. . .Rose early Fri. May 23rd, and made preparations for our journey. Brother Wilkinson came down to bid me goodbye and appeared much effected when I bade him farewell. Shortly [p.118] after 8 o'clock myself and Sister Riddle took tram for Wigan, & from there took train to Liverpool. I visited the office, after which myself & Brother Critchlow went to view the splendors of the city. Evening we went on board the Wisconsin. We were up until a late hour enjoying ourselves with our friends who had come to take a last farewell.

Sat. May 24th On arriving from our berths, we all assembled & sang the songs of Zion & offered our morning prayers. About ten o'clock, President [George] Teasdale & a number of friends came on board. Sister Millen & her husband were among the number. President [George] Teasdale appointed John H. Hayes president of the company with Henry Tilley, & Thomas D. Brown as counselors, & myself secretary of the company. The parting with friends was a sad scene, one I shall never forget. Brother Riddle [p.119] was loath to part with me and wept bitterly. The vessel sailed out of harbor at one o'clock. President [George] Teasdale on biding me farewell appeared to be much effected & said he was sorry to part with me. After dinner the elders in charge of the company met in counsel, the company consisting of 122 souls including 8 missionaries was divided into wards, & 2 elders were placed in charge of each ward. Myself, Elders [Thomas D.] Brown and [E. R. K.] Ferguson were appointed to superintend tend the luggage, and Elders [H.] Tilley, [H. H.] Shurtliff, Hunt, and [Orson] Hicken were appointed to supply the Saints with food. Evening before retiring to rest all the Saints assembled in the steerage & we sang & offered prayer to Heavenly Father.

Sun. May 25th Rose early, we were we were [SIC] sailing into harbor at Queenstown, arrived at 10:10 ten minutes past ten. I wrote letters to mother, [p.120] Brother Riddle, Brother Wilkinson, President [George] Teasdale, and S_. We left Queenstown at one o'clock p.m. The day was lovely, hundreds of seagulls flocked around the vessel. Names of returning elders on board John H. Hayes, Henry Tilley, Thomas D. Brown, Orson Hicken, Eli B. K. Ferguson, Lewis Hunt, & Haskel H. Shurtcliffe [Shurtliff]. Evening all the Saints assembled in the steerage. We sang a hymn after which I offered prayer. Elders [Henry] Tilley, and [Thomas] Brown addressed the meeting & Elder Shurtcliffe [Haskel Shurtliff] pronounced the benediction. Two evangelical missionaries of the sectarian churches held a meeting on deck in the evening, some of our brethren gave out a number of tracts.

Mon. May 26th Suffered most intensely from seasickness, could not eat, only on deck two hours, nearly all the elders & a good percentage of the Saints were sick.

Tues. May 27th Rose feeling a little better. [p.121] Most of the Saints had also survived. I went down to prayers but felt very sick. After singing Elder [Orson] Hicken offered prayer, and Elder [Henry] Tilley gave a few words of timely instructions. It was a lovely day & the gallant ship was traveling twelve & a half miles an hour. Evening took sick. Spent a very restless night.

Wed. May 28th In bed nearly all day. Nearly all the Saints on board sick & confined to their berths. Very stormy sea.

Thurs. 29th Still sick, went down into the steerage to prayers, Elder [Orson] Hicken prayed and Elder [Henry] Tilley spoke for a short time. All the Saints on board very sick, few on board. Very stormy sea, the waves very frequently washing the deck & carrying all that came in contact with them. Passed three steamers supposed homeward bound.

Fri. May 30th The sea extremely rough, the Saints compelled to stay below owing to the waves washing the [p.122] deck every few minutes, very few who were not sick. Saw a whale spouting in the distance.

Sat. May 31st Rose early feeling much better, eat breakfast. Very lovely day but extremely cold owing to the vessel being surrounded by icebergs, which presented a very lovely picture. The Saints generally were feeling well, but President [John] Hayes was still very sick. The purser requested of me to try & form a choir, select some hymns, & practice to sing at the church service on the morrow. Accordingly in the evening we called into the cabin a few of the Saints, & practiced some songs, & stayed together until late enjoying ourselves.

Sun. June 1st A very lovely morning. The sea calm & peaceful. Attended morning Church of England meeting service, held in the saloon. The captain officiated as pastor, and the purser as curate, and I led [p.123] the singing, the service was one of form unaccompanied by power. Afternoon we proposed holding a meeting on deck having received permission from the captain to do so, but it was so wet & stormy we were obliged to retire to the steerage and hold meeting there. After singing, Brother [Eli] Ferguson offered prayer. Elders Shurtcliffe [Haskel Shurtliff], [Lewis] Hunt, myself, [Orson] Hicken, & [Henry] Tilley addressed the meeting, benediction by Elder [Thomas] Brown. Evening attended meeting held in the second cabin, conducted by the sectarian missionaries on board. They urged the necessity of the people preparing to meet God, but never showed the way how.

Mon. June 2nd All the Saints well & feeling happy. When we convened for prayer nearly all the Saints were present. Elder [Eli] Ferguson prayed & Elder [John] Hayes made a few remarks. I wrote letters to S. R., [p.124] Mother, Brother Wilkinson and Brother Riddle. Spent the afternoon enjoying myself with the Saints, & imparting counsel how they were to proceed at New York. Evening went down to prayers, had a good time with the Saints.

June Tues. 3rd Beautiful day, very pleasant sailing. I wrote a letter to the captain of the Wisconsin S. S., expressing the gratitude of all the Latter-day Saints on board, for the kindly & courteous treatment extended to them by all officers under his command. Visited the Saints seeking to give counsel & build them up in the faith. Evening we were called to administer to one of the brethren who was very sick, he at once commenced to recover, Elder Shurtcliffe [Haskel Shurtliff] offered the evening prayer.

June 4th Rose early, we were sailing down the river, & it was very cheerful to be in sight of land once more. [p.125] We arrived at the Guion Dock, New York at 8 o'clock a.m., and experienced no difficulty with our luggage. Sailed on the tugboat to Castle Garden, where the Saints passed the inspection of the custom house officers without difficulty. An effort was at the time being made by the government to stop the emigration of our people but, by the blessings of the Lord we were passed through in peace, not one of our company being detained. President George Q. Cannon & several of the authorities were & had been in New York for several days working in the interest of the emigration. From Castle Garden we sailed down the river to the Old Dominion Dock, and boarded the S. S. "Wyanoke," which set sail for Norfolk at 3 o'clock p.m. The elders & a few of the intermediate passengers were provided with saloon berths. Sailing down the [p.126] Hudson River, we witnessed some very pretty sights, the Brooklyn Bridge, which extended across the river a mile & a half, the Bartholdi Monument or the Statue of Liberty, a present from the French government to the American government. It was a lovely day & the sun was very powerful. Evening we had a short council, one of the passengers entertaining the company singing and playing the piano.

Thurs. June 5th Lovely morning, all the Saints feeling well & happy. We saw many porpoises swimming along the vessel side. Passed by the Virginia Fort which occupied such an important place in the history of the war between the northern and southern states. Also passed a German man of war vessel. Arrived at Norfolk at 7 o'clock p.m. Experienced much difficultly in transferring the luggage from the ship to the [p.127] train, several of the passengers trunks were smashed. The company gave some little remuneration to the owners of the property damaged and at 9 o'clock we boarded the cars and started on our overland journey.

June Fri. 6th All were awake very early gazing upon the lovely scenery presented to view, large fields of grain intermingled with lakes and lovely groves of trees, & the log cabins built on the hills were quite a novelty. We arrived at Lynchburg, a very busy town at 5:30 a.m. Passed through the Blue [Ridge] Mountains, stopped at Roanoke for breakfast, passed through the Rural Retreat [NOTE: A TOWN], also went over the summit 2500 feet high, saw the source of the Tennessee River situated in the summit. As we passed through Virginia we saw many large fields of grain that had been laid waste by hailstorms. We arrived at Bristol at 2:10 p.m. distance from [p. 128] Norfolk to Bristol 477 miles. We then commenced to pass through Tennessee, passed through Johnson [City]. On the route we had a good view of General Johnson's Monument, situated in a place called Greensville. Arrived at Knoxville at 6:50 p.m.; distance from Bristol to Knoxville 124 miles. Arrived at Chattanooga, Tennessee at 11 o'clock p.m. Elder Ruben G. Miller who was laboring in the southern states came on board to have an interview with us. I had a very interesting conversation with Colonel Manning and Mr. Warren. We left Chattanooga at 11:30 p.m., thousands of lightning flies could be seen in the dark.

June Sat. 7th Traveled in the state of Alabama for several hours, arrived at Tuscumbia at 5 o'clock a.m. Traveled through the state of Mississippi for 3 hours, arrived at Memphis 10:30 a.m. Crossed the Mississippi River on the steamboat. [p.129] The train was run onto the boat & we were carried safely across. We resumed our journey at 12 o'clock, distance from Knoxville to Memphis 421 miles. Nigger women were fishing on the river's banks. Passed Black Rock [Arkansas]. I went from one car to another visiting among the Saints & singing with them the songs of Zion. At night we had a little difficulty with some man who came on board when the train was stopped, he pulled out his pistol & threatened to shoot Elder [Henry] Tilley.

Sun. June 8th Traveled in the states of Missouri & Kansas, passed through the country where the Garden of Eden was situated when Father Adam lived. Arrived at Kansas at 7 o'clock a.m., distance from Memphis to Kansas City 427 miles. Resumed our journey at 8:30 a.m. On arriving at Abilene the train stopped for 20 minutes & a few of [p.130] us went round the town. Spent the evening with the Saints singing the songs of Zion. Administered to one of the brethren who was very sick, suffering from an abscess, he was soon entirely recovered.

Mon. June 9th Arrived at Denver City, 7:30 a.m., had considerable difficulty transferring the luggage. Distance from Kansas to Denver [-]. Arrived at Cheyenne shortly after 3 o'clock traveling through Kansas we saw the snow capped mountains of the Rocky range which was a lovely sight. Left Cheyenne at 3 o'clock from Kansas City to Ogden City 1264 miles. Evening visited among the Saints & spent a very happy time. Spent a very pleasant time talking to the Rawlinson family upon the gospel.

June Tues. 10th Arrived at Green River 5:30 a.m. and left shortly after six o'clock, arrived at Ogden [p. 131] about 12:30 a. m. left shortly after one. Arrived at Salt Lake City 3 o'clock p.m. & to my surprise there was a number of friends to meet me and our hearts greatly rejoiced at seeing each other once more. . . . [p.132]

BIB: Eckersley, Joseph. Diary, Book C. bx. 1, fd. 3, vol. 3, pp. 118-132. (CHL)
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