Transcript
Transcript for Kennington, Annie Rebecca Seward, Reminiscences, in Pioneer Pathways [1998- ], 9:286
When I was a young lady, Mum and I converted to the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints, and the desire grew within us to gather in "Zion" with others of our faith. In 1863, after a long and weary sea voyage, we reached Halifax, Canada. From there we boarded a train to Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Brigham Young, the great leader that he was, sent men with their teams and wagons back across the plains, some as far as the Missouri River, to help poor immigrants like ourselves come to Utah. One of them in the Rosel Hyde Company, William Henry Kennington, was a fine young man who insisted that Mum and I ride in his wagon. We departed Florence, Nebraska, on August 11, 1863, in a party of about three hundred. That trip across the plains was one we would never forget.
Quite a fright we had on the Green River in Wyoming when the current swerved the team and wagon, causing us to drift downstream. Though young Kennington swam for help, we were rescued before he was able to acquire it. Upon reaching the safety of the embankment, I remarked, "Will tried to get rid of me, but couldn't!"
We arrived in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on October 13, 1863, and settled in Tooele, Utah, where the Kennington family lived.