Pick your favorite story or two and share at morning or evening prayer with your family.   (excuse the miss-spelled words)

ROCK CREEK GRAVESITE 
Thirteen members of the Willie Company who passed away October 23-24, due to their terrible ordeal crossing Rocky Ridge, are buried here. Two other Willie pioneers who helped with the burial here, Thomas Girdlestone and William Groves, died the next day (Smith, Willie, Savage). 
BODIL MORTENSEN 
One of those buried here is little Bodil Mortensen, age 9, from Denmark. Bodil was traveling with Jens and Elsa Nielsen, her parents' good friends - to be with her older sister in Salt Lake City. At the base of Rocky Ridge, she was given the responsibility of making sure 6-year old Nils Nielsen, and perhaps other small children, made the trip from the base of Rocky Ridge to Rock Creek. At the conclusion of her journey, she went out to gather firewood, and they found her frozen body leaning up against a handcart the next morning with her arms full of sagebrush (Smith, Nielsen, Reeder). 
JAMES KIRKWOOD 
James Kirkwood was 11 years old when his family joined the Willie Handcart Company and left Scotland. He came with his widowed mother and three brothers. One of his two older brothers was crippled and had to be pulled on the handcart by his mother and older brother. James' mother asked him to take care of his brother Joseph and make sure he got safely to the next camp. James carried his brother Joseph over Rocky Ridge to Rock Creek.  After he made sure Joseph got there safely, and upon arriving at Rock Creek, James laid down and died (Smith). 
r ------- - ~---- 

INFORMATION ON THE PIONEERS BURIED HERE 
William James, age 46, from Worcestershire, England. He was a farm laborer but not robust. His death at Rock Creek left his wife and seven young children without a husband and father. 
Elizabeth Bailey, age 52, from Leigh, Worcestershire, England. She was traveling with her husband and one child. Her husband died later, a few days before entering the Salt Lake Valley. 
Samuel Gadd, age 10, from Orwell, Cambridgeshire, England. He was preceded in death by his father and younger brother who also died along the Mormon Trail. 
Lars Wandel in, age 60,  Sweden. He was a watchmaker who joined the Church in Denmark. He did not want to be buried with his treasured silver watch so it was turned over to the Perpetual Emigration Fund to assist others in coming to the Salt Lake Valley. 
Anne Olsen, age 46, from Denmark. 
Ella Nielson, age 22, from Denmark. She was traveling with the Wickland family. 
Exhausted one day, she was wrapped in a buffalo robe to rest along the trail. Brother Wickland returned later and carried her back to Rock Creek. After she died, her hair had to be clipped from the ice beneath her frozen body. 
Ole Madsen, age 41, from  Denmark.  He left behind his wife and four children. 
Nils Anderson, age 41, from Denmark. He was a farmer. Nils carried his 14-year-old granddaughter in his handcart. 
James Gibb, age 67. His wife Mary was one of the first converts to the Church in Scotland. 
He had been a sailor. They left their children in Scotland and went ahead to prepare a place for them in the Salt Lake Valley. James was buried at Rock Creek on his wife's 53rd birthday. 
Cheste??? Gihmm, age 66, from England. He was a coal miner and a sailor, and the father of eleven children. His wife died in 1854 and, against the wishes of all his children, he made the decision to come to the Salt Lake Valley. 

Nils Nielsen, age 6, from Denmark. His fathers' feet were frozen so badly he had to be pulled by Sister Nielsen in their handcart. The children struggled in snow that was sometimes knee-deep, suffering greatly from exhaustion and exposure. 
Thomas Gurldstone, age 62, from England. He was the overseer of a large farm and the father of eleven children, although only their daughter, Enuna, was traveling with them in the Willie Company. His wife died five days later, but Enuna did make it to Salt Lake. He is one of the two pioneers who helped with the burial here and then died the next day. 
William Groves, age 22, a farmer. He is also one of the two pioneers who helped with the burial here and then died the next day. 
You have already heard the stories of Bodil Mortensen and James Kirkwood who are also buried here (Smith, Lorimer, and Madsen). 

LEVI SAVAGE 
Levi Savage was assigned as a captain over the second hundred in the Willie Handcart Company. He had just returned from more than a two-year mission. When the Willie Handcart Company met in Florence, Nebraska, to decide whether to go on that season or not, Brother Savage asked Captain Willie if he could speak his mind. He advised them not to go on. He said "You are a company of aged people, women, and children. Even if you do have strong men among you, you cannot cross the mountains so late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death." 
He was not the only one who spoke against going on, but more people spoke out for going to Zion. When they voted to go that season, Levi Savage said, "What I have said I know to be true, but seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you. I will help you all I can, will work with you, will rest with you, will suffer with you, and if necessary, will die with you. May God in His mercy preserve us!   
He lived up to his promise, even though some members gave him a hard time for advising them not to go. He was often in charge of the sick wagons and worked very hard helping the Willie people. 

JULIA AND EMILY HILL 
The Hill sisters, Julia and Emily, had joined the Church in spite of their parents' opposition. Emily gained her testimony when she was twelve, when she heard the Mormon elders preach. She told her family she would join the Church as soon as she was big enough. The elders told her she was too young to get baptized without her parents' consent. They brought Brother John Halliday over one day, and he bore such a powerful testimony that Julia gained a testimony. He also blessed Emily that she "should write in prose and in verse and thereby comfort the hearts of thousands." Emily taught Julia what she had learned from the missionaries, and sometimes they were able to steal away and attend Mormon meetings. Julia became an apprentice as a milliner and moved away from her family to another town. She helped persuade her parents to let Emily come, too. They were baptized when Emily was 16 and Julia 19. When they were in their twenties, they came to Utah with the Willie Handcart Company. Many people thought it was terrible that these young girls were pulling handcarts, and they were given anonymous notes as inducements to stay in Iowa. Emily just determined that she would walk the whole way, and she did. Julia "'broke down and was unable to walk." She was pulled in a handcart part of the way by her friends. Both sisters married rescuers. Emily did become known for her prose and her verse, including the hymn, "As Sisters in Zion." 

ELIZABETH GHEEN :U-':O AUNT MARY HARPER 
Hcruy Arnold was a faithful Latter-Day-Saillt who had sent money to England for several people to emigrate to Utah, including (vlary Thea\.:h Harper, whom everyone called Aunt ivlary. When Aunt Ivla1Y arrived in Iowa, there was enough money for her to ride. She chose, however, to cash in her ticket and walk to Zion with a handcart so that she could help t1 ve other people get to Zion, in spite of her being in her sixties. She was given a YOllilg, strong companion to help her, Elizabeth Green, 18 yem's old. It became hot, yet they had mn out of salt. \Vith her body craving salt, Elizabeth knelt down and told the Lord that without salt, she just couldn't go on. She was impressed to go to the wagonmaster of a wagon train clliuped nelli"by. Although he would not give her any salt, he said one of the wagons in the train had previously canied salt tUld if she ullioaded its \.:WTent contents, she might find some salt on the t100r of the wagon box. She did so and was able to gather one cup full of salt. She later said, "If you had ever been as hungry for salt as I have, you would never waste even a grain of salt." Sadly, Aunt Mary died just past Red Buttes before the joumey ended. The ground was so frozen that her body was \\'rapped ill a bhulket and left by the side of the trail. When Elizabeth arrived and gave lIenry Arnold the sad nc\vs that Aunt Mary had died, he took Elizabeth to his home and she ended up marrying him after she was nursed back to health. 

NELLIE l'UCELL UNTIIANK 
Nellie Pucell was nine years old when site left England in the Martin Handcart Company to wrne to Utah. She came with her parl.:l1ts, Samuel and Ivfargaret PuceIl, and her sister, Maggie, 14, and her grandfather. Her family was strong in the church, and her mother had attended the first meeting of the chllrcil ill Engla!Jd and was the second woman confirmed in England. One time Nellie and lVlaggie were walkulg ahead of the train when they met two men in buckskin. One of them gave Nellie money to buy moccasins at a trading post he said was up ahead, because she was bart..:fuuL Nellie's parents died two weeks before her tenth birthday, and they were buried ill a shallow grave. OIle day Nellie's feet were so painful and cold and stiff that she and Maggie rested while the company moved on. Maggie coaxed her to go on, but it seemed they wuuld never catch up with the company when a carriage came along and let Nellie ride, with Maggie hanging on behind. When the rescuers came, they were unable to get her to IlIove, and she stayed in the wagon and her feet froze. \Vhen they arrived in Salt Lake and took ulJ Nellie's shoes and stockings, the skin and some of the t1esh came off with them, and they bad to amputJte her feet to save her life, without uny anesthetic. It was a poor surgery, but Nellie refused 10 have it redone later in her life. She went around on her knees ill pain f:J;" i!lUSl of !ler lif.:. She married William Unthank and raised si.x children on her k.nees. 
WILLIAM J;\i\lES AND FAt\llL Y 
Wi.lJiarn lames and his wife had eiglll clliidren amI were Illcrnbcrs of the \Villie Handcart Company. One child of theirs dieLl Ull tile ship and was buried at sea. \Vhen the James family was pulling their handcart over Rucky Ridge, William James was found by John Cl1islctt, one of those in charge of bringiil!J, lip tlie rear, sitting by the road unable to pull his handcJrt :lIlY further. He had ~l Si!utgtii, ",';[iiclJ he had I.J[Uughl [rom England which had helped him feed his family becau:;t; IIi; W~l:i :1 gouu shot unu would get sage hens or rabbits. !3rother Chisletl started him out vv'ulkillg with the shotgun over his shoulder and a small bundle all it and his son ReubclI (about 12 ycars uld) by his side. Sister James pulled the handcart with two of her daughters. Whcn they carne to StfUwberry Creek, Sister James sellt the younger children ahead after hdping them cruss, TheIl a little later, William James gave out and could walk no further. SiSler James didn't know whether to stay with him or to go on to find her children. He told her to go 011 to find the children, that he would rest a while and then continue on. Urother Chi:;lett came past again and found him and Reuben. He partly dragged, partly carried him a link ways, but his strength gave out, and he left him wrapped in a quilt and told Reuben to w:llk up and down beside him and on no condition to sit down, or he would freeze to de~ll11, Wl)en the straggler;; were brought in, Reuben was still keeping faithful watch over his father, who was asleep in a stupor. He was loaded into the wagon, and his last words were askillg about the safety of his shotgun. He died before morning and was buried at Rock Crct..:k, und his son H.cubcn was badly frozen. 
LUKE CARTEH AND WILLL\i\I EDWARDS 
Luke Carter and William EdwanJs \vere ill their fifties sharing tile pulling of a handcart in the Martin Company. One dllY .ill:)t l>l:)'(lIld Furt KC~lrncy in Nebr:.lska, they really were quarrelling. ELlwanls was not VCf)' stnJIIg, ~lIid Ilc was cumplainiIlg about how tired he was. I-Ie told Cartcr to let him lie dOWIl ami die. Carter stopped the handcart and raised the skirts and told him to gD ahcad. l\layl)c Ill' thuugllt ,~ rest \\"Duld revive him. Edwards got IlLlt and laid down and W,IS deau within t,:11 IIJiJllllCS. 

JA1'IES AND i\lARY ANN MELLOR 
James and Mary Ann Mellor loved the gospel and were willing to sacrifice for it. When James taught his mother-in-law, Charlotte Squires Payne, about the gospel, she was too ill to be baptized. She "begged James to go to Zion and there attend to her salvation." When they were called to emigrate to Zion, Mary Ann's father offered her money if she would stay. She declined, but was so grieved over leaving her father, that she became ill and gave premature birth to siamese twins the day the ship was to leave. She told her husband to go \vithout her, and he boarded the ship to do so. Bad weather delayed the actual departure uf the ship, and Mary Ann was able to be carried on board-her twins had died the day they were born. The doctor said sharks would follow the ship until she died, and the captain asked why they didn't just throw her ill the sea. She was given a blessing that she would come to Utah and see her seed in Zion, and this blessing did come true. She and her family made it to Utah, where she had her twelfth child. When they arrived, the two Elders who had given her a blessing didn't recognize Brother Mellor because his hair had changed from black to white as snow, yet he was only 38 years old. 
LOUISA AND MAH.Y ANN IVLELLOH. 
One day Louisa Mellor and her mother, 1\1alY NUl tvlellor, were walking to catch up with the handcart company, when her mother, ivlary Ann, gave up and sat down on a rock and gave in to her despair and said she could go no farther. Louisa went a few yards away and knelt in prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help them and protect them from the wolves and help them have tbe strength to reach the camp in safety. As she went back to join her mother, she found a pie in the road. She pick<.:d it up and gave it to her mother to eat, and after resting a littlc, they journcyed on and caught LIp with the company. After that, when ilcr mother felt like quitting, she would n:lllClllber how womkrful the Lord had been to her so many times, and would offer a prayer of gratitude instcad and go on her way. 
TIIE ASHTON FAJ\'ULY 
William and Sarah Ann Ashton had four daughters when they lef1 England on the s.wp for America. Their youngest daughter got sick on the ship and died when they landed at 13oscon. Sarah Ann was pregnant and gave birth after puiling a handcart from Iowa City to Florence Nebraska. She died there ill childbirth. The baby lived for 16 days, and then died. As the company passed Ft. Laramie, the army tried to entice men i.n the company to join up. William was discouraged because of the loss of his wife and two children and joined the army along with two single brothers and u crippled brother. He left his daughters, Betsy, 13, Sarah Ellen, 7, •. l1Id Mary Ann, 4, with thc Martin Handcart Company. Betsy was always portrayed as a hero to us because she mu~t have cared for her younger sisters. She died after the snowstorm hit, and only Sarah Elkn and Mary Ann made it to Utah. Sarah Ellen I\);;t the sight in one eyc from thclrek. 

ISAAC JOHN WARDLE 
Isaac John Wardle grew up working ill tlie coal mines ten or twelve hours a day in Lcicestershire. He would be so tircd when he came home that he would fall to sleep while eating supper. He therefore didn't get to go to school and didn't learn how to read until he was older. He was the first member of his family to join the church, and was 20 and traveling alone with the Martin Handcart Company . .He and John Bailey, 15, helped pull another young man, an invalid, Langley Bailey, 18, in their cart. These three young men were great friends. Isaac helped with the many burials and helped to gather wood for fires. It was through descriptions in his h.istories that we found the stumps in Martin's Cove where they had cut down trees for wood. He said he feU tu the ground one time and wouldn't have gotten up if someone hadn't helped him. He made it to Utah and later became a Sunday School Superintendent and always [reasured learning because of being deprived of it as a child. 
THE BAILEY FA!\ UL Y 
When John and Jane Bailey and their boys, LlI1gky, Juhn, Thomas, and David, were preparing to leave, the town crier, who was alsu LOS, rang uut "Oh yes, Brother and Sister 13ailcy are leaving for Zion. Come one! CUIlIC ;J1l, ~!llJ buy their goodsl" This embarrassed Lwgley and he wanted his father to Sl\Jf> ilim, but ilis liluthcr said no, you shouldn't be :lshumed to let people kllow you are Latli.:r-Day Saints. As they traveled from Iowa City to Florence, Langley became ill with hemorrhaging of tile bowels caused by severe diarrhea. He had to be hauled on Isaac John Wardle and his bmther John's cart. At Florence a doctor said he shouldn't go on, or he woulJ die. A Captain Tune would not administer to him because he said he didn't h:..lve enough [:..lith to raise the dead. Apostle Franklin D. Richards did give LlIlgley a blessing amI said hc \vuuld reach Salt Lake Valley with the rest uf the company. One time during the juumcy Langley asked if he could try to walk. He 
. became discouraged and sat down under a busJl to die. His mother found him and reminded him of the blessing he had rccelved and told him to renew his efforts. He did reach Salt Lake with the rest of his family, and whcnlsaac John Wardle died as an old man, Langley attended his funeral and said, "I lasted longer than you, Isaac!" 
EMl\tA llATCllELOR 
Emma Batchelor joined the Martin Company with her friend, Elizabeth Summers. Because the Willie Company was .smaller than tile tvtartin Company, they were permitted to join it. When the Captain ordered everyone to lighten their loads, EIIlt1:a refused to leave behind her copper kettle. She reruaincd .sittillg 011 it by the .side of the road, while the Willie Company went on. She went back to Ft. Laramie and did laundry and mending for the soldiers until the Martin Cumpany came thruugit am.! she juined it and was assigned to the Gourley family, who were happy to have her beC:.luse it meant a larger ration and help pulling the cart. When Sister Gourley had a baby, Elill1W was able to act as midwife because she had been trained ill medicine amI surgery in England. Th~y always said she joined the Martin CornpallY to lkliver her haD)'. 

THE PETERSON FAf'.llL Y 
When dysentery hit the camp, Anna Peterson, the baby daughter of Ole and Mam Peterson,-had 
a fitful night and then lay cold and still. A company leader approached the grieving parents and 
said the Lord had called their baby home. They had been delayed too long, and there was no 
time to dig a grave. He told them to \VrLlp Alina in a blanket and put her under a bush where 
she wouldn't be seen. They needed to move un. The sad pJrCnLS did as they were directed, and 
the handcarts moved on. Mam Peterson kept telling her husband that day that she didn't feelli...1.:e 
her baby was dead. After the camp was bedded down and askep, she slipped out and we'nt back. When her husband missed her the next morning, he and two others hun1ed,~ack down' th~ trai~ . >: ' on horseback. They found her running to\vards them, shouting, "She's alive, my baby's hot dead, ,', .:' 
	she's alive!!'" 	' 	. 	,", 	" 	,"',','.' "':".': .. '.' 
... , 
GEORGE HARRISOI~ 
George Harrison was 12 years old on the handcart trek. I-Ie got malaI1a and was so sick and starved that when he saw an Indian camp urr the trail, he slipped away and went to the camp to ask for food. The kindly elderly Indian S4uaw gave him some hot stew. When George's father came to get him, she persuaded him to let George stay with the Indians, because he would probably die if he were to move OIl. George did stay with them for two years. He then joined the Johnston's anny group and learned how to cook beefsteaks, He later opened the Hanison HOlel in Springville and became known tor his excellent beefsteaks and earned the nickname "B~efslC:Lk: Harrison. II 
ECHO SQUIRES 
Whcn the l'vIanin Company rcaL:hed a small canyon which ran out of the north side of Echo Canyon, Sister Sarah Squire gave girth to a bcautiful new daughter. They named her Echo after the canyon. One of the members of the relict' pany gave gencrously by contributing pan of the few under linen or c10Lhing he had to provide the llccl~ssal)' comfon and warmth needed by the new spirit that had blessed Lheir camp. I'knry Squire, Echo's father, was seen running around the camp inquiring for a pin to pin someLhing Jround his ncw daughter, but he was unable to tind one. 

CROSSING H.OCI(Y RIDGE 
The ren1aining rescuers helped the Willie Con1pany move 10 or 11 n1iles to the base of Rocky Ridge. The next morning they began ascending Rocky Ridge, their goal being to make it to Rock Creek to calnp. This stony hill has a long ascent and rough rocks sticking out of the trail like ridges. Their day's journey covered a n1inimum of 12 Iniles, much of it uphill. A blizzard was raging, with the wind blowing and 18 inches of snow on the level. Many of the pioneers were wrapped in blankets and quilts to keep wann. The last of the company, including some ox tean1S loaded \vith the sick and dying, didn't get in to Rock Creek until the following 1110rning, 27 hours later. Besides the blizzard, and the steep journey up Rocky Ridge, travelers also had to cross Stra\vberry Creek. Several of the captains of hundreds and tent leaders, like John Chislett and Levi Savage and Archibald McPhail, kept going back to help the stragglers, along \vith Captain Willie (Savage, 
Chislett, Haines, Harper). 
John Rowley, age 16, got so exhausted fl'on1 helping women and children cross the stream that he laid down and was brought to by a kick from the Captain. Later on, he gave out again and had to come in with the sick wagon. He froze one of his legs quite badly (Rasmussen, Rowley). 
"Elizabeth Cunninghan1 nlust have collapsed before reaching CaI11p and the fa.rnily thought that she had passed a\vay. Because of the lateness of the hour and their exhaustion they wrapped her up in a blanket and left her by the side of the road ... I-Ier nl0ther ... decided to go back aiter her ... tIer body was brought in and Saine hot \vater happened to spill on one of her feet. As a result a quiver was seen in that lin1b. It was assun1ed she was still alive so they \vorked \vith her until she was revived (Smith). 
----- 

BHJNGING RESCUE 
The Willie COlnpany had just been issued their last ration of flour, were making a long, 16-rnile drive for \vater, had just passed the Ice Springs, and had encountered a snowstonn when they met the express, or light wagon, driven by four men, sent ahead by the rescue party to find then1. After telling that the main rescue party was just a few days ahead, they continued on to search for the Martin l-Iandcart Cornpany. The spirits of the Willie pioneers were lifted by this good news, and they journeyed on. The next n10rning, the last of their breadstuffs were gone, there were four inches of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing. They decided to send Captain Willie and Joseph Elder ahead to look for the main rescue party. They \vere gone three days. During this tilne, the little camp suffered, for they only had their cattle to kill and eat. Many of them got dysentery. Nine people died during this tinle. Meanwhile, the rnain rescue party calnped off the road a 'Nays to '.vait out the storn1 here at Rock Creek. Brother Harvey Cluff: a men1ber of the rescue party, felt inspired to put a sign on the road telling where they were can1ped. Captain Willie and Brother Elder found the sign and brought back the rescue party. The Willie COlnpany was in perishing condition when they saw the rescue wagons coming over a sn1all hill, \vith Captain Willie in front. A cry went up in can1p, and the Willie pioneers came gathering around the rescuers, kissing them, and just generally rejoicing. The next day, the Inajority of the wagons went on to look for the :LvlaIiin l-laIldcaI-t Con1pany, leaving six \vagons under William H. l(ilnball with the Willie C0111pany. The remaining rescuers helped the Willie C0111paI1Y travel 10 or 11 11liles that day to the base of R.ocky Ridge. The Riverton Wyonling Stake has built a mOnUl1lent looking out over the valley where the Willie I-Iandcart Company was rescued (Savage, Chislett, and Cluff). 

THE SECOND RESCUE 
Monnons believe that families will be together after this life if they are sealed here on earth. 'These sealings are performed in holy tetnples. The very end of the 13.i.Bte, in Malachi, the last t\VO 
	. 	(-' , 
	verses refers to thIS: 	"- ,\... ;' 	. 
	, 	- \. c..) t'. ,'(, H __ <,~ 
"Behold, I will send you Elijah, the Prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children: And the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I con1e and sn1ite the eatih \vith a curse ... " (Malachi 4:5-6). 
Within holy ten1ples, wOlihy 111en1bers of the church participate in ordinances and n1ake covenants which enable farnilies to remain together for all eternity. The 111elnbers of the Willie and Martin COlnpanies had already accepted the gospel, but had not yet had the opportunity to be sealed to their fatnilies. Many of them died and had no descendants to do the work for theln. Members of the Riverton Wyon1ing Stake were excited to be able to do this "second" rescue of the Willie cmd Martin pioneers and to seal their fanlilies together for eternity.