Transcript

Then father sold out to William Coffin, Mother’s cousin, and we made another home about one mile west, where we lived until the spring of 1850 when we sold to Mr. Wolfe, and then we started for the Valley of the Mountains.

We joined President Wilford Woodruff’s Company and were in Captain E Whipple ten families. I helped to drive the cow herd part of the way across the plains. We had many experiences while traveling.

I had many boy friends and shared in all the pastimes during the summer. There was nothing of importance that I remember until one day we were traveling up the Platt River. In the afternoon the dogs got after an old buffalo and all at once he started toward the wagon train and came over to one team and jumped over between the wheel, team and wagon, which frightened the team and in a few minutes a few dozen or more of the teams were running in all directions.

Our dear old mother was in the wagon, sick with cholera, but she took no harm for our (team) did not run, but the teams on both sides of us did. There was such terrible excitement, cattle bellering, men hollering and women crying.

There was one woman ran over and badly hurt. Her horse and buggy were all used up and all kinds of scares but we soon got everything in shape and arrived in Salt Lake pretty well tired out but glad to get there.