph Thompson, wife and 2 children; Jos. H[arrison] Tippets and 9 children; S.[Gustavus] A[dolphus] Perry, wife and 3 children; Joseph Barton and 3 children; Chas. Williams, wife and 5 children; John Currie and 6 children; Henry Box and 4 children; John [Johannes] Alleman and 7 children; Jos. Bisselle and wife; Thos. McKinzie [McKenzie], wife and 3 children: D[aniel] M[ark] Barbanks [Burbank], wife and 4 children; Reuben Carter, wife and 6 children; Alvin Nichols, wife &amp; 3 children; Elizabeth Moore; D[ennis] Do[r]rity, wife and 7 children, Joseph Robinson and wife; Elizabeth Huntsman; Geo. Robinson, wife and 3 children; [David] Daniel Peet, wife and son; Reuben W. Strong and 2 children; John Nichols, wife and 2 children; Chester Southworth, wife and 4 children; John Palmer, wife and son; Jacob F[arnum] Abbott, wife and 3 children; Martha Bickmore and 5 children; John Myers, wife and 1 child; John Dixon [Dickson]: Stewart Dixon [Dickson]; wife and son; Joseph Dudley, wife and 4 children; Sitbbel [Sybell] Stevens; Wm. B[uckminster] Lindsey [Lindsay], wife and 2 children; Ephraim Lindsy [Lindsay], wife and son; Wm. B[uckmunster] Lindsey [Lindsay] jr., wife and 5 children; Martha Bickmore; Ed[win] R[euben] Lindsey [Lindsay], wife and child; Jane A[manda] Presley; G[eorge] B[arton] Hicks; wife and 5 children; Geo. A[rmstrong] Hicks; Henry Emery, wife and 1 child; Mary Moore; Wm. Moore.

Transcript for "14th Company," Deseret News, 18 September 1852, 90

Deseret News.

Dickson, Albert Douglas, Reminiscence [ca. 1911], 2-5

Dickson, Albert Douglas, Reminiscence [ca. 1911], 2-5.

In the spring of 1852 he sold his place and bought 2 yoke of oxen and 2 yokes of cows. Went to the Missouri River bottom where Ezra T. Benson organized the Saints which gathered there which was the fourteenth company which left for the Salt Lake Valley in the spring of 1852 <(bapt. John B. Walker)>. Crossed on a large flat boat, two wagons to a trip, three men to the car and one to the rear to steer; would land down the river about 1/4 of a mile from the starting point, and pulled the boat back with oxen. The company consisted of 50 wagons and five tens and each ten had a captain and our captain was David M. Conley. Made the westward start <from Kanesville, Iowa, July 8, 1852> and went over to the Elkhorn, Neb., river and found an old decaded flat boat of about four or five tons capacity. We supposed it to be the property of some fur traders who had lost or left it there. The next camp was on the Platte River, Neb., where the cholera broke out and two of our number succumbed to the dread disease, which did not leave our company until we reached Loup Fork, which is up the river from our first camp on the Platte and ten more or our company died of cholera. At this point some one threw out a buffalo robe and stampeded about fifty wagons and one woman was thrown out and killed. Trailed along up to the Grand Island. Traveled two days up the river and saw the first buffaloes on the route, six or eight, and my father and some of the rest of the men tried to kill one and shot and crippled one bull and our dog took up the chase of the injured buffalo and melted itself and we children mourned the loss of our noble dog, and the hunt was unsuccessful for we got no buffalo. 
Went on two more days and the first buffalo was killed by our company[.] Wm. Lindsey [Lindsay], which was distributed in our company. After this we saw them every day and got one any time we needed meat for there were thousands of them and we would stop the train and watch the vast herds pass. Now, of course, there were lots of buffalo bones and we began to learn somewhat concerning the advance companies for they would write their messages on the skull bones and set them by the roadside and we, likewise, would leave messages to the companies still to come. It will be remembered that we were going up the north side of the Platte and now in a few days more we could see thousands of buffalo on the south side of the river but none on the side we were on. So when we had used all our meat it was necessary for some of the company to cross the river and try and get some for meat. So my father [Billa Dickson], Ephraim Lindsay and Geo[rge]. [Barton] Hicks waded the river and killed some and night came on and in the darkness they dared not cross the river for camp and consequently had to lay out, which greatly alarmed the rest of the company, and I never expected to see my father again. The next morning a search party was organized but before they were ready to start they saw them coming carrying all they could of the very best meat from the carcass. Farther up the river small buffalo small bluffs and cedar were in sight. The cedar, however, were on the other side of the river. We observed that a large number of the wagon tires were getting loose so we camped by a small bluff and men with their shovels soon dug around a piece of earth, which was used for an anvil block. In the meantime some had crossed the river to get a load of cedar. On their return they made a pit by setting the wood on end and in the form of an Indian wigwam and then covered it with grass and dirt and then burned it and the next morning, with the charcoal, they cut and welded the tires and set them. We passed Ash Hollow after several day's travel. The next place of importance was Chimney Rock. Traveled twelve miles and came to Scotts Bluffs and 64 miles from here we arrived at Fort Laramie. Here we forded the Platte to the south side. We stopped at Deer Creek where the washing for the camp was done. I went hunting with father and we saw a bunch of buffalo of about 50 head. They run out on a large plain. Two men were after the same ones as we were and they were on one side and we on the other but out of sight. They shot and they came straight toward us up a hill where we were on the top. When within 50 yards father shot and killed one and the others came on in their mad rush not seeing us till their hoofs were nearly on us. They just parted enough to keep from killing us. We went down to where the buffalo lay and found that he was not dead and father had to finish him with a butcher knife. The two men then came over. They belonged to a Welsh Company. Father cut out a pack or what he could carry and gave the rest to them, being the first buffalo meat they had on their trip. We got back to camp after dark. 
We traveled a few days and stopped again for repairs, setting wagon tires, shoeing oxen, etc. 
Went on up the Platte until the last crossing and we crossed back on the north side. After traveling for a few days we arrived on the Sweetwater. Here a man overtook our ten who belonged to the ten in the rear and said he had broken his wagon tire and father was sent back to make the repair. He took a piece of wagon tire and a drill and with four rivets, made the mend and then made a fire and set the tire and it came through to the Valley. 
 Passed Independence Rock and next to the Devil's Gate. Got short of tar; found some nice pitch pine and we had a big sugar kettle in our company. We split the pitch fine in small pieces, drove these in to the kettle in a vertical manner as tightly as possible, turned the kettle bottom side up on a large flat rock and then made a fire over the kettle, and was successful in making enough to grease our wooden axles and linch pin to last us to our journey’s end. 
We went up to the three crossings of Sweet Water and camped. These crossings are not a half a mile apart. Father and some went out and killed a buffalo, the last one we saw on the trip. It must be remembered that we also killed antelopes, and only father killed a dear on the trip. 
The next place is Ice Springs where there is several boggs and some say that there is ice there year round if dug after. Crossed over Rocky Ridge and several small streams and crossed the last crossing on the Sweet Water, and passed over the pass and camped on Pacific Creek. This pass is the divide of the continent and why they named the creek Pacific, because the water runs into the Pacific Ocean. Went over to Dry Sandy, thence to Little Sandy. In this vicinity is where the roads fork, one going to Oregon and California, the other to Salt Lake. This is called the Sublett Cutoff. 
The next point enroute is Big Sandy. Traveled down this until we came to Green River. Crossed the river and went over onto Black’s Fork. Traveled up this a few days and came to Fort Bridger, Next to the Muddy; from here over to the Pioneer Ridge. Came to a little creek called Wolf Creek. From here to Needle Rocks on Yellow Creek and there we buried a young man by the name of [Samuel] Sherman, the last death on long and wearisome march. From here we came down a fork of Echo Canyon. We came down and passed Redden’s or Cache Cave. Traveled down a day or two and came to Weber River. Traveled down the Weber four miles and crossed where Hennefer [Henefer] now stands. Went about ten miles southwest and came to East Canyon. Beaver dams and mud holes and brush made it very difficult for us to drive the sheep. It will be remembered that we brought sheep across the plains. Went up East Canyon and then up a hollow to the right nearly to the top of the Big Mountain. From here we crossed over the Little Mountain late that afternoon and down Emigration Canyon into the Salt Lake Valley about the last of September or the first of October, 1852. &lt;(Oct. 3, 1852)&gt;

Transcript for Dickson, Albert Douglas, Reminiscence [ca. 1911], 2-5

Hicks, George Armstrong, Family Record and History of Geo. A. Hicks, 10-11

Hicks, George Armstrong, Family Record and History of Geo. A. Hicks, 10-11.

Early in the spring of 1852 my father [George Barton Hicks] began to busy himself in preparing for our journey to the "valley". We sold our home for a "song" and on the 5th day of June 1852 we bade adieu to our home where we had toiled for 5 years preparing for the journey, we had one ox team and a couple of cows but we had great faith we believed we were of the chosen of God—that it was our duty to gather out of Babylon while the judgements of God should pass over the nation, and in past it has been so for the great rebellion in the U.S. which has cost the nation so much blood and treasure, has "passed over" the country. I think I am safe in saying that Utah has suffered the least of any state or Territory in the Union by the war, it would be very hard for me to believe that the gathering of the Mormon people was all the work of chance and fanaticism— "there is a divinity"— (Shak.)
We were organized into companies of 50 wagons with a captain over us then we were again organized into tens with a captain over each ten wagons. The name of our Captain of 50 was—[John B.] Walker and the number was 14th, the capt. of our ten was John Myres [Myers]. On the last day of June we crossed the Mo. [Missouri] River at Winter Quarters and bid farewell to the United States. We had not gone far on our journey when the c[h]olera broke out in our company and 13 died of that malignant disease. My brother Moroni was the first to take the disease but recovered. It was sad to part with loved ones and leave them forever on the lonely plains to return to "dust". I remember one woman strong and healthy at the Loup fork of the Platte River who did a big washing of clothes and the next day died with the c[h]olera and was burried. I remember one woman the wife [Elizabeth Hobson Robinson] of one Joseph Robertson [Robinson] who got frightened and believed she was taking the colera; her husband believed it was fear that caused his wife's sickness, he forced her to get out of the wagon and walk about; he forbid her under penalty of a "good flogging" to go to bed any more that day—she recovered immediately[.] We hurried along as fast as our ox teams could be made to travel so that we could get out of the stricken district. Our company was the 14th in number and believe there were 22 in all. The wayside was marked by graves—more frequent than milestones in the old States.
Apostle Ezra T. Benson came along and told us that it was our duty to laugh and dance and make merry as much as we could. I often saw the ordinance of laying on hands tried to no purpose: it was generally young people and women that died on the plains. I remember helping to bury one woman on the plains who was still warm. We had no coffins but used the bark off the cotton wood tree when it could be obtained. Our road lay on the North side of the Platte River until we reached Fort Laramie then we crossed over to the south side.
We saw many large herds of buffalo and killed many of them. I killed one myself. We saw many of the Sioux Indians who were very peaceable. When we reached a higher altitude the colera disappeared from our midst. After we got through the Black Hills we divided up into smaller companies for feed for our teams. The feelings of the Company was generally good but we had one little "difficulty" which grew out of a love affair, in one of the "tens" of our company there was a young and beautiful girl of about 17 years of age, a young man—in our company, a gentile—by the name of James Mathews was pay[ing] his addresses to her and she was coquetting with him, another young man in our [company] by the name of Samuel Curtis asked the girl to go to a dance with him (the place selected for the dance was perhaps a few hundred yards from the camp) she refused which was her right of course but she afterward went with Mathews. Curtis made some light remark which soon reached the ears of Mathews. Mathews was of a fiery temper and threatened the life of Curtis if he did not recall his words and exposed a dagger which said he would take the life of Curtis as soon as opportunity offered. It was told Curtis that Mathews threatened his life. One night some time afterwards Mathews was in the act of leading the Columbia Williams out to dance when Curtis stepped up to him, forbid him to dance, saying at the same time "You have threatened my life and you shall not dance." The two young [men] stepped aside and the matter was peaceably and amicably settled between them. The next day, outside parties were giving their opinion as we rested at noon when one Stewart Dixon [Dickson] expressed the opinion that Mathews got off too easy. Some one of the friends of Mathews took up the saying and in a few moments not less than 25 men and half-grown boys were menacing each other and making loud threats of what they would do. There was a young man—a cripple in one leg—by the name of "Jet" Sherman who was very abusive in his language toward Curtis. Curtis at last became exasperated at the abuse and stepped up to Sherman and with his open hand hit him a slap on the cheek, Sherman struck at Curtis with his crutch but did not hit him. Then there was a general rushing together of the parties from both sides, but no more blows followed. A man by the name of Davis McAleny [Mc Olney]—a man of resolute courage and good sense—seeing the course things were taking jumped upon a wagon tongue and in a short and eloquent speech in which he told them how foolish they were acting and warned they were in an Indian country—that union was necessary for self protection. All parties slunk off to their wagons and there was no more public demonstrations, but some were not satisfied and a council was held by the captains of "tens" where some of these thought Mathews ought to be put out of the way (i.e., killed) for threatening the life of a Saint. One Daniel M. Burbanks plead for Mathews and he was spared. Nothing further disturbed the peace of our Company and in closing the chapter I will say that crossing the plains with ox teams is a trying ordeal- one requiring great patience and fortitude. My health which had not been good for years vastly improved and for the first Autumn in seven years I did not have the chills and fever.
On the 3rd day of October 1852 we arrived at Great Salt Lake City all in good health but very much worn by our long and weary journey of 1,030 miles. We were within two days of being 4 months from the time we left our home in Pot[t]awat[t]ami Co., Iowa, until we reached the end of our journey and rest was sweet.

Transcript for Hicks, George Armstrong, Family Record and History of Geo. A. Hicks, 10-11

Historical Department journal history of the Church

Historical Department journal history of the Church. Supplement after 31 December 1852: Page 95.

George Barton Hicks

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