Transcript

I continued to labor in Gravoris until the spring of 1851 when I purchased an ox team, 2 cows and a wagon, with sufficient provisions to carry us through to Salt Lake Valley, and with my wife [Elizabeth Patterson] and first born son [Andrew Patterson], father [Andrew], mother [Isabella Hill] and brother [John Davidson], left St. Louis for Council Bluffs. After arriving in Kanesville, my brother engaged to drive team across the plains for James Munroe who, subsequently was shot by Howard Egan before reaching Salt Lake City.

I arrived in the Valley on the 15th day of September 1851, my brother arriving some 2 or 3 weeks later.