Joseph Beecroft (1811 - 1883) Profile

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Joseph Beecroft

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Crane, James. Journal: Part 2

Crane, James. Journal: Part 2.

In the spring of 1859, Brother Joseph W. Young, Bishop [Frederick] Kesler and Orten [Horton] Haight came to the frontiers to bring a freight train through for the Church. They wanted teamsters to work their passage through for the church, and Brother Kesler came to Iowa City and found eight teamsters there.



I was one of them. He bought two yoke of oxen and a wagon to take us to Florence, or Winter Quarters, three hundred miles from Iowa City, I had charge of this small company. We left Iowa City April 3, 1859, just as winter was breaking up. The roads were terrible and it being the first time any of us had ever started out on a trip of this kind, we did not know too much. It was intended for us to meet Brother Joseph W. Young and Orton Haight at Fort Desmoines [Des Moines] as they were buying cattle, through that region of country, to take the train across the plains. Day after day we had rain, mud, and slush to wade through and many days we could not travel more than four miles. We had a great time at Skunk River. When we got there the river had over flowed its banks and filled the bottom for two miles across. We arrived there about nine o'clock in the morning. We stood and looked wishfully at the situation, wishing we were on the other side. While looking, two men came up to us and asked us which way we were traveling. "To Utah", we replied. "So are we," said they, "We have only lately arrived from Utah and are now returning, and if you will join us we will show you how to cross this river, as we have crossed many of them." I looked upon it as a blessing from the Lord and we arranged to unload our wagon and theirs, then lash the two wagon boxes together, caulk them tight and ferry over. Where the water was shallow, we waded and pushed the boxes before us, but where it was deep we used poles and worked our passage over. Some of my little company objected to our crossing in this way. I could see no other way than this. I called on those that were willing to join me, and those that were not could take their own course. The unwilling ones, seeing that they were about to be left behind, finally joined in without any bad feelings. We had to cross this stream three times until we were all used up pretty badly and the last trip it snowed on us all the way. One of the boys went several miles around the riffle in the water with the oxen and running gears, and we on our third trip across arrived at the landing as soon as he did. We were so numbed with the cold that we hardly knew what to do. There was a house close by where we hired a room and stove for the night, and in half an hour we were merry, singing, and chatting one with the other as though we had a splendid time.



When we arrived at Fort Desmoines, the company had left with word for us to follow as quickly as possible, which we did, and the next day we over took them just as it was getting dark. Old Brother [Joseph] Beecroft from London had charge of the camp and those that were driving the oxen that the brethren were buying. They all felt very blue in camp and down-hearted. I began to wonder if it was a Mormon camp or not, being there was no life in it, so I asked them if they were Mormons. "Oh yes," said they, "Then what is the matter with you?" said I. "Why we have been driving cattle all day and have had no supper nor likely to get any," they answered. I said, "Have you no provisions in camp?" They answered they had flour, bacon,-tea coffee, and molasses but had no time to cook it. "What, and hungry?" said I. "Have-you got a camp kettle?" I asked. They had, so I told them to bring it along with some flour, and in ten or fifteen minutes I made a kettle of mush that made their eyes sparkle, .and with molasses to put on it, they all had a good supper. This drove the blues out of the camp and we sang and talked until midnight. The next morning, the old man told me to take charge of the camp for he would starve them to death with the wagon loaded with provisions. I refused, saying I would not take charge but I would help him all I could. From this time on we got on well until our arrival at the Missouri River. We stopped on the Missouri about six weeks until the oxen that had been poorly, got fat. We had four hundred head of oxen. I was put in charge of the herd until we left. When the train started on the plains, I was made captain of ten. There were seventy-four wagons in all and Brother Haight was captain of the company, Brother Kesler commissary and in charge of all the freight. We were three months in crossing the plains. It was very laborous on the oxen and after passing through the sand hills of Laramie, the oxen began to die and continued to do so until we arrived within two hundred miles of Salt Lake City. We could scarcely move the train and had to get help, from Salt Lake City. Considering the length of the journey, we had a good time, plenty of provisions, once in a while short of water and an occasional quarrel with the unruly teamsters, but nothing only what might be expected on such long hard journeys. All were inexperienced in the business, men and boys. All had been brought up to different business to this. Artisans of every trade. Many that had never seen an oxen before, much less yoking them up and driving them. When the Salt Lake City boys met us with fresh oxen to help us, we felt delighted. But when we heard the way those boys could curse and swear, we did not feel so delighted. I felt bad and could not account for it. We were going to Zion and they came from Zion to help us. Many of the camp felt badly and expressed themselves so, but I always kept those kind of feelings to myself, and prayed to the Lord for an explanation. The spirit of the Lord told me, to take care when I arrived in the land of Zion that I did not fall into the same snare. I am sorry to say that every one of those boys came to a bad end. Many of them were shot for thieving and I soon learned that they were playing the part of the wicked and not the righteous. We arrived in Salt Lake City on the 1st of Sept., 1859, and when we came out of Emigration Canyon and saw Salt Lake City, oh how thankful we did feel to the Lord. And none but those that experience it can tell the heavenly feeling that possess a Latter-day-saint when they first see the city of the saints. The tears of joy coursed down my cheeks and I thanked the Lord that I had been preserved thus far to receive of his blessings. We drove our teams into President Young's yard and his family made supper for the whole company.



[Source: http://www.welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/2893]

Transcript for Crane, James. Journal: Part 2

Deseret News

Latter Day Saints' Immigration

"Latter Day Saints' Immigration", Deseret News, August 24, 1859, Page 197.

<center xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">LATTER DAY SAINTS' IMMIGRATION.......1859.</center>



NAMES OF PERSONS IN CAPT JAMES BROWN'S COMPANY, ORGANIZED AT FLORENCE, JUNE 12, 1859: 
William Steele and family 
Lara Olsen 
James Hickson 
Nels and Botila Nelsen 
John A. Stalker 
Pider and Ola Nelssen 
Mildred Johnson 
John Christian Yensen [Jensen] and family 
N. W. Birdno and family 
John Owen 
John Johnsen and family 
Mary B. Farell 
John Larsen and family 
Solomon Gamet and family 
Karna Larsen and family 
Enoch Lewis and family 
Pider [Peter] Ahlstrom and family 
G[eorge]. L. Farell and family 
Karen Christiansen 
Anne Milton and family 
Marie Landstrom 
Samuel Dickson 
Ola Neilson and family 
R. E. [Eli] Kent and family 
Beritia Johnsen [Bertha Jensen] 
George Sparks 
Bengt and Oilya [Cilia or Sissa] Malmgren 
Martha Smith 
Hannah Jorensen 
George Pierce and family 
Pernella Jorensen 
Lucindo and Lucy A. Cady 
Andre and Marie Ekeland [Ekland] 
Hanna Sparkes [Sparks] 
Aanna Christian and Mathilde Bergton [Bergtop] 
Daniel Campbell and family 
James Morell 
A[nders]. O. [Olsson] and Ingre [Ingra] Nyborg, 
Aman Campbell and family 
Anders and Korner [Karner] Nelson 
Samuel Handy and family 
Ichumra Sanberg [Sandberg] 
George Sparkes and family 
Magnus and Turider Jarnesen [Jerensen] 
Samuel and Grace Davidson 
Sarah Parsons 
Christina Magnusem [Magnuson] 
Maro Rymer 
Lopter Johnsen and family 
William McKay and family 
Gadni Erasmus 
Ann and Mary Garvy 
Vicka and Gustaf Jornesen 
William Crotcher 
Sorein and Maren Nelsen 
John Bassett and family 
Christin Andersen and family 
Lacinda [Lucinda] Ann John A. Root 
Jhon Dhalsks 
Edmund and James Dicks 
Ann Hansen 
Mary Eveline 
Neils Nelsen 
James Goodwin and family 
Lars Jensen 
Charles and Ann Clipton [Clifton] 
Karen M. Gorensen 
Robert, Ann and Eliza Garnett 
Jens B. Jensen 
Mik[k]el Rasmusen and family 
Phoebe, James A., and Ches. [Charles] W. Gibson 
Ingilon Tomson 
Goren Sorensen and family 
William Gittings and family 
Frederick Longemust [Longmark] and family 
George Watson and family 
Margaret Axley 
L. Jensen 
James Hay 
Anne Kutrusa 
Mary and Joseph H. Kay 
Jens and Hans Jensen 
Eliza Slack 
Anie Sidersom 
John C. Reader and family 
Anne Didero 
Catharine Glass 
Sophia Ciderstrom 
Levi and Charlotte Minnerly 
Anders Hokeberg and family 
Eliza I Rion [Rich] 
Elna Anna and Christen Anderson 
Sarah Steers 
James and Mary A. Finlayson 
Cilya Ryback 
John Larsen and family 
Sarah Alexander and daughter 
C[arl]. A. Zit[t]ing 
William Wright and family 
Thomas Wand 
John Frost 
Robert and Ann White 
Amos [Ambrose] Greenwell and family 
Philip, Mary and Ellen M. Sharp 
Ann Hill 
Joseph Russell 
John and Mary Trascott 
Edward Haskshom 
Jeremiah Stocks and family 
J. C. Darrow and family 
Stephen Coup[e] 
Seth Wood and family 
Christopher Seeston 
Typhene Fairchild[s], sen. 
Thomas Stocks and family 
Typhene Fairchild[s], jun. 
John H. Gordon and family 
William Cole and family 
Ann Smith 
Mason Cutler and family 
Joseph Wintel 
William C. Rounde [Rounds] and family 
John Larsen and family 
Lans Olsen 
Richard W. Call 
Maria Hyalteny 
Rachel Williams and family 
Anna Marsen 
David Evans 
Neils Harsen 
Charles Harman and family 
Dedrick Funck [Funk] and family 
Thomas and Ann Rogers 
Hannah and Sidsea Johnson 
William Howell 
Oler Fullsen and family 
John Jones 
John Johnsen and family 
James Price 
TOTAL NUMBER OF PERSONS, 252.



NAMES OF PERSONS IN CAPTAIN HORTON D. HAIGHT'S COMPANY



Frederick Kesler, Alexander Piper [Pyper] and family, John King, Anna Kirk, Ellen Jones, Betsey Titt, Levi Garret, Anthony Wilson, John G. Hogland and family, James Whitehead, Charles C. Dulin, Charles H. and Mary Crow, James Davenport, Ann Booth, Mary Gurney, Lewis Osborn, Caroline Harris and family, Agnes Steel, Patrick Burns.



Henry A. Smith, Louis Palanteen, John Harvey, Jesse Field and family, John Taylor, Alexander Ott and wife, Francis Bolto, Shadrach Jones, Thomas Baker, Francis Broadbent, Isaac Howells, Thomas Lonhust [Longhurst], Matthew and Wm. Mott, Adam Pall, John and George Horrocks, William Royal, Daniel Jacobs, Jacob Wagon, Frederick Holland, Benjamin P. Mortengrane, Samuel Young, Andrew Christopherson, Neils Andersen, Josiah Combs [Coombs], Josiah Holland, Benjamin and Anna Harman, Joseph and Maria Davis, William Crowther, James and Alice Crane.



John Evans, William Davis, Talaesen [Taliesen] Hughs, Henry, Eliza and Edmund Love[s]ay, Thomas Foote, wife and child, Elijah Parsons, Noah Mee, John Bone, William and Eliza Slack, Miles and Jane Williams, Samuel Fletcher, Thomas Prill, Thomas Jones, Margaret and William Bate, William and Emily Hart, Joseph Price, Robert and Chas. Harman, David Longhurst, John and David Louis, Thomas Lenham, Daniel Smoth [or Smith], Isaac Allen, William Hay, Joseph Beacroft [Beecroft], and family, John Marcroft and family, William W. Reed, Daniel Saberniller, John and Ellen Sutherland, David Roberts, Simon Smith, John Riggs.



James Hodges, Jabez Dangerfield, Daniel House, wife and child, William Cook, John Chamberland, James H. Rigg, William Walker and family.—Total, 134.



NAMES OF PERSONS IN THE HAND-CART COMPANY, CAPTAIN GEORGE ROWLEY.



Mark and Bithiah Lindsey, Paul Henry and Elise Moriell [Morrell], Thomas MacIntyre [McIntyre], Sarah Tuffley, Ann Lewis, Richard Hills, Richard A. Cooper, Agnes Birrel [Birrell], Ellen Lyde [Gyde], Emma Booth, Maryannne Nuns, James Harris, Sarah and Catherine Farrer, Henry Olpin and family, Ann Wright and daughter, Ann Godfrey, Joseph Gilbert, Edward Moor an family, Emma Cook, William Jarvis and family.



Thomas Martin, Reuben Atkins, Henry and James Hobbs, John Smith and family, Martha McRay [McKay] and family, Tullerton [Fullerton] Stewart, Mary Kirkpatrick, Henry Florence, William and Lovina Mann, Abraham Duffin, William Adams, Elizabeth Watson, Clara Bartlett, Catharine Fahy, John Ince, William Wild and family, Margaret and John Thornley, Ebenezer and Sarah Beazley [Beesley], Thomas and Louisa Maycock, Henry I. Strugnell, Emma Slade, Richard and Sarah Jones, Fanny Fry, Frances E. and Sarah A. Pearson, Joseph and Mary Schofield, Thos. Schofield.



Elizabeth Gledell [Gledhill], Joseph and Sarah Broadbent, Elizabeth Dixon, William Whitehead, Mary Henthorn, Squire Thornton, Mary Ann and Franklin Andrews, William and Jane Robison, Benjamin and Eliza Lamb, Edward and Mary J. Shanks.



James and Catharine Davis, Mary Shaw and family, Mary and Franklin Davies, Thomas and Maryann Dickinson, William Scogings, Louisa Budd and family, Chas. Wilson and family, Joseph Ligget, Mary Ward and family, James Turnbull, Benjamin Hibbert, George and Harriet Jones, George Stedman [Steadman], John and Ann Cartwright, Maria Jane and Alice Hanson, Esther Yeats, George Reid, Rebecca and Adelaide Harris, Jonathan Wolsteinham [Wolstenholme], Jane Mitchell, Matilda Barrett, Ann Hibbert, Mathias Nibyon.



A. Titting, Aldertine Bertelson, Caroline Simeon, Carl Rosburg [Rosberg] and family, Lars Mattison and family, Ola Yenson [Yenson or Jenson] and family, Tufne [Tufra] and B. Bengtson, Maons [Mons] Larson and family, Martin Hansen and family, Anders Yonson, Annes Stungberg [Strongberg], Mary Petroel and family, William Atkin and family, Yens and Johannes Yonson, Neil and Hanna Olsen, Peter Lanson [Larsen] and family, Soren M. Wadd [or Vadd] and family, Henrok Preson [Henrich Pearson] and family, Heahan [Haagen] Anderson, Mathilde Arvidson, Peter and Sophia Yorgensen, Yoron [Jorgen] Olson.



Ola Rosenblad, Anders Y. Yonson and family, H. O. and Mary Hagleby, Christine and Karen Petra Hagenson [Haagensen], Lars C. Christiansen [Christensen], Nils Christian, Christine S. Christiansen [Christensen], Rasmine Christoffasen [Christoffrson] and family, Peter Peterson, Christian Sorenson and family, Soren Sorenson and family, Anders Sorenson and family, Tomas C. Christiansen [Christensen] and family; Frank Pitman, Robert McKay and family, James Harris.—Total number of persons, 235.



NAMES OF PERSONS IN THE EUROPEAN COMPANY, Capt. Robert F. Neslin.



James Wood, George D. Keaton and family, Mary Ann Tuffley, Caroline Woods, Joseph Watson, James Bond and wife, Ann Boot, Emily Lovell [Lovatt], H[enry]. H. Harris [Harries] and Mary, Mary Wild, James, Eliza and Harriet Smuin, Maria, Edward and Adele Dessaules, Jeremiah Whitehouse, Elijah Tamms, Sarah J. Thomas, Sarah Gilbert, William Seymour, Charlotte Burciot [Barclot], James McArthur and family, Nathan Hanson and family, William Wilcock and family, William Cullimore and family, Charles Kidgall [Kidgell], Martha Bates, John Higson and family, Christopher and Ann Sprout [Sproat], John Slade, John and Elizabeth Slade, Caroline Callort,



Charles Barrett, James Gillmen [Gillman], George Kirkham and family, James Payne and wife, William Busby and family, Givinllyn [Gwenllian] Martins [Martin], Owen Roberts and family, Thomas Burchell, Mary Davis, W. T. Teitgen [Tietjen] and family, Nils Lanson, Elma True, Magnus A. and Elyse [Elsa] Fynands [Fyrando], Yens Neilson and family, Jones Halverson and family, Rasmus Yenson [Jensen], Ann L. Anderson, Sophia and Amie Christiansen, Neils Peterson.



Thrine [Lena Dorthea] Hanson [Hansen] and family, Soren P. Guhl and family, Martha Christoffson, Hans Andersen, J. C. Granstein [Grovenstien] and family, Rosina [Rasmine] F. Frantsen [Frandsen], H[ans]. L. Dastrap [Dastrup] and family, Ingerborg [Ingeborg] Peterson and son, Mattea Yenson, Badil and Neils Peterson, Maren Anderson, Yens Peterson, H. C. Klingbeck and family, Mattea [Mette] M. Hanson and family, Thos. C. and Else M. Yenson [Jensen], Jacob and Inger K. Christiansen, Yens [Jens] Hanson and family.



Mads P. and Karen Rasmusen, Yens [Jens] and Anna [Anne] M. Mickleson, Yens Mickleson and family, Martha Betsen [Bentson], Rasmus Neilson, Neils and Ilnak Ogord, Hans Hanson, Yens Neilsen and family, Maren K. Olsen, L. [Johan] F. Klingback and family, Mattea M. Christiansen, Johanna M. Hanson, Maria Fygesen [Tygesen], H[ans] P. Iverson, Anna Yensen [Jensen] and child, J. C. Christiansen and family, Jorgen Andreasen and family.



Karen M. Peterson, Hamra Mattson, Pauline Augestsen, Anna M. Hanson, Karen Sarenson and family, Thomas P. Vad, P[eter]. C. and Frederika Mattsen [Madsen], Christer [Christen] and Else Yensen [Jensen], Lars Neilson and family, Peter A. Deline and family, Tilda A. Hansen, Asmund Waldermasen [Waldemarsen] and family, Dessa [Sissa] Fried [Frid] and child, Martin and Dorta Peterson, Karen and Eilen Onesdson, N[iels]. L. [Jensen] and Ellen C. Ogord [Aagard], C. and Ann Olson, B[ror]. Serensen [Sorensen] and family, Peter Swenson and family, Kresta [Kjersti] Abasen [Aagesan], Ole and Annie Peterson, Ole Hagg and family, Anna Peterson, Jacob Malmstron and family, Neila C. Heisel[t] and family, Hans J. Neilsen, Maren K. Christiansen and child, Sachareas [Zacarias] and Maria Andersen, P[eter]. A. Fielstad [Fjelsted], Elenor [or Helena] P. Kier, Louisa C. Neilsen, Yens C. J. Vaarden and family, Andreas Ink, Christen and Annie M. Andersen, Yena [Yens] Larson, Soren Neilsen, Nielsina D. Kissen, Maren Christensen.



Kiersten Peterson, Inger M. Christensen, Anna M. Anderson, Else Mattson, Sissa Peterson [Petersen], Hans J. Hanson and family, Neilsen C. Neilsen, Christen Olsen, Peter Monsen, Lars and Matta Hansons [Hanson], Catrena Olesen, Christen and Christina Jepperson, Sophia Olivia and Frederick Orsted, Rasmusine [Rasmine] Jepperson, [Jeppesen], Mads and Anna Forgenson [Jorgensen], Carolina H. Jacobson and child.



Christen Christoffersen, Rasmus Hanson and family, Maren Christensen, Soren Peterson and family, Christen Andersen and family, Anders and Andrea G. Yensen [Jensen], Christen [Christen] C. Yorjensen [Jorgensen, Kiersten Nielsen and family, Yens [Jens] Anderson and family, Lars C. Peterson, Matta [Mette] M. Larson, Neils Jacobson, Bold [Bodil] M. Hanson, Ole Oleson and family, Maren Yenson [Jensen] (aged 80), Marta Johansen, Chari August [Aagrist].



Sven Olesen [Olson] and family, Anders and Caroline Peterson, Neils P. Larsen and family, Johannes Andersen and family, Lars Moretsen [Mouritsen] and family, Lena Mariager, C[hristian]. J. Leondgren [Lundgreen], Peter Christoffaser [Christoffersen] and family, Anders Yensen and family, Harriet Mead, Maren Hansen, Christen and Caroline Lorensen, Maren Christensen and son, Matilde [Matilda] Sorensen.—Total, 372.



Yens [Jens] S. Dahl, aged 73, died August 1st.

Transcript for "Latter Day Saints' Immigration," Deseret News, 24 August 1859, 197

Deseret News.

"History of Alice Davis Crane," A History of the Three Wives of James Crane: Alice Davis Crane, Elizabeth Stewart Crane, and Rachel Briggs Crane (Crane Family Genealogical Committee, 1951

"History of Alice Davis Crane," A History of the Three Wives of James Crane: Alice Davis Crane, Elizabeth Stewart Crane, and Rachel Briggs Crane (Crane Family Genealogical Committee, 1951.

My brother Joseph and the young man named James Crane that I was engaged to, immigrated to America in the year 1856.



The next year, 1857, they sent the money for my brother William and myself to come to New York. We got to New York and hired out there for one year. That was the year Johnson's Army was sent up against the Saints. In the spring of 1858 we left New York and went to Iowa City, myself, my two brother and James Crane. I married James Crane April 5, 1858 in Iowa City. We all got places and hired out. My husband and myself hired to the same place to a man named Huff, he was a doctor, but he thought he would quit the doctor business and go into raising sugar cane. He took up a quarter section and put in a large patch of cane, hired a lot of men and had a steam engine to grind the cane. He was giving or promised to give big wages to my husband to be foreman. I had to do the cooking. We worked hard there all summer expecting to get enough to get our outfit to immigrate to Utah the coming spring.



They have very cold severe winters in Iowa and that fall the frost came a little earlier than usual and his cane got froze so his molasses business proved a failure and he could not pay his hands. In the fall we left Doctor Huff and hired to a farmer that lived near by for the winter; my husband to do the chores and me to do house work and cooking. The name of the farmer was Mr. Barling, he had a wife, daughter, and three sons. We lived there until spring. We heard there was a church train going to Utah and Bishop Hester [Frederick Kesler] and Joseph W. Young and Orten [Horton D.] Haight from Utah were around buying up cattle to take the train through to Salt Lake. They wanted so many teamsters so my husband thought it would be best to move into Iowa City, as we lived about 16 miles out in the country. We told Mr. Barling we would like to get our pay as we had not drawn any of our wages all winter. He said if we would stop and work all summer, in the fall he would pay us, but if we left then he could not pay us. They let us have a little flour and corn meal and a few pounds of butter so we left there and rented a room. My husband and my two brothers worked together and made a little until Bishop Hester [Kesler] came along to hire teamsters. I think he got ten teamsters in Iowa City, my husband and two brothers being among the number. My oldest brother got married the night before we started, as young women could not go with the church train. We only had one wagon and a yoke of oxen, and there was three couples to occupy this wagon, my husband and I, my oldest brother and his wife, that had just married, and Thomas Foot and wife. The other teamsters had a tent to sleep in. The wagon we had was a large one with boards across the top of the wagon bed. One couple had to make their bed below and the other two couples to make their beds on the top, so we took it in turns sleeping below, we had a not very comfortable time getting up to Florence. It was the fifth of April when we left Iowa and it would snow and then rain and melt the snow until the wheels of the wagon would be to the hubs in mud and then we would get stalled and clear everything out of the wagon and everyone put their shoulder to the wheel until the wagon was out. Some days we would only go four miles. When we came to a place called the skunk bottoms with so much snow and rain the river had overflowed its banks and all the river bottoms were under water about a mile and a half across. It looked liked the sea, we were standing wondering what to do when a covered wagon drove up with two men in, they asked us where we were going we told them to Utah. They said they were from Utah and had been back to the states on business and were now returning home. My husband asked them how they were going to cross, they said if you will join in with us we will show you. So they took the two wagon beds and lashed them together after unloading them and caulking them so they would be water tight then ferried over where the water was shallow. The men waded and pushed the wagons before them but where it was deep they used poles and worked their passage. Some of our little company objected to going over this way, my husband called on those that were willing to join with him and the others would take their own course, when they saw they would be left the unwilling ones all joined in. They had to cross this stream three times, they were all pretty badly used up. The last trip they took us three women over. It snowed on us all the way across and it was bitter cold but it was worse on the men that had been in the water all day as it was now nearly dark we were all so numbed with the cold it was all we could do to stand on our feet. There was a house not far off so we rented a room and stove for the night and made a big fire set up and dried our clothes and bedding and were soon singing and chatting with each other as though we had had a splendid time.



I don't remember the names of the two Utah brethren, one of them was bishop in one of the wards in Juarez, Mexico where my brother Joseph C. Davis is now living. When we arrived at Fort Des Moines in the state of Iowa the other company had left with word for us to follow on as quickly as possible which we did and the next day we overtook them. We overtook them just as it was getting dark. An old gentleman named [Joseph] Be[e]croft and his Wife from London had charge of the camp and the boys that had been hired to drive the train to Utah had charge of the cattle that the brethren had been buying up. The crowd all seemed to have the blues they all felt so down-hearted they did not seem to have any life in their camp. My husband asked them if they were Mormons they replied, "Oh yes, we are Mormons.



My husband asked them what was the matter with them, well they said. "We have been driving cattle all day and have had nothing to eat and was not likely to get anything." He asked the old gentleman if he had anything to cook, he said yes but he had not had time to cook it, it's been raining all day and was still raining. He said he had flour and bacon, tea, coffee, and molasses. My husband said, "What, you have all them things in your wagon and all going hungry?" They said yes, but we have no bread and it has rained so we could not bake. He asked them if they had a camp kettle, they handed him one that would hold about three gallons, also some flour. In about fifteen minutes my husband had made them a kettle of mush and they had molasses and butter. They s[t]ill had a good supper. We fixed up the two tents and sat up and sung and talked until midnight. The next morning the old gentleman said to my husband, “Brother Crane, you had better take charge of this camp now for I would starve them all to death with my wagon full of provisions." My husband told him he would not take charge of his camp but would help all we could. We traveled together and got along alright and arrived at the camping place on the Missouri river. We stopped here about six weeks until the oxen that were poor got fat. We had four hundred head. My husband was put in charge of the herd until we left. When the train started on the plains my husband was put captain over ten wagons, there were seventy-five wagons in all. Brother Orten [Horton] Haight was captain of the company, Bishop Hesler [Kesler] was Commissary and also in charge of all the freight. We were over three months on the plains. In some places it was laborious work on the cattle. After passing through the sand hills at Laramie, Wyoming the oxen began to die and continued until we got within two hundred miles of Salt Lake City. It got so we could not move the train and we had to send to Salt Lake City for help.



Considering the length of the journey we had a good time and considering the inexperience of the teamsters some of them that had never seen an ox before, much less yoking them up and driving them. My husband was captain over ten wagons, there were four women in our 10 wagons. The captain told them if they would do the cooking they would be free of expense when they got to Utah or they would owe 40 dollars for their board. Three of them concluded their husbands would settle for their board so the cooking fell to my lot, and the other three women cooked their own. There were 13 men to cook for, my husband and ten teamsters and two of the men that drove the loose cattle and myself made 14 and we had good yeast light bread all the way. I never felt better and had better health than I did crossing the plains, we had plenty of provisions and had a good time.



I only had one pair of shoes. I started off in a hurry and left one pair behind so when I got about halfway my shoes gave out since we had to walk most of the way. We were walking along one day, Bishop Hessler was riding along in his buggy, he stopped and asked me if that was all the shoes I had and I told him it was. He told me to wait until our wagon came up and get up and ride and when we camped he would give me a pair of shoes. He gave me a good pair of strong shoes that lasted me until I got to Salt Lake City. I always had great respect for Bishop Hessler he was a very good man also Captain Orten Haight and Joseph W. Young a brother's son of Brigham Young they were all good men.



On September 29, 1859 we arrived in Salt Lake City and how thankful we felt when we came in sight of the wished for city. There is no one who can tell the happy feelings that a Latter-day Saint has when they first get sight of the City. Well that was my experience. Such a happy thankful feeling that we had been preserved to get there in safety. The train, being a church train, we drove into President Brigham Young's yard. The family had prepared supper for the whole company.

Transcript for "History of Alice Davis Crane," A History of the Three Wives of James Crane: Alice Davis Crane, Elizabeth Stewart Crane, and Rachel Briggs Crane (Crane Family Genealogical Committee, 1951

Joseph Beecroft

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