Transcript

Transcript for 24 September 1851, 1-2.

The "Garden Grove Company" of Saints arrived in Salt Lake City This company left Garden Grove, Iowa May 17, 1851, with sixty wagons and twenty-one families. They also brought a threshing machine. (Letter of Mrs. Susan Zimmerman Terry, daughter of George G. Zimmerman, members of the company.)

Following is a copy of Mrs. Terry's letter:

"Fairview, Idaho, 14 Sept., 1916.

Bro. Andrew Jenson: "On 17 May, 1851, a company of Saints consisting of twenty-one families left Garden Grove, Iowa to join the Saints at Kanesville. There they were organized into a company led by Captain Harry Walton. The families were as follows:

1 George G. Zimmerman and wife, Julia Hoke Zimmerman. Their children were Christena G. Stevens, a widow and Sarah Julia Stevens, her child. Also Julia Ann, Elizabeth, Margaret, Hannah, and Susan Zimmerman [writer of letter]. 2 Bro. <(George)> and Sister <(Ann Huff)> Carson: their family, David, George and Washington. 3 William Carson; (Their oldest son) and wife, Corrilla [Corilla] Egbert Carson, and children John Alma and Mary Ann and an infant. 4 Their second son, John Carson and wife Alvira [Elvira] Egbert Carson, and children, William and Elizabeth. 5 Patison Griffeth, Elizabeth Carson Griffeth, his wife; their children, Phebe and George Andrew. A babe [Louisa Emily] born at Green River. 6 Thomas Ewings, his wife Polly Ann Carson Ewings, and an infant. 7 Brother [Hugh] and Sister [Sarah Jane] McKinney and their family, James, Hugh, Jacob and Sarah. 8 Dr. [Daniel] Roberts, wife [Eliza] Aldura and children Don [Carlos], Boliver, Clark, William, [Delbert] Homer. 9 Cynthia Clyde, a widow and children Soloman, Edward, Lucy, Albert and James. 10 Joel Drury (blind and a cripple), his wife Terzy [Tirza]Drury; their children, Charles Horatio and Ruth [Sawyer] Drury Davis, a widow. 11 William [Coe] Critchlow and wife Harriet Hawkins; their children Charlotta [Charlotte], [Benjamin] Chamberlain and William [Fuller]. 12 Thomas Crooks, a widower, and two children, a boy (name forgotten) and Agnes. 13 George Crooks and wife Ellen Crooks. 14 James Crooks and sister Betsey Crooks. 15 John Miller and wife [Janet Crooks] and two small children. 16 Bro. William and Sister [Mary Ann Hales] Thompson; his children Orvilla and Maria and her children (named Hale). She died on the Platte River; do not remember the date. 17 Charles Hale and Julia Hale, some small children. 18 George Hale, wife Sarah and several small children. 19 Stephen Hale, Eveline his wife and some children. 20 Henry Hale, wife Eliza Ewings Hale. 21 Brother [John] and Sister [Jane] Tilford; their children, Robert, Ann [Anna], John, Eliza and a young man, Charles Stoddard.

 

After we left Kanesville we traveled around the Horn; there were so many buffaloes that we had several stampedes in the night and one in the day time, when Ellen Kingsley or Kingston, was killed. She tried to jump out of the wagon at the back, and the next team and wagon ran over her; the next teamster pulled her from under his team. There were only two tens ran, but more would have run if a young man, Frank Owen and his sister Emeline had not stopped the rest by having presence of mind and jumped out when they saw the first teams run and hold a quilt in front of their oxen and kept them from running. And the team ahead was a span of blind horses, on a large buggy and they stopped the train. We lost some cattle in the stampede and quite a lot from alkali, so we had to travel slow and help each other along. On 24 September, 1851, we arrived at Salt Lake City.

Respectfully, Mrs. Susan Zimmerman Terry, Preston Idaho, R.F.D. No

P.S. There were sixty wagons and a threshing machine.
(Letter on file)

Note: Captain Harry Walton was not a Mormon but had come back from California after his family; he had been gold mining. But later, several members of the company became prominent and the Church and in civic affairs in Utah.