Thomas Ball was the President of our branch. We did not have any Sunday School in our branch of Latter Day Saints, so I went to the Baptist Church with my cousin Sarah Allgood, and I liked it very much. After they organized a Sunday School of our own, at "Club Hall" on Silver Street. I attended there until I came here.
One day Mother got a piece of canvas and oiled it with linseed oil for several days to pack our clothes in. We boarded the train at Lafbuer. From there we went to Liverpool. We set sail on the morning of the 21st of May 1864, on the sailing ship The General McClellan. We were on the sea a little over five weeks. The Captain took us a long way north, "to keep us healthy" he said, and the ship struck an iceberg. There were women and children screaming all over the place. The Captain said the only thing that saved us was because we were Mormon people, it was the Lord's power. We were shut down in the bottom of the ship without food or light for a night and day, while repairs were being made. The water on the sailing ship was simply terrible, being full of worms and crawlers. We would have to wait until it settled and pour the top water off and throw the dregs away. Wonders will never cease, we had no sickness on board ship. Our rations on the ship were a little fat bacon, beans, dried fruit, rice, a little brown sugar, and sea buiscuits as hard as rocks. We had only one death a baby. They buried it over board on Sunday morning. We landed about the 28th of June in New York City, at Castle Gardens(Castle Gardens became Ellis Island)and stayed there one day and night. We took a boat from there up the Hudson River. Then we took a train through some states, I forget just where. And transferred to a side wheeler steamer. The reason for doing this was that at the time the Civil War was raging and many Rail Road bridges had been burned. Many times the soldiers nearly scared the life out of us. Going up the Missouri, on that old side wheeler we eventually arrived in Wyoming, Nebraska. There we joined a company under the leadership of Captain Joseph Rawlins. The teamsters were there with the cattle and wagons, and loaded our luggage. The old people rode, but the young had to walk. Our rations on the plains were a little flour, beans, and for extra taste a few dried peaches. My Mother would cook for breakfast a small griddle cake, composed of flour, baking soda, and water. Which turned so yellow that it almost made us vomit to look at it. This cake she divided up betwixt four of us. It was made tasty by a little home made molasses, called Black Strap. After this hearty breakfast we walked all day making various distances to the next camping place. There we would get a supper of small griddle cakes, a few beans and dried peaches. We did not have any meat or vegetables from the time we left home until we arrived in Salt Lake City. When we came to water, the cattle always drank first, we took what was left. One night we came to a small camp of soldiers, where there was a deep well. The whole company started to draw it up until the water was as black as night, but it tasted so good to us all. On the way across the plains my brothers and myself carried a bed tick and gathered buffalo chips. We used the chips to build fires at the camping place each evening. I was very healthy and strong, never knew a days sickness. Girls that seemed well and healthy in the day, they'd be burying them at night.
One day after making a long drive, we came to a place on the Platte River where there were hundreds of wikiups and Indians. The Captain called a meeting and said "No fires tonight and no one outside the corral." The cattle would rest a while and be kept inside the corral enclosure. If the Indians came and demanded our flour we would all starve. We went all that night, even the cattle without water or food. Then we started out early the next morning and were not molested. I waded every stream and river, but the Green River, even the Platte. When we crossed the Green River the Captain ordered everyone to ride, so as to get on the other side quicker on account of the Indians. We crossed in the dark of night.
There was a companion of mine named Emma Ward, we came from the same place. We walked, slept, and ate together. One day we walked until we were just give out. We sat down and said we couldn't go any futher. We sat there until the wagons were just like little specks in the distance. Our feet were so sore and blistered we just didn't care. While sitting there a young man came to us on a horse. We didn't see where he came from nor where he went, but he talked to us very nice and encouraged us to go on. He promised us if we would try we would make it alright, and would not be harmed. We were so tired and give out, we didn't care whether we died or lived. But he was so nice, and gave us such encouragement, that it seemed to make us feel better, and have added strength. So we got up and went on. It was after dark when we got to the wagon train. We arrived at the camping place just as a hastily organized band of men were starting back to search for us. We recieved a severe lecture for separating from the wagons as Indians were all around us. Having passed many places where wagon trains had been burned. The numerous newly made graves were a grim threat of what our fate would be if the Indians found us. Since then I have told people about the man on the horse, and they have said that they think maybe it was one of the "Three Nephites". And I truly believe it was. After incredible hardships we finally arrived in Salt Lake City in the latter part of October 1864.
After working in Salt Lake for a time, we moved to Coalville. So my brothers could get work in the coal mines. On the 9th of January, I was married to Thomas Lewis Beech, at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. After we were married we bought a little log house that stood where the Andrew Robson home now is. It had a dirt roof and the previous owner was Fred Wilde. The logs in the house were cottonwoods cut from the bottoms of the Weber River. It also had a dirt floor and had neither windows or doors to keep out the cold. I often used my petticoats to cover these openings. I had a bed, two chairs, and a rocking chair. I put curtains around my bed by cutting up one of my dresses. A dress in those days provided plenty of material. My husband bored some holes in the wall logs on the inside. He drove some sticks into the holes and set an old box I had brought from England on these sticks. This, with a part of another old dress for curtains served for my dresser.
My stove? It was a fireplace. We went to the Chalk Creek narrows and got two large flat rocks. This I used to fry and broil on. I put curtains to the windows with the remains of the dress that I had cut for my dresser. My I sure was proud of my new furniture and home, and believe me they were the best in the country at that time. After living there a short time I went to cook for the original construction of the Union Pacific Rail Road, through Echo Canyon. I cooked for the rail road graders, of which my Husband was one.
We went back to Coalville where my first baby was born. The children born to us are, Sarah Jane born December 5th 1868; John Thomas born September 12th 1872; William Henry born December 27th 1873; Lucy born December 1st 1871 she died at six weeks old; Mary Ann born May 24th 1877; Eliza Lewis born December 4th 1879; I raised one neice Sabrah Allgood born March 28th 1884,She is the daughter of my brother John Platts. Her mother Sabrah died a few weeks after her birth.
We moved to Almy Wyoming, where my husband got work in the coal mines. There I ran a boarding house, sixty five boarders. I made bread and pies everyday. That was real work! I soon had to keep the home going as my husband went on a mission in 1889. I sent every dime that I could to my husband in England. After he returned from his mission we bought some land in Coalville, going into farming and dairying. We also built a nice two story home. My husband was called on another mission to England in 1900.
On our fiftieth wedding anniversary, my husband was called upon to make a speech. He said that he would like to live those fifty years over again. Then it came my turn to talk, and I told them that the Lord had been good to us, we had surely been blessed. But I would not like to live those years again. I sincerely believe I could not stand those hardships again. Nor do I believe that I could exist on the rough fare we had in those days.
Today I am an old woman, eighty five years of age. And still able to be around and do for myself. And I hope I will be able to do so until the end, for which I am very thankful.
Such is the life story of Jane Allgood Beech, my grandmother, as told to me on August 25th 1934, by this loveable woman. It is astonishing her ability to get around and keep her home as clean as a new pin. Kind, loveable, never to busy to hear our troubles, and joys. What a wonderful Grandmother she is.
Delphia Ball Jones
She died without suffering March 20th 1939. Eighty nine years old, in her lovely two story house. As she had been promised in her blessing when she was a girl, "If she lived close to the Lord, she would live as long as life was desirous." There is no wonder that the west was won from a desert, when such fine women were there to help and cheer their men in times when conditions seemed almost unsurmountable.
Thomas Ball was the President of our branch. We did not have any Sunday School in our branch of Latter Day Saints, so I went to the Baptist Church with my cousin Sarah Allgood, and I liked it very much. After they organized a Sunday School of our own, at "Club Hall" on Silver Street. I attended there until I came here.
One day Mother got a piece of canvas and oiled it with linseed oil for several days to pack our clothes in. We boarded the train at Lafbuer. From there we went to Liverpool. We set sail on the morning of the 21st of May 1864, on the sailing ship The General McClellan. We were on the sea a little over five weeks. The Captain took us a long way north, "to keep us healthy" he said, and the ship struck an iceberg. There were women and children screaming all over the place. The Captain said the only thing that saved us was because we were Mormon people, it was the Lord's power. We were shut down in the bottom of the ship without food or light for a night and day, while repairs were being made. The water on the sailing ship was simply terrible, being full of worms and crawlers. We would have to wait until it settled and pour the top water off and throw the dregs away. Wonders will never cease, we had no sickness on board ship. Our rations on the ship were a little fat bacon, beans, dried fruit, rice, a little brown sugar, and sea buiscuits as hard as rocks. We had only one death a baby. They buried it over board on Sunday morning. We landed about the 28th of June in New York City, at Castle Gardens(Castle Gardens became Ellis Island)and stayed there one day and night. We took a boat from there up the Hudson River. Then we took a train through some states, I forget just where. And transferred to a side wheeler steamer. The reason for doing this was that at the time the Civil War was raging and many Rail Road bridges had been burned. Many times the soldiers nearly scared the life out of us. Going up the Missouri, on that old side wheeler we eventually arrived in Wyoming, Nebraska. There we joined a company under the leadership of Captain Joseph Rawlins. The teamsters were there with the cattle and wagons, and loaded our luggage. The old people rode, but the young had to walk. Our rations on the plains were a little flour, beans, and for extra taste a few dried peaches. My Mother would cook for breakfast a small griddle cake, composed of flour, baking soda, and water. Which turned so yellow that it almost made us vomit to look at it. This cake she divided up betwixt four of us. It was made tasty by a little home made molasses, called Black Strap. After this hearty breakfast we walked all day making various distances to the next camping place. There we would get a supper of small griddle cakes, a few beans and dried peaches. We did not have any meat or vegetables from the time we left home until we arrived in Salt Lake City. When we came to water, the cattle always drank first, we took what was left. One night we came to a small camp of soldiers, where there was a deep well. The whole company started to draw it up until the water was as black as night, but it tasted so good to us all. On the way across the plains my brothers and myself carried a bed tick and gathered buffalo chips. We used the chips to build fires at the camping place each evening. I was very healthy and strong, never knew a days sickness. Girls that seemed well and healthy in the day, they'd be burying them at night.
One day after making a long drive, we came to a place on the Platte River where there were hundreds of wikiups and Indians. The Captain called a meeting and said "No fires tonight and no one outside the corral." The cattle would rest a while and be kept inside the corral enclosure. If the Indians came and demanded our flour we would all starve. We went all that night, even the cattle without water or food. Then we started out early the next morning and were not molested. I waded every stream and river, but the Green River, even the Platte. When we crossed the Green River the Captain ordered everyone to ride, so as to get on the other side quicker on account of the Indians. We crossed in the dark of night.
There was a companion of mine named Emma Ward, we came from the same place. We walked, slept, and ate together. One day we walked until we were just give out. We sat down and said we couldn't go any futher. We sat there until the wagons were just like little specks in the distance. Our feet were so sore and blistered we just didn't care. While sitting there a young man came to us on a horse. We didn't see where he came from nor where he went, but he talked to us very nice and encouraged us to go on. He promised us if we would try we would make it alright, and would not be harmed. We were so tired and give out, we didn't care whether we died or lived. But he was so nice, and gave us such encouragement, that it seemed to make us feel better, and have added strength. So we got up and went on. It was after dark when we got to the wagon train. We arrived at the camping place just as a hastily organized band of men were starting back to search for us. We recieved a severe lecture for separating from the wagons as Indians were all around us. Having passed many places where wagon trains had been burned. The numerous newly made graves were a grim threat of what our fate would be if the Indians found us. Since then I have told people about the man on the horse, and they have said that they think maybe it was one of the "Three Nephites". And I truly believe it was. After incredible hardships we finally arrived in Salt Lake City in the latter part of October 1864.
After working in Salt Lake for a time, we moved to Coalville. So my brothers could get work in the coal mines. On the 9th of January, I was married to Thomas Lewis Beech, at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. After we were married we bought a little log house that stood where the Andrew Robson home now is. It had a dirt roof and the previous owner was Fred Wilde. The logs in the house were cottonwoods cut from the bottoms of the Weber River. It also had a dirt floor and had neither windows or doors to keep out the cold. I often used my petticoats to cover these openings. I had a bed, two chairs, and a rocking chair. I put curtains around my bed by cutting up one of my dresses. A dress in those days provided plenty of material. My husband bored some holes in the wall logs on the inside. He drove some sticks into the holes and set an old box I had brought from England on these sticks. This, with a part of another old dress for curtains served for my dresser.
My stove? It was a fireplace. We went to the Chalk Creek narrows and got two large flat rocks. This I used to fry and broil on. I put curtains to the windows with the remains of the dress that I had cut for my dresser. My I sure was proud of my new furniture and home, and believe me they were the best in the country at that time. After living there a short time I went to cook for the original construction of the Union Pacific Rail Road, through Echo Canyon. I cooked for the rail road graders, of which my Husband was one.
We went back to Coalville where my first baby was born. The children born to us are, Sarah Jane born December 5th 1868; John Thomas born September 12th 1872; William Henry born December 27th 1873; Lucy born December 1st 1871 she died at six weeks old; Mary Ann born May 24th 1877; Eliza Lewis born December 4th 1879; I raised one neice Sabrah Allgood born March 28th 1884,She is the daughter of my brother John Platts. Her mother Sabrah died a few weeks after her birth.
We moved to Almy Wyoming, where my husband got work in the coal mines. There I ran a boarding house, sixty five boarders. I made bread and pies everyday. That was real work! I soon had to keep the home going as my husband went on a mission in 1889. I sent every dime that I could to my husband in England. After he returned from his mission we bought some land in Coalville, going into farming and dairying. We also built a nice two story home. My husband was called on another mission to England in 1900.
On our fiftieth wedding anniversary, my husband was called upon to make a speech. He said that he would like to live those fifty years over again. Then it came my turn to talk, and I told them that the Lord had been good to us, we had surely been blessed. But I would not like to live those years again. I sincerely believe I could not stand those hardships again. Nor do I believe that I could exist on the rough fare we had in those days.
Today I am an old woman, eighty five years of age. And still able to be around and do for myself. And I hope I will be able to do so until the end, for which I am very thankful.
Such is the life story of Jane Allgood Beech, my grandmother, as told to me on August 25th 1934, by this loveable woman. It is astonishing her ability to get around and keep her home as clean as a new pin. Kind, loveable, never to busy to hear our troubles, and joys. What a wonderful Grandmother she is.
Delphia Ball Jones
She died without suffering March 20th 1939. Eighty nine years old, in her lovely two story house. As she had been promised in her blessing when she was a girl, "If she lived close to the Lord, she would live as long as life was desirous." There is no wonder that the west was won from a desert, when such fine women were there to help and cheer their men in times when conditions seemed almost unsurmountable.