Ellsworth & Handcarts: Success before Disaster

Andrew Galloway's story of Ellsworth's divine inspiration for the handcart companies was recorded late in his life. It matches surprisingly well with Ellsworth's nearly contemporaneous remarks recorded in the Deseret News of October 8, 1856. There was only brief few weeks between the success of the first two companies of handcarts and the disasters of Willie--Martin. Some of that tragedy was even anticipated by Ellsworth. I encourage the reading of the full account which can also be found on the Mormon Overland Trail Database.

My particular interest was what he said about those in his company. Grandma Elinor was among them:

Claiming the Legendary Teapot and Colander

There's a story circulating for some time now picked up by Stake Pioneer Trek websites about an elderly woman who walked all the way to Salt Lake City in 1856 with a teapot and colander tied to her apron strings. There was a strict weight limit for personal items in the handcarts. This woman found a way around that. Another woman in the first company carried a hat box, but she died along the way. These stories were recounted in the Ensign of July 2000. However, in the Ensign, the teapot is covered by ellipses.

With some pretty good circumstantial evidence, I am prepared to claim the woman with the teapot and colander as our ancestress, Elinor Jenkins Vaughan. I think I know who the lady with the hat box was too.

Picture of Elder Edmund Ellsworth from 1855

Maybe other history seekers have seen this, but I'm still an amateur and find it AMAZING! I've seen a lot of mission conference pictures. There are some from Brazil that have me in them. This has historical significance as this 1855 photo of British Missionaries includes the captains of four of the five experimental handcart companies of 1856. Three of the experiments came out pretty well. The last two, not so much. And those last two captains are all the more famous for that.

Eleanor Didn't Come Alone!

Way to go, Judy!

Yes, Family History is a collaborative effort. While I was taking a step back and looking at all the other pioneers of the Edmund Ellsworth Handcart Company of 1856 that had come from Elinor's neighborhood in Wales, Judy did us one better by going through the Ellsworth list to see if any of her married daughters had come. And she found Jane.

On Ellsworth's list is John & Jane Lewis with son John eight years old. A quick check to the 1851 Census found them in Bedwellty, Tredegar, Wales - with wife Jane having been born in Hay, Breconshire, and son John, born in Llanfoist, Monmouthshire. We have a match!

Eleanor Jenkins Vaughan Hulet - Matriarch in Zion

This is a series of posts from my other blog now consolidated to tell the story of our recent discoveries about Grandma Elinor. by Grant L. Vaughn

AMONG THE FIRST OF THE WELSH CONVERTS
[from July 19, 2013]

Breakthrough.

My Welsh DNA is fairly sparse - but then, there is the issue of my surname. My Vaughns came to Zion in 1887 - on the train. Of course they married into some prominent pioneer families, myself inadvertently going perhaps the farthest with that by marrying a Kimball. At the time, her family name was the least thing on my mind. And I'm trying really hard not to be boastful or proud. But there seems to have been just something, maybe part of it self-imposed, that treated the Vaughns like second-class citizens in Zion.

The first Vaughn over, my 2nd Great Grandfather, Thomas Vaughan (1850-1894) died young and left a family in poverty. His son married and there were some troubles in the family. His wife divorced him after the children were pretty well grown. Their oldest son, my grandfather, was never active in the church as an adult. It's a miracle my dad & siblings were. Grandma was somewhat active and taught Primary for a period. And she always made sure the children went. My dad and mom were married in the Temple and here I am.

There is a theme running here of faithful women propping up the Vaughns which brings me to . . .