Saints by SeaWe emigrated for Utah February 22, 1849 on the ship “Buena Vista” to New Orleans, and from New Orleans to St. Louis on the steam boat “Highland Mary”. At St. Louis, the cholera broke out amongst the crew. About one-third of the number were buried between St. Louis and Council Bluffs. We lost three of the family by cholera, who were my sisters, Sarah, Margret, and Mary.
We started on our journey across the plains the same season with George A. Smith as our Captain. We enjoyed good health crossing the plains. Here we found plenty of water, feed, game of all description, fish, wood, wild fruit and so on. We had no more trouble with the cholera. We had a heavy snow storm on the South Pass. We lost a few head of stock at this place. We arrived in Salt Lake City on October 29, 1849. We rented a house for the winter from Mrs. Higby in the 16th Ward. I was ordained a teacher under the hands of Bishop Roundy and his counselor, Brother Fielding, the 15th of February, 1854 in the 16th Ward school house. I was ordained to the office of an Elder by William Thomas and John Lewis in Brigham City Box Elder County, Utah Territory.
In December 1857, we took our journey southward along with the balance of the Saints by the dictation of the Presidency and remained at Pondtown while the United States Army went through Salt Lake City in 1858. We returned home in July. Then I hired to Colonel Lander from thirty dollars a month to make a new road from South Pass to California which was a very cold region with plenty of timber, the tallest I have ever seen. Some of us cut down trees there a hundred feet long, only eight inches through at the butt. We saw plenty of timber on this road, any amount of pine nuts, thousands of fish, an abundance of iron ore and stone coal. We also found round-iron shot that had been thrown up by volcanoes from the mountain. This region is very cold from Green River to Salt River.
We returned home in October 1858; then I went to Camp Floyd to chop cedar for the government for about two weeks and then to Little Cottonwood Canyon to chop logs through the winter.
I received my anointings and ordinances September 5th, 1860. I was ordained a member of the Seventies 36th Quorum, March 4th, 1871, by Henry Emery, Sr., in Brother Fox’s house, 14th Ward, Salt Lake City, Utah. I went on a mission to Arizona on April 22nd, 1873. This was the worst country I ever saw. It is composed of rock and sand with very little water. What there is, is full of alkaline, Timber, game, grass and all facilities for building settlements are very scarce; it is more like desert than anything else. We saw a great many petrified trees on our trip through Arizona and volcanic rock. Some of these petrified trees were over five feet through and over three hundred feet in length. I returned in July 3rd, 1873. I was glad to get back to Utah again.
In 1874 I was engaged in the salt business. I went to work for Edward Hall up to the Prince of Wales mine, Big Cottonwood Canyon on May 16th, 1875. I stayed up there all summer chopping timber for the mine. Sometime in November 1875 I was covered up in a snowslide for twenty minutes. I returned home on December 23rd, 1875.
John Jeremy and Sarah Ann Riley were married October 17th, 1876, by Daniel H. Wells in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Endowment House.
Jeremy, John. John Jeremy: My Father: His Autobiography. Manuscript. Northern
Arizona University Mormon Pioneers Collection. M.S.NO. 340. Box NO. 1.
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