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The Faceby Saints prepare to leave England
At this point preparations to leave for America must have begun in earnest.
It seems that young George Stanger must have been one of the first to decide to go. His name, according to the Mormon Immigration Index CD-Rom, appears on the ship's roster of the Clara Wheeler which sailed from Liverpool in November. This is possibly an error in the CD-Rom, or a clerical error at the Liverpool Office. On the passenger list of the Clara Wheeler are the names of five other single young men from the North East, which suggests that George may have intended to travel with them as a party but changed his mind when the rest of the Faceby Saints, including his intended wife Mary Etherington, made the decision to emigrate that season. Possibly his friends put his name down, but he either never reached Liverpool or changed his mind while there. His name appears in the Perpetual Emigrating Fund records, which suggests that he applied for financial assistance to travel; he would be very favourably considered, as farm workers were badly needed in Utah. Charles Hogg remembered, "The Saints of Faceby were all preparing to leave the Branch except Chas Wake and family".
Charles Wake Charles Wake was one of the Faceby tailors and at the 1851 Census lived next door to James Stanger junior. He was born in Stokesley in 1826, the son of gamekeeper James Wake, and was married to Elizabeth Thompson of Potto. In 1855 they had two small sons.
Charles Hogg recorded that, "The saints united together and raised means enough to bring Chas Wake and family to Philadelphia. We donated three pounds or fifteen dollars."
This is presumably the amount raised by the Branch, as Charles Hogg can hardly have raised that sum alone. The Atlantic passage would have cost about £4 per adult, with children paying three-quarters of the price, and another 10 shillings a head (20 shillings = £1) was needed for food, bedding etc for the journey. The journey through to Utah would have cost at least £20 for each adult, and not much less for each child. It is not clear how many of the party were funded by the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, and if so, to what extent. According to his descendants, Thomas Henry Wilson, the brother of Jane Wilson Stanger, was also P.E.F. funded. The Etheringtons probably had funds at their disposal – the entry for John Etherington in 'Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah' records that he "helped many families in the emigration to Utah" – and James and Isabella Stanger may well have been able to assist their children. Faceby to Liverpool In the bitter cold of early February 1855, the Faceby Saints made ready to leave. Charles Hogg first "delivered up books with Branch record to Elder Smith, traveling elder in that part. Left this part of the world Feb 14, 1855, with a conscience void of offence toward God and all men, free from debt to anyone. I visited father, mother, and what family there were at home here at Deighton … I could not stay with my beloved father and mother but a few minutes, bid them goodbye, off to catch the train."
Ann Stanger Hogg's descendants record that, "it was extremely difficult for them to leave their home and bid their loved ones goodbye, never to see them again, and depart for a strange new land. It was only their firm belief in the Gospel that gave them such strength."
At the Mission Office in Liverpool the Faceby Saints signed up to travel on the Siddons, a sailing ship bound for Philadelphia. Twelve of the Etherington family were signed up to go. John Etherington (61) and his wife Elizabeth (56) were accompanied by their son Thomas (19) and daughter Mary (20). They were joined by their married daughter Elizabeth Etherington Pugh and her husband John, who had come north to Faceby at some point in the preceding months ready to emigrate – at the time of sailing they had a daughter aged nearly two and a baby of 8 weeks. The Etheringtons' daughter Ann and her husband Thomas Heslop had also been living in Faceby with their two year old son for a little while. They came with the rest of the party to Liverpool and put their names on the passenger list. Ann was heavily pregnant on arrival and her baby was born in the Emigration Home at Liverpool on 19 February. Thomas however changed his mind – his name was crossed out and he was listed as "not going" – perhaps he was not fit to travel, or had changed his mind. Three of the Stanger children were to leave with their families. Their party consisted of George (22), his brother Thomas (24) with his wife Jane Wilson Stanger and one year old Annie, and their sister Ann Stanger Hogg (26) with her husband Charles and two year old James. Ann was pregnant with her second child. Jane Wilson's brother Thomas (29) was also of the party. Also on the list is Mary Thompson (20) – her address is given as "at Mr Etherington's" is on the list, but she is marked "declined to go". Perhaps the sight of the sea and the shipping made her change her mind, or possibly her family followed her and persuaded her not to go. She may have been a neighbour in Faceby, or a relation of Elizabeth Thompson Wake, or of Isabella Thompson Stanger. Thanks to the generosity of the other Branch members, Charles and Elizabeth Wake and their two children were also able to go. Lastly there was the Simpson family. George Simpson, his wife Mary Ann and daughter Selina (12) also travelled with the Faceby party. Simpson was a 41 year old potter, never mentioned by Hogg but considerably senior in the church to Hogg himself. In the 1840s he worked in the Staffordshire potteries, and in spring 1845 was a Mormon missionary at the Staffordshire Conference and attended the General Conference in Manchester that April. In 1854 he was a missionary in the Sunderland ward, possibly working in the Wearside potteries. He and his family gathered in Faceby with the others, whom he may have met at the Newcastle Conference or through his work as a travelling elder. Having left two of their party behind, 26 people from Faceby took ship. Apart from John and Elizabeth Etherington and the middle-aged Simpsons, most of them were young people in their twenties – and in the party there was one pregnant woman, six small children and two babies, one a newborn. At some point, probably after signing up to travel, George Stanger and Mary Etherington were married. They may have been one of the three couples married in dock in Liverpool by the leader of the company; family records on the IGI give the date of their wedding as 14 February in Stokesley, but no record of it has been found to date. It seems they started their married life in Utah, travelling in separate companies across the plains. Sailing was late because the freezing weather delayed the loading of cargo. It had not been so cold on the Mersey for 20 years, and canals and rivers were frozen over. Some passengers could no longer afford to stay in Liverpool while they waited to sail, and lived on board ship during the delay. Charles Hogg and his wife and son were looked after by his sisters. Sailing on the Siddons The Siddons sailed on 27 February 1855, carrying 430 Mormon emigrants. She was an American sailing ship of 895 tons measuring 158 feet by 35 feet by 21 feet, and her master was Captain John S Taylor. The Siddons was one of the first packet ships of the Dramatic Line, and was described as "fine, fast, commodious, and splendidly equipped and appointed". This description would not necessarily be echoed by first-time sailors travelling steerage. An Atlantic crossing at this time could be an appalling experience. An Irish emigrant ship of 1847 was described to a House of Lords Select Committee as holding "hundreds of poor people, men, women and children, of all ages … huddled together without light, without air, wallowing in filth and breathing a foetid atmosphere, sick in body, dispirited in heart, the fevered patients lying between the sound." Difficulty in enforcing the provisions of the Passenger Acts made improvements slow. The Faceby party, however, were in good hands. The Mormons had developed a much admired system to take care of their emigrants and this was the peak of their emigration – between 1840 and 1890 at least 85,000 Saints made the crossing, and in 1855 our party were among the 4,225 who crossed to America. The Mormon system was highly organised and continual reporting back by the Elders in charge enabled the system to develop and improve. The Liverpool agent would charter a seaworthy vessel and send out instructions to those who had applied for passage, with details of when to arrive in Liverpool, how to look after themselves there, the provisions they should bring, etc. On board ship, the agent would appoint a committee from among them, usually of experienced Elders, and they would create an organisation on the lines of the church with which they were all familiar. The Saints would be divided up into wards, with the president of each ward responsible for his people rising at five or six in the morning, cleaning their part of the ship, and throwing the rubbish and slops overboard. Prayer meetings were held, entertainments and tasks organised, schools or language lessons might be arranged, and great emphasis laid on regular exercise in the fresh air. In this way, however monotonous the diet, the travellers were kept as clean, as healthy and as occupied as possible. The Siddons passengers were unlucky with the weather. They had a tedious battle with headwinds and the journey took much longer than they had hoped. There were frightening moments for the wretched emigrants on their cold and anxious journey. At one point the crew called on the male passengers to help man the pumps, and when they were caught in icebergs and bad weather off Newfoundland their provisions began to run low. Charles recalled that
"the passage was very long and rough with storms and head winds. Had 400 souls on board; had sea sickness very bad for nine days. Provisions were very scarce; the last three weeks had very little water. I had provided plenty for my family of our own to last us across the ocean, but we divided the last biscuit with our brethren and sisters. We lived three weeks on rice and butter, oatmeal, and had very little water to cook it with." To the seamen and organising elders, the journey was "uneventful". Arrival in Philadelphia At last they reached Philadelphia after 52 days at sea, with the food and water running out because of the length of the voyage. They lived on board ship in port for two days and Charles Hogg complained that "those in charge of company never provided one mouthful of food to the starving company of poor saints for that time." Mormon organisation was highly praised, but passengers – possibly unaware of how dreadful conditions were elsewhere – were not always entirely grateful. It depended largely on their background, as the poorer passengers expressed gratitude for conditions which others found intolerable. Many personal accounts tell of complaints and arguments. Charles Hogg was left with some bitter memories, but there is of course no way of knowing whether this was because of failures of organisation or is a reflection on his own character. He seems to have had little idea of the complexity of organisation involved and the hard work required of the Mormon agents. Personal accounts tend to depict a degree of disorganised confusion which, while inevitable in the circumstances, was probably not expected by the emigrants. Perhaps Hogg had believed too thoroughly in the rosy picture painted by some preachers, and his unrealistic expectations left him unprepared for the hardships of the journey. The strangeness of the new life and his lack of control over his circumstances may have made him uneasy and intolerant. The Wake family were to remain in Philadelphia under the guidance of the Elders responsible for the care of those emigrants who would have to work in the East to earn enough money to go on to Utah. The rest of the Faceby party were among the 197 on board the Siddons who intended to go through to the Valley that season. Philadelphia to Atchison, Kansas Territory The president of the Siddons company, John S Fullmer, who had been president of the Manchester Conference, now took up his duties as agent in the eastern states. His duty was to send the company on to Utah in the most economical and effective way. Fullmer consulted the local church authorities and decided that the best route would take the immigrants by rail to Pittsburgh at $4.50 for each adult with 80lb baggage free. After that, they would go by steamboat to St Louis. He sent the company on ahead, but then fell ill, and so telegraphed one of his shipboard counsellors with instructions to make the arrangements for the steamboat passage. This was done, for $3 per adult, children travelling half-price and a charge of 35c for every 100lbs of extra luggage. Fullmer was able to get to Pittsburgh in time to see them depart. While the Siddons company travelled to St Louis, Fullmer went back to Philadelphia to meet the Juventa company. He hastened back to Pittsburgh to charter steamboats for them, accompanied them to Cincinnati, and then went again to Philadelphia to meet the Chimborazo and make plans for sending that company forward. Learning then that the S Curling was arriving at New York, he immediately went there, where it was decided to send the S Curling company to Philadelphia to join the others. This plan was disrupted by a railway agent who sent them forward in small parties and without proper documents. Fullmer had to delegate some work to other Elders and do much telegraphing, before all were united at Philadelphia and put on to steamboats. He had no time to lose, because he was told that low water in the Ohio would raise fares sharply. He went with two boatloads as far as Wheeling, then returned again to Philadelphia. His report to the British Presidency included recommendations for the next season, including a tighter control over excess baggage. He wrote this on board a steamboat which was taking him on a "hasty trip" to visit relatives in Iowa before he returned to Utah in the autumn as president of a company. The Faceby Saints went by rail to Pittsburgh, and then by steamboat a thousand miles along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St Louis, Missouri. While Fullmer and his colleagues were pleased with the success of the transfer, Charles Hogg remembered it rather bitterly: "Many had to make their beds on iron that the boat was loaded with, some on a barge he had in tow. We were treated like so many cattle". He evidently was not expecting to travel between the cargo and the machinery, but it was by that means that the Mormons were able to keep the costs down, the trip affordable and the numbers transported in the necessary time. From St Louis they went by steamboat a nine days' journey to Atchison, Kansas territory. This was their outfitting place for their journey across the plains. Mormon Grove In 1855 and 1856 the Mormons used a 150 acre camping ground called Mormon Grove near Atchison – there was a grove of young hickory trees there – and here the emigrants lived in tents, waggon boxes and makeshift shacks until they could set off. In Atchison, Hogg remembered that "good food was provided here for the company the first time since we left England." Unfortunately, cholera had broken out in the camp. Twenty-two people died within a few days, and among them was Elder George Simpson from Faceby, who fell ill and died within a few hours. He is not mentioned by Charles Hogg; possibly the party had become separated. Charles and Ann Hogg and their little boy were in a party which camped first on the landing at Atchison. It rained heavily in the night and wet the bedding. Then they moved to a camp ground with about ten people to a tent. The Hoggs' tent was unfinished and in the night terrible storms began, worse than anything they had ever experienced – tents were blown down, and women and children could be heard screaming in terror in the dark. The storms lasted three nights. They were moved on to Mormon Grove where they helped plant crops for the emigrants who were expected to follow; in the event the camp was abandoned soon afterwards because of the cholera. At Mormon Grove, the pioneers were organised into companies of 30 to 60 waggons, and to each company a leader was appointed. Preparations for the Trail The first Mormon pioneers travelling from Missouri had known what to expect of western travel from tales told by early travellers, newspapers stories and even guide books. The emigrant companies could have little idea, and considerable organisation and support was needed for them to travel safely – especially as many of them were townspeople, and the Mormon companies included an unusually large proportion of women, children and the elderly. It was important for all pioneers to take all the equipment they would need (but without overburdening themselves), and to travel in an organised party under the accepted command of a capable leader or captain. His task was hard and thankless. He was usually elected by the company, and often they would attempt to bind themselves with codes of rules or signed articles, hoping to keep the company united through the likely perils of accidents, illness, deaths, births, arguments and violence. The Mormons were handicapped by the composition of their companies, their much greater size and their need to arrive fit and loyal in Utah, but on the other hand they had the benefit of an existing command structure. A team consisted of a waggon and tent, two yoke of oxen and if possible two cows. Ten people were allocated to each team and tent. It was important to make good speed on the way so the food would last and journey's end would be reached before bad weather set in – consequently baggage had to be kept to a reasonable amount. The Perpetual Emigrating Fund had a baggage allowance – 100 lbs of luggage including beds and clothing for everyone over eight, 50 lbs for the four to eight year olds, and no allowance for children under four. Basic rations were provided, but those who could afford to do so would be wise to buy more. When enough waggons were collected together the company moved off under its captain. The agent at the outfitting place waited until all the companies had started and then set off after them, passing the companies one by one until he finally arrived before them in the Valley and was there to welcome them into Salt Lake City. The Companies set out The Faceby Saints did not all travel in the same company. The Etherington parents and their daughter Mary, perhaps with their other children, left first. They travelled with Secrist’s company of 54 waggons, 33 of them full of Danish settlers. Two weeks later the Stangers and Hoggs set off in Richard Ballantyne's Company, 50 waggons strong. Ballantyne had waited as long as possible before starting out, because he was short of the milk cows which were badly needed for the many children in the company. Unfortunately the cows never appeared, presumably from a failure in provisioning, and they had to set off without them. The delay meant the company would have food shortages before they reached journey's end.
During the wait Charles Hogg remembered "we commenced to drill and go through the Manual of Arms that we might defend ourselves from an attack of the marauding bands of Indians of which there were many in those days crossing the plains."
Their captain of the guard was Elder William Glover, who had ordained Charles as an Elder the year before. Ballantyne's Company set off on 2 July 1855 The waggons, as was usual, were so heavily laden with provisions and equipment for the long journey that everyone except the driver and children under the age of six had to walk. Larger waggons were not used because the terrain was not suitable, especially in the narrow canyons of the last 116 miles.
The Company was subdivided into groups of ten waggons, and each Ten would take it in turns to set off first in the morning, so that they would all have a chance at getting the good camping grounds at night. Each morning they would be ready to start at 7:30, and while the oxen lumbered on making a speed of about 1 ½ to 2 mph, the people would walk and the children run alongside or ahead, perhaps stopping and waiting for the waggon train to catch up. They would have a two hour halt for dinner and then set off on the trail again until sundown. The waggons would be circled, the tents pitched, the men get the water and wood, the women make the fires and cook, prayer meetings were held, and there might be some music and singing before the horn sounded for bed. In the morning they would rise early, pull up the tent, pack the wood and water, load up the cooking pots, gather up the cattle and yoke the oxen, and set off. Sundays were days for rest and worship and there were regular days for washing and baking.
The early stages were easy travelling compared to the rest of the trail. This gave the emigrants a chance to get used to their new life, the camp routine, and the new skills needed. Even so it was hard, especially for city people who had never had to handle a team before, and the expertise of people like the Faceby Saints must have been very welcome. Tired men fell asleep on guard duty, waggons broke down and had to be worked on through the night, animals might stampede or fall sick – and there was always the possibility of accidents and illness, and order had to be maintained in the company, with disputes and arguments kept to a minimum. Charles Hogg had various complaints. He was the only man in their tent, so he felt most of the work fell to him. He had to do all the driving, and he had to stand guard two or three nights a week.
"We used to hold meetings every night in each ten; and what seemed to me unfair was I never could go to a meeting because I had too much to do although the meetings were held close by our tent. I recollect one little episode that took place one night just as I had driven the last peg into the tent. I stepped up to the meeting which was just over; Captain Gardner [of Payson, the captain of their Ten] asked me to dismiss the meeting which I refused to do, feeling bad that I was treated so unfair. We had to be very economical about our food. In most of the tens some of the men could hunt and kill game of which there was an abundance crossing the plains in those days, but as I could not leave the team, (I had to drive every day) we had to go without game. Did not have enough to eat only once for five weeks."
There was doubtless some reason why the other men of his Ten and his brothers-in-law failed to help him. Charles recorded that on "July 6 we camped on Muddy Creek. Here my wife gave birth to a son which we named William George. Started out early the next morning on our journey." Ann Stanger Hogg’s descendants record this more fully. Pregnant through the long voyage across the Atlantic and the rail and river journey across the Eastern States, Ann had "endured the hardships of camping out, moving from camp to camp in Kansas, and planting gardens for later groups to use – all without a word of complaint."
After walking for four days, she gave birth "in the heat and dust of the plains … She was allowed to rest in camp only one night; then they moved on the next day. For three days she remained in the waggon with her new baby. On the fourth day she commenced walking with the others. Her shoes were worn out so she walked the rest of the way barefooted. The end of each day found her tired feet aching and bleeding. She endured the pangs of hunger and thirst, along with everyone else, but managed to keep her baby alive and healthy."
The exact trail followed used to vary according to the grazing available.
The trail The companies travelled west from Atchison and on up the river Platte, where they came into hot and arid country where the waggons struggled through the drifts of sand. There was no timber here, so they gathered buffalo chips (dung) for firewood and some of them were able to have fresh buffalo meat.
After 500 miles, companies which had been travelling on the north bank of the North Platte would cross the river at Fort Laramie to join the Oregon trail. From here the going alternated between patches of sand and fertile creek valleys full of timber. After 130 miles, the North Platte had to be crossed again – they would hope that the river would be low, and the crossing easy. Leaving the river at present day Casper, Wyoming, the trail became rough going, crossing and re-crossing the Sweetwater for 150 miles or so – but at least there was plenty of grazing and sage-brush for camp-fires. Then they would reach South Pass, and cross the Continental Divide. South Pass was not a narrow gorge but a slow and gradual climb in a pass nearly twenty miles wide, so that travellers found they could hardly tell when they had reached the top.
Beyond South Pass the trail came to the swift deep waters of Green River, crossed by ferry. It went on through mountains and wild country with plenty of game, leaving the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger, and reaching at last, 250 miles from South Pass, Salt Lake City. Like Ann Stanger Hogg, most of the pioneers had worn out their shoes or saved them for Utah, and walked barefoot most of the thousand miles from the Missour to the Valley.
Arrival at Salt Lake City The Ballantyne Company came into Salt Lake City on 22 September 1855, nearly three months after leaving Mormon Grove.
They will have been welcomed with some ceremony, as the church provided bands and speeches, sometimes by Brigham Young himself, and food and drink would be brought to the newcomers. The Secrist company had arrived a fortnight earlier, so George Stanger could at last be reunited with his wife Mary, and learn of the sad loss of her sister Elizabeth Etherington Pugh who had died of Mountain Fever on the way. The Hoggs went directly to Bountiful to live with Charles' uncle Daniel Wood. Unfortunately they had not arrived at a good time, as that summer the Valley had been struck by a plague of grasshoppers. These Rocky Mountain Locusts hit Utah at intervals during the 19th century, and the swarms of 1855 were the most damaging of them all. The grasshoppers would come in clouds darkening the sky, and on landing would eat everything green, including clothes and paint. In 1855 they had destroyed nearly three-quarters of the crops and starvation was very close. This was the Faceby Saints' first introduction to farming in Utah.
The Faceby Saints settle in Utah Most of them settled in Weber County, which lies between the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake. It had been the home of the Ute and the Shoshone, and was well-watered, said to have rich soil, winters not too severe for the area, and plenty of game. The main settlement was Ogden, where many of the Faceby pioneers are buried. They lived through eventful times.
They experienced the difficult days called the Reformation and the war with the federal government. They saw the population grow as the Mormon mastery of irrigation brought more land into use. The transcontinental railroad arrived in Ogden in 1869, and changed it from a frontier town to a major rail terminus – they had their first non-Mormon mayor in 1889. In 1860 Ogden City had a population of 1,463. By 1870 its population had increased to more than 3,000, and twenty years later it had grown to nearly 13,000. Prostitutes, gamblers, robbers, and Butch Cassidy came to town, and newspaper editors were tarred and feathered. Ogden turned into a big modern city and by 1900 had electricity, gas and telephone. (This article continues in Part III)
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