. . . In 1868 while we were getting ready to sail for America, I remember mother sitting in front of the fireplace one morning bathing my six weeks old baby brother. Someone knocked at the door and I answered it, and a dear old lady about eighty years old came in. Her name was Mrs. Johnson and she had come to ask mother if we were going to America. Mother told her that we were getting ready to go. She asked if she might go along with us. Mother didn't feel as if she could take her along as she had seven children to look out for, but the dear old lady seemed so upset about not going, and promised she wouldn't be any bother, so Mother told her she would ask father about it. When mother spoke to father about the lady, he said we couldn't deny her the chance of going to Zion if her heart was there.

We got on board the steamship Minnesota about sundown and it sailed sometime [p.89] during the night. There were 534 Saints on board under the direction of Captain John Parry. When we were about five miles out to sea the captain had us all come up on deck and we sang, "Isle' of Beauty, Fare Thee Well." The lights of Liverpool were glittering in the darkness, I shall never forget it. Father was feeling very sad about saying goodbye to all of his folks. Mother's family were all dead. We didn't see father again until daylight. We were all sitting on the gunnysacks containing our clothing and bedding. These sacks had been painted with tar for waterproofing. Mother looked up and saw father helping the sailors with the masts. She said, 'There's your father.' We all looked up and and saw him. I remember the dear old lady was sitting on the sacks with us when we saw father.

Well, I took very sick on the boat. They thought for sure I was going to die. Mother had the doctor come down to see me. He told her to get me up on deck and let me stay there in the air. Sometimes the waves would get so high I could lie there and watch them. It was hard for mother to go up on deck very often to see me as she was a large woman and besides she had a little baby and the other children to take care of. Grandmother Johnson came up several times a day though and sat with me. She was awfully good to me on the boat and she made a little cloth bag that she hung around my neck and every day she filled it with cookies and dainties that she had brought with her from England. My sister and brothers came up every day to see me and they would eat the cookies and things and I was too sick to care. Grandmother Johnson would find them gone and she would tell mother she knew I was getting better because I eaten all those things. Mother worried for fear I would die and they would have to bury me at sea. She would just sit and wring her hands when she thought of it. Several persons did die during the trip and I saw them bury them. They would sew them up in a blanket and put them on a plank and dump them overboard. I think that would be an awful thing to have to bury one of your children in the ocean. I got well, however, and was able to survive the trip. [p.90]

We arrived in New York on the twelfth of July and took a train from there for Laramie City. I remember every time the train would stop that my brothers Sam and Henry would grab the cans and fill with fresh water for drinking. Mother would tell them to wait and see if the train was going to stop long enough but they would be yelling that other people were getting off and away they would go. The cans were like big milk cans and it would be all they could do to carry one between them. They would get the can up on the step as the train started out and then have to run alongside and climb on. I was always so afraid they would get left. When we stopped at towns any length of time along the way mother would get off the train and shop for fresh vegetables and eggs. I remember father taking care of the baby and mother seemed to be gone so long and the baby was cross. I kept asking father questions and one I asked was what he would do with the baby if mother got left behind. Just then he saw mother coming and she was hurrying along with her apron filled with eggs when she fell down. Father put the baby down and got off the train and ran to help her. He was so glad when he saw her laughing because then he knew she wasn't hurt even if the eggs were all smashed. Father never once scolded us on the entire journey. He was so good. Mother never did anything but just tend the baby. He had done all the packing for the trip too.

We arrived in Laramie City where we were met by mule teams and wagons for our trip across the plains. Captain Joseph S. Rawlins was in charge and there were 31 wagons and nearly 300 passengers, and we left on July 25th. . . . [p.91]

. . . I don't remember much about our arrival in Salt Lake City. They drove to the tithing yard to unload and it was there I saw my first Indian. We never saw any on the plains. I went over to pick up an ear of corn that I saw on the ground but the Indian beat me to it. I was terribly frightened of him, but he didn't say or do anything. . . . [p.93]

BIB: Evans, Ruth Blair, [Autobiography], "Utah Pioneer Biographies." vol. 9 pp 89-91, 93. (FHL)
(source abbreviations)