Mini stories used at Ma-Pa meeting
BISQUITS
Ann Rowley.
I was left a widow with 7 children under 12 years of age and the step children of William's first marriage.
There came a time, when there seemed to be no food at all. Some of the men left to hunt buffalo. Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God's help as I always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage, they were not large, and were so hard, they couldn't be broken. Surely, that was not enough to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5000 people either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So with God's help, nothing is impossible. I found the biscuits and put them in a Dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God's blessing, then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan Filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient. –
HANDCARTS
Ideally, their carts should have been made of well-seasoned hickory, elm and white oak, but instead the flimsy contraptions were built with green lumber that would later dry out and shrink.
John Chislett (Sub-Captain with Willey Co),
“When a cart collapsed it was difficult for the owner to see the long line move on without him while he remained behind with a few crude tools, struggling to repair the damage.”
RAWHIDE
Ann Rowley
“it hurt me to see my children go hungry. I watched as they cut the loose rawhide from the cart wheels, roasted off the hair, and chewed the hide”
Robert Hurren
I scraped and singed the hair off a piece of hide that had been taken off discarded handcarts that had been pulled through the sands hundreds of miles. It was hard but we would boil and soften them and cut them up in small pieces and put in our pockets to chew on the road the next day.”
SAGE BRUSH
President Faust
”Two of those buried at Rock Creek Hollow were heroic children of tender years: Bodil Mortensen, age nine, from Denmark, and James Kirkwood, age eleven, from Scotland. Bodil was assigned to care for some small children as they crossed Rocky Ridge. When they arrived at camp, she had been sent to gather firewood. She was found frozen to death leaning against the wheel of their handcart, clutching sagebrush.”
FLOUR
John Chislett (Sub-Captain with Willey Co)
Our only alternative was to still further reduce -- working men received twelve ounces (a day) of flour, women and old men nine ounces, and children from four to eight ounces, depending on their size. Their paltry portion of flour was usually make into a gruel that hardly stalled the ravenous pains of hunger.”
ICY RIVERS
Martha Blackham
“The crossing of the North Platte was extremely difficult particularly the young women who forded the river which put them into shock. Some of the women were carried across on the backs of various males members of the party.
Upon reaching the other side a tremendous storm of snow, hail, and fierce winds hit the company. That night 13 died from exposure. The ground was frozen and graves could not be dug. The dead were stacked in a pile and covered with snow.”
Patience Loader
“I could not keep my tears back… When the handcart arrived at the bank of the (Sweetwater) river, one man who was much worn down, asked, “Have we got to go throught there?’ On being answered yes, he was so much affected that he was completely overcome. That was the last strainb. His fortitude and manhood gave way. He wxclaimed, “oh dear! I can’t go through that,” and burst into tear.”
Eliza Day (daughter of Eliza Staker)
“Eliza waded the Sweetwater River three times in one evening. First she took her son, Joseph across on her back, then on the other side she put him down, but he was frightened and tried to follow her back. She was forced to tie him to a nearby tree while she went back to get his sister. She then made a third trip to get her handcart.”
Ann Rowley.
I was left a widow with 7 children under 12 years of age and the step children of William's first marriage.
There came a time, when there seemed to be no food at all. Some of the men left to hunt buffalo. Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal. I asked God's help as I always did. I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea biscuits that were still in my trunk. They had been left over from the sea voyage, they were not large, and were so hard, they couldn't be broken. Surely, that was not enough to feed 8 people, but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not enough to feed 5000 people either, but through a miracle, Jesus had done it. So with God's help, nothing is impossible. I found the biscuits and put them in a Dutch oven and covered them with water and asked for God's blessing, then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals. When I took off the lid a little later, I found the pan Filled with food. I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness. That night my family had sufficient. –
HANDCARTS
Ideally, their carts should have been made of well-seasoned hickory, elm and white oak, but instead the flimsy contraptions were built with green lumber that would later dry out and shrink.
John Chislett (Sub-Captain with Willey Co),
“When a cart collapsed it was difficult for the owner to see the long line move on without him while he remained behind with a few crude tools, struggling to repair the damage.”
RAWHIDE
Ann Rowley
“it hurt me to see my children go hungry. I watched as they cut the loose rawhide from the cart wheels, roasted off the hair, and chewed the hide”
Robert Hurren
I scraped and singed the hair off a piece of hide that had been taken off discarded handcarts that had been pulled through the sands hundreds of miles. It was hard but we would boil and soften them and cut them up in small pieces and put in our pockets to chew on the road the next day.”
SAGE BRUSH
President Faust
”Two of those buried at Rock Creek Hollow were heroic children of tender years: Bodil Mortensen, age nine, from Denmark, and James Kirkwood, age eleven, from Scotland. Bodil was assigned to care for some small children as they crossed Rocky Ridge. When they arrived at camp, she had been sent to gather firewood. She was found frozen to death leaning against the wheel of their handcart, clutching sagebrush.”
FLOUR
John Chislett (Sub-Captain with Willey Co)
Our only alternative was to still further reduce -- working men received twelve ounces (a day) of flour, women and old men nine ounces, and children from four to eight ounces, depending on their size. Their paltry portion of flour was usually make into a gruel that hardly stalled the ravenous pains of hunger.”
ICY RIVERS
Martha Blackham
“The crossing of the North Platte was extremely difficult particularly the young women who forded the river which put them into shock. Some of the women were carried across on the backs of various males members of the party.
Upon reaching the other side a tremendous storm of snow, hail, and fierce winds hit the company. That night 13 died from exposure. The ground was frozen and graves could not be dug. The dead were stacked in a pile and covered with snow.”
Patience Loader
“I could not keep my tears back… When the handcart arrived at the bank of the (Sweetwater) river, one man who was much worn down, asked, “Have we got to go throught there?’ On being answered yes, he was so much affected that he was completely overcome. That was the last strainb. His fortitude and manhood gave way. He wxclaimed, “oh dear! I can’t go through that,” and burst into tear.”
Eliza Day (daughter of Eliza Staker)
“Eliza waded the Sweetwater River three times in one evening. First she took her son, Joseph across on her back, then on the other side she put him down, but he was frightened and tried to follow her back. She was forced to tie him to a nearby tree while she went back to get his sister. She then made a third trip to get her handcart.”
Click here for the PowerPoint pictures we used with these short stories.