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KEARNEY — Margaret Ann
Griffiths was 16 years old when she pushed a handcart across the Plains in
1856 as part of the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company.
She
was traveling with her father, stepmother, two younger brothers and a younger
sister. By the time the family reached Utah, the two boys and their father
had died on the trail.
Today, Margaret’s
great-great-great-granddaughter, Malena Ward of Lexington, tries to keep the
history of her ancestors with her children.
About 150 years ago, pioneers escaping religious persecution traveled west.
Some were in wagons pulled by oxen, but others pulled their possessions in
handcarts. Three Hub Territory families who are descendants of those handcart
pioneers will attend the 150th Anniversary of the Handcart Pioneers June 2
and 3 in Kearney.
Malena counted 32 ancestors who traveled the Mormon Trail. Most went to Utah
via wagon train — but the Griffiths family joined a handcart company.
Malena said Margaret and her family were living in England when the family
converted to the Mormon faith and decided to move to America.
They joined the Martin Handcart Company that left Iowa City July 28, 1956,
with 576 people, 146 handcarts and five wagons.
Also on that trip with the Martin Company Hannah Middleton Hawkey Sinfield,
the great-great-grandmother of Daren Snider of Kearney.
Hannah was 24 and living in England when she became a Mormon. She married a
widower and adopted his son, James.
Although her husband died in a work accident before they left England, she
decided to make the trip to Utah with James, then 14, and her two daughters,
Margaret, 4, and Hannah, 3. She was 33.
Because of the late start and events that slowed them along the trail, the
company was still on the trail in November. A blizzard forced the group to
take shelter in an area that would be called Martin’s Cove.
Margaret Griffiths Clegg said in a short autobiography, written in 1900 when
she was 60 years old, that she was the only female who pulled a handcart
through the water of the Platte River during that last crossing shortly
before the company decided to stop.
Her brother John, 12, died near Devil’s Gate, and her brother, Herbert, 6,
died after they crossed the Platte River for the last time in Wyoming. They
would be among the 145 pioneers in the Martin Handcart Company who died on
the trail.
After the snows hit, Margaret’s father, John Griffiths, became ill. As the
company crossed the Platte for the last time, he was among those who were too
weak to walk. He died one day after reaching Salt Lake City.
Hannah Hawkey’s stepson, James, also died along the trail and was buried in a
common grave on the Plains. Hannah pulled the handcart with her two daughters
in it most of the way to Salt Lake City.
The company was eventually rescued by members of the Mormon faith who already
were in Salt Lake City.
Interviewed in later life, Hannah said the “Lord took away the sting of
losing family and friends” and the “pains we suffered” along the trail.
Rather than mourn for those who died, “We envied them that they were taken
from this extreme trial and suffering.” Asked if she ever regretted leaving
England and emigrating with the saints, she said, “No, never.”
Hannah arrived in Salt Lake City in November 1856 with her toes frozen, burst
open and bleeding. She was cared for by other settlers until following
spring, when she was able to walk again. She eventually married John
Sinfield.
Kate Lublin was 11 years old when she and her family left winter quarters
near present-day Omaha and traveled to Utah.
The Lublin family traveled as part of the 1857 Christensen handcart company,
which made good time and had few problems. They arrived in Utah in the summer
after four months of travel. However, Kate’s great-great-granddaughter,
Laurie Blanchard of Holdrege, said Lublin also is connected to the Martin Company.
Lublin eventually married Thomas Murphy Alexander. Alexander was among the
men sent in October 1856 by Brigham Young, leader of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, from Salt Lake City to rescue the Martin
company.
The help arrived too late for many in the company. The survivors of the
Martin handcart company were loaded into wagons, but most of the possessions
wouldn’t fit. Eighteen of the rescuers were left behind to guard the group’s
belongings.
Thomas was one of those left behind “to face five months of winter in
Wyoming, 100 miles from help, with about 20 days of rations,” said one of the
rescue captains.
In those desperate months the men resorted to eating rawhide. Laurie
Blanchard said she found a journal entry that explained, “We asked the Lord
to bless our stomachs and adapt them to this food. We hadn’t the faith to ask
him to bless the raw-hide.”
Some of the Hub Territory decendents of the handcart company have researched
their history and visited sites important to the church’s history.
Malena Ward said she caught the genealogy bug from her mother, who presented
her with a family history book for Christmas one year. She has researched her
family in the records in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in
Salt Lake City.
“We went to the Pioneer Museum there,” she said adding that the museum has
copies of photos, journals and records for people to copy.
“I’ll also periodically look things up online,” she said.
Laurie Blanchard and her husband, Curtis, also made a book titled “Leaves
from our Family Tree.”
“It’s our way of passing on our history to our children,” she said.
The Blanchards and their children, Emily, 10, Ethan, 8, Alex, 6, Caleb, 4,
and Ariana, 1, will be helping with children’s games during the 150th
anniversary celebration June 2-3.
Daren Snider said that using records that others have gathered, he has been
able to trace his family back to the 800s.
He said his wife, Ann, had signed up the family, including children Colin,
14, Christopher, 11, Laura, 6, and Cameron, 3, to pull a handcart during the
Kearney celebration.
Malena, her husband, Tom, and their children, Danica, 16, Gregory, 15, Kevin,
12, Sarah, 10, Anna-Alesia, 8, Camden, 3 and Benjamin, 1, honor their
ancestors each year.
“Each fall as the weather gets colder, I remind them that (the handcart
company) were still out on the trail at this time,” she said adding that
often in November the family will eat a simple meal of potatoes to remember
that the pioneers had run out of rations.
“There is even accounts of how they boiled the flour sack to get out the last
of the flour,” she said.
The family also has pulled handcarts 12 miles along roughest part of the
trail and walked in their ancestors’ footsteps.
“It showed me what their life could have been like, only they had it worse,”
said Danica Ward. “I’m glad I’m living now.”
e-mail to:
amy.schweitzer@kearneyhub.com
Events first weekend in June mark handcart pioneers anniversary
Activities are at the archway unless otherwise noted to be at Trails and
Rails Museum.
Friday, June 2
9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. — “The Handcart Story” film and
trailer (45 minutes) in the Frank and Maxine Morrison Learning Center 9:30
a.m. to 12:45 p.m. — Registration for ˝-, 1-, 4- and 5-mile handcart treks
begins 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. — Living History Camp
open to public 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Entertainment on main stage outside 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Find your ancestor computer search
inside 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. — Free preview day with games and music at Trails
and Rails Museum 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. — Storytellers and music inside the
archway 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. — Fort Kearny soldiers firing demonstration on
main stage outside 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. — Oxen demonstration near the main
stage outside 11 a.m., 12:30 and 4 p.m. — Genealogy class in Frank and Maxine
Morrison Learning Center 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. —
Handcart history and construction at main stage outside 11:30 a.m. to noon —
Children’s games in front of building 1 p.m.— National Park sign dedication
on main stage outside 1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Pioneer dances 2:30 p.m. to 5
p.m. — Handcart treks: ˝- and 1-mile treks 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Paul Willie,
The Willie Handcart Company on main stage outside 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. — Open jam
session at Trails and Rails Museum 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Movie: “Legacy: Why
the Mormon Trail” in the Frank and Maxine Morrison Learning Center 6 p.m. to
9 p.m. — Music and storytelling on main stage outside 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. —
Candlelight tours of Handcart Tales begin — Tickets needed as limited number
of people can attend. Saturday, June 3 7:30 a.m. — Registration for 4- and
5-mile handcart treks begins 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.,
3:15 p.m. — “The Handcart Story” film and trailer (45 minutes) in the Frank
and Maxine Morrison Learning Center 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. — Handcart history and
construction at main stage outside 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. — Find your ancestor
computer search inside8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.— Storytellers and music on main
stage outside 9 a.m. — Great Platte River Road Archway opens 9 a.m. to 11:30
a.m. — Living History Camp open to public 9:30 a.m. — Handcarts depart for
Trails and Rails Museum; and ˝- and 1-mile handcart treks begin, return about
3:30 p.m. 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. — Children’s games in front of building 10
a.m. to 9 p.m. — Music and games at Trails and Rails 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
— Oxen demonstration by main stage outside 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. — Gregory
Franzwa, Driving Through Nebraska in 1909 in Frank and Maxine Morrison
Learning Center 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. — Ft. Kearny soldiers firing
demonstration on main stage outside 12:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. — Genealogy
class in Frank and Maxine Morrison Learning Center 1:30 p.m. — Dixon Ford,
oxen demonstration near main stage 3:30 p.m. — Hot dog eating contests at
Trails and Rails
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