Transcript

Well we got started on the plains there was a lot of us. I don't know how many. Well we traveled along, everybody walking that could. We two little girls would start out when the rest did and get ahead of the wagons and when we got tired we would wait until the wagons caught up to us. The teamster of the Commisary wagons took notice of us and let us ride with him if we would sing for him. Of course we sang. Can you imagine two little girls dressed in brown dresses, brown coats, heavy leather shoes traveling along hand in hand. We had brown or black hats on. Our hair half the time unbraided. We used to stop when we would come to bushes with buffalo berries on and eat our fill, we would also fill our pockets. When we could not get them we would get prickly pears, peel and eat them. The teamster told us what to eat. We had good rations on the plains. We had flour, bacon, dried peaches, apples, brown sugar, black tea and I don't remember anything else. We used to pick what we called wild grapes and eat them. Sister King did not get much better after we got on the plains,

One night a little baby was born but did not live only a few hours and we laid her away by the wayside in a grave of rocks, and rocks piled on the top to keep the wolves off. The old lady King [Maria King] took care of her daughter-in-law. One night when they camped and went to the wagon the old lady had passed away, they laid her away, not long after that Sister King died and they laid her away on the plains. Bro. [James] King had no one only his sister left and we two little girls to care for. He sued [used] to take us to the creek and wash us all over when we got the cooties as the soldier's called them, on us, they said it was because we had camped where Indians had camped[.] I don't know if the grown people had them or not, I expect they did.

We left England in May and got to Utah in October.