Transcript

By the time we landed in Hasten my mother was getting better but not able to do anything, so I had nearly the entire care of the family. After landing we all took shat might cattle cars, which was thought good enough for Mormons, 'till we reached Iowa. There we stayed three weeks waiting 'till they got the handcarts all made which made it the last of July when we again started on the plains. It seems a pretty sight to see 500 saints out with handcarts singing, "Some may push and some pull as we go marching up the hill, A merrily on our way we go until we reach the valley and long before the valley reach we will meet with music sweet, and friends so dear which supply our hearts with cheer."

One thing happened that convinced me that we put our trust in Heavenly Father He will answer our prayers when we were in need in Iowa. We had to burn or sell our things because we could not haul them so as we were two miles from the city, mother and I went to town to sell a few things in the shape of clothes, so we walked from house to house before we could sell them. And as we were so long when we got back to camp they had had dinner and started again and the captain came back and met us. My poor mother was sick after that but the Lord protected us from wild beasts and gave us food to eat.

Mother was put in the wagon for a while. We traveled 20 miles a day. Then my father took sick. He got so weak he could not pull his handcart so I had to help him. We had two handcarts, my sister and I pulled one and father and my younger sister pulled the other one. But father got weaker so we had to lighten our load again, and as seventeen pounds was all that was allowed for each adult we had but little to spare, but a box of books and records which father valued very much. But what could we do but let them go? So as we were going through the town we stopped and I helped carry them in a house and we got the privilege to leave them 'till we sent for them but we never got them again.