Transcript

Transcript for Hancey, Louisa Purser, "A Short Life Sketch of the Life of Louisa Purser Hancey," [1]

I left my home and loved ones at the age of 19 years, being the first one of my family to leave home for the Gospel's sake to emigrate and go with the saints to Utah. . . .

We started from Council Bluffs on the 10th of August 186[3] to cross the Plains with ox teams in the Thomas Ricks Company. I walked all the way and many times was so tired, weary and footsore I could hardly get into camp. I assisted with the work for a large family for my board and many times the provisions were very scant. At Florence, Nebraska, our wagons caught fire and all my clothing except what I stood up in were burned. When my shoes wore out I made some out of an old coat which seemed to be a soft resting place for prickly pears. We had to be very careful when in the vicinity of Indians as we had several narrow escapes from marauding bands. At times we were unable to make our campfires for fear of attracting them to our camp. Many a night we went to bed cold and hungry. During the day we would gather buffalo chips for our campfire at night. In some places the buffalo were plentiful and in that way we were able to secure meat to help out our provisions for which we were very thankful. Several times we were nearly stampeded by them. At night we would sing songs around the campfire to cheer us on our way. Two of our favorite songs were "Do They Miss Me At Home" and "The Handcart Song." O how our voices would ring out on the night air.

We arrived in Salt Lake City October 4, 186[3], almost 2 months from the time we started across the Plains.