Edward Martin
- Captain, Martin Handcart Company
Edward Martin was born in Preston, Lancashire, England, November 18,1818.
After joining the Church and coming to America he became a member of the
Mormon Battalion in the Mexican War. Upon return from a mission in England
he became Captain of the Fifth Handcart Company. He died in Salt Lake
City, August 8, 1882.
Francis
Webster - Martin Handcart Company
It was in an adult Sunday School class of over fifty men and women. Nathan
T. Porter was the teacher and the subject under discussion was the ill-fated
handcart company [Martin Handcart Company] that suffered so terribly in
the snow of 1856. Some sharp criticism of the Church and its leader was
being indulged in for permitting any company of converts to venture across
the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan
afforded. One old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as
he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard
him will ever forget.
His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but
with great earnestness and sincerity. He said in substance, "I ask
you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing
about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper
interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart
Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and
my wife was in it, and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited here
was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died
of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company
utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute
knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!
"I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness
and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other.
I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have
said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull
the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the
cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing
my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were
there. "Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither
then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted
with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged
to come in the Martin Handcart Company."
The speaker was Francis Webster. And when he sat down there was not a
dry eye in the room. We were subdued and chastened lot. Charles Mabey
who latter became Governor of Utah, arose and voiced the sentiment of
all when he said, "I would gladly pay the same price to personally
know God that Brother Webster has." - Writings of William R. Palmer.
Ellen "Nellie" Pucell Unthank - Martin Handcart Company
Here is the story of a woman who, in spite of crushing handicaps, carried
on the highest mission of womanhood. Her name was Ellen Pucell Unthank,
but she was called "Nellie" by her friends and kinsfolk. Nellie,
when nine years of age, left her home in England to come with her parents
to Utah where they could worship with others of their faith and assist
in building a new Zion. Nellie's parents were among those who died and
were laid to rest in snow banks. But those who died and were laid to rest
in the snow perhaps were most fortunate of all. They were through with
their suffering and had gone to their reward. The rescue wagons gathered
them up and took the sufferers to Salt Lake City where the Church saw
to it that they were cared for.
Poor little Nellie, nothing could be done to save her feet. When they
took off her shoes and stockings, the skin, with pieces of flesh came
off too. The doctor said her feet must be taken off to save her life.
They strapped her to a board and without an anesthetic the surgery was
performed. With a butcher knife and a carpenter's saw they cut the blackened
limbs off. It was poor surgery, too, for the flesh was not brought over
to cushion the ends. The bones stuck out through the ends of the stumps
and in pain she waddled through the rest of her life on her knees. In
poverty and pain she reared a family of six children but never asked for
favors of pity or charity because of her tragic handicap. William was
a poor man and unable to provide fully for his family; so Nellie did all
she could for herself. She took in washings. Kneeling by a tub on the
floor she scrubbed the clothes to whiteness on the washboard. She knit
stockings to sell, carded wool and crocheted table pieces.
She seldom accepted gifts or charity from friends or neighbors unless
she could do a bundle of darning or mending to repay the kindness. The
bishop and the Relief Society sometimes gave a little assistance which
Nellie gratefully accepted, but once a year, to even the score, she took
her children and cleaned the meeting house. The boy carried water, the
girls washed the windows and Nellie, on her knees, scrubbed the floor.
This heroic woman gave to William Unthank, a posterity to perpetuate his
name in the earth and he gave her a home and a family to give comfort
and care in her old age.
In memory I recall her wrinkled forehead, her soft dark eyes that told
of toil and pain and suffering, and the deep grooves that encircled the
corners of her strong mouth. But in that face there was no trace of bitterness
or railings at her fate. There was patience and serenity for in spite
of her handicap she had earned her keep and justified her existence. She
had given to family, friends and to the world then she had received. -
She Stood Tall On Her Knees by William Palmer.
Sarah
Franks and George Padley - Martin Handcart Company
Sarah and her sweetheart [George Padley] were assigned to the Edward Martin
Company. Sarah and her sweetheart were going to be married when they reached
Zion. Sarah became so weak and ill with chills and fever that she was
taken into one of the wagons. Her sweetheart also became very ill from
hunger and exposure and developed pneumonia and died. Sarah took her long-fringed
shawl from her almost freezing body and had the brethren wrap her sweetheart's
body in it. She couldn't bear to think of his being buried with nothing
to protect him from shoveled dirt and ravages of the weather. It has been
said that the weather was so severe that his body was hung from a tree
[in Martin's Cove] for others, who followed, to bury. - Descendants
of Thomas Mackay - Utah Pioneer, Volume I.
Louisa Mellor - Martin Handcart Company
The first snowstorm left about two feet of snow on the ground, and we
began to feel very nervous. We had to wade through more streams, and sometimes
up to our waists, and when we got through our clothes would freeze on
us until a great many gave up and many died, mostly old people. At last
the snow got to be four and five feet deep and often we had to shovel
a road before we could move. Thus our traveling was very slow and our
provisions nearly gave out. My mother, still being weak, finally gave
up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her,
so she bade my father good-bye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed.
Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth,
to take good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I
would stay with mother.
I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us,
that He would protect us from devouring wolves, and asked that He would
let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting
I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to mother to eat.
After resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings.
A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet
us. We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m. Many times after that mother felt
like giving up and quitting, but then would remember how wonderful the
Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude
instead. So she went on her way rejoicing while walking the bloodstained
path of snow. - Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 17, p. 305
Information About The Companies - Martin Handcart Company
In addition to the flour ration, beef was killed and served to the company.
But the cattle had now grown so poor that there was little flesh left
on them, and that little was lean as could be. Stewed meat and soups were
found to be bad for diarrhea and dysentery, of which there was considerable
in the company. - John Jaques.
Quote by President Gordon B. HinckleyAbout Martin's Cove
The Mormon Pioneer Trail is "a trail of tragedy, a trail of faith,
a trail of devotion, a trail of consecration, even the consecration of
life itself..." Terrrible was the suffering of those who came her
[Martin's Cove] to find some protection from the heavy storms of that
early winter. With their people hungry, cold and dying from sheer exhaustion,
they came up into this cove for shelter. And then they died here, some
56 people. They are buried somewhere in this earth. We stand here with
bare heads and grateful hearts for their sacrifices, and the sacrifices
of all who were with them along this tragic trail...[May this site be
visited by] generations yet to come, who, like we, may bow their heads
in reverent remembrance of our forebears who paid so costly a price for
the faith which they carried in their hearts. - President Gordon B.
Hinckley, Church News, August 22, 1992