C H A P T E R 4

Far away, ye billows, bear me.,Lovely, native land farewell!

From New Yorkto Florence byRail andSteamboat

the course of a day or so be entirely out of danger.

I presume we shall be detained at New York a day or so;

I hope no longer, as our time is precious.

The saints, as a general thing,have enjoyed good health,

with the exception of a little inconvenience from sea sick-

ness, and have manifested a desire to keep the command-

ments of God.

June 20th.We arrived safely at quarantine on the evening

of Friday, the 15th inst.The quarantine doctor came off and

informed Captain Bell that, in consequence of the disease

being on board, all the passengers would have to be vacci-

nated, although all the patients were about recovered. On

Saturday, the 16th, two doctors came off and vaccinated

(with but few exceptions,) the whole of the steerage and a

portion of the cabin passengers, also the ship’s crew. The

passengers were all landed with their baggage at Castle

Gardens today, and will proceed on their journey West

tomorrow evening. The brethren here—namely brothers

A P I O N E E R J O U R N E Y F R O M T H E D E E T O T H E M U D D Y 4 1

The Bennetts and their group sailed up theHudson River to Albany on the steamboatIsaac Newton, on the left. [Currier and Ivesprint.]

Croxhall, Miles, Taylor, and Stones, have been exceedingly

kind and attentive in making arrangements for this compa-

ny, and the people feel to bless them for their solicitude for

their welfare. I learn form brothers Croxhall and Miles that

brother Cannon is still at Florence,and will receive us there.

This, I can assure you, is gratifying to the Elders and Saints

generally.

Captain Bell has also been very kind and liberal to the

people,and has done all in his power to further their inter-

ests. He will call at the Offices on his return to Liverpool,

and I should much like you to make a further acquaintance

with him.

I am thankful that the Lord has blessed me and my fam-

ily with good health, and feel that his mercies will still be

extended towards us. Sister W. joins me in affectionate

remembrance to you and brothers Gates, Andrus, and

Blackburn, —also to all of my old associates in the Office,

the good folks in Liverpool, and the Saints generally. The

C A T H E R I N E J O N E S B E N N E T T4 2

Lord bless and prosper you!

Your friend and brother,Thomas Williams.

The trip from New York to Florence was a route that until

the year before,no other group of Mormons had taken.

On the 21st the emigrants left New York per steamboat

"Isaac Newton" and sailed up the Hudson River to Albany,

where they arrived on the 22nd. From Albany the journey

was continued via Rochester to Niagara Falls, where the

train stopped about seven hours in order to give the emi-

grants the pleasure of seeing the great waterfall and the

grand suspension bridge. The journey was continued

through Canada along the north shore of Lake Erie to

Windsor, where the river was crossed to Detroit in

Michigan.Thence to Chicago,which city was reached June

25th. From Chicago, the emigrants traveled by railroad to

Quincy, Ill., whence they crossed the Mississippi River to

A P I O N E E R J O U R N E Y F R O M T H E D E E T O T H E M U D D Y 4 3

158 Railroad map of the United States, show-ing the route the Bennetts and their grouptook to Florence. This was only the secondyear that Mormon pioneers took the northernroute. It helped them avoid the sicknessesother pioneers contracted in the South.[Library of Congress]

Hannibal in Missouri, and thence traveled by railroad to St.

Joseph, Mo. Here 13 persons were placed in a hospital, but

upon close examination they were found to be well

enough to join the company the following day on the trip

up the Missouri River, to Florence, Neb., where the com-

pany arrived in the night between June 30th and July 1st.

Elder George Q. Cannon, who this year acted as Church

emigration agent, made splendid arrangements for the

journey across the Plains. It was deemed wisdom to send

the emigrants as far as possible by steam and avoid the toil-

some and harassing part of the team journey from Iowa

City to Florence, a distance of nearly 300 miles, which in

former years had required from 15 to 20 days travel. It had

been learned by experience that the distance between

Iowa City and Florence, at the season of the year when the

emigrants had to travel it, was, in point of toil and hard-

ship, by far the worst part of the journey, owing to its

being a low, wet country, which in the opening of the year

was subject to heavy and continued rains. These storms,

owing to the nature of the soil (being clay most of the dis-

tance), rendered the roads almost impassable. Arriving at

Florence, the emigrants found shelter in a number of

empty houses while they made the necessary preparations

for crossing the Plains.

Henry Reiser from Switzerland wrote about landing

in New York:

On the 14th of June the pilot came on board and we

received the news with great rejoicing, for we were told that

now we were not very far from the coast. On the 15th a

small boat came to tug ours to Staten Island. On June the

16th the doctor came on board and all the passengers had to

go through a physical examination.As there were some cases

of small pox,it was decided that we all would have to be vac-

cinated.This was done and on the same day those who had

the small pox were taken to the hospital in New York,among

them were 6 Scandinavians and a Swiss. On the 17th the lit-

tle boy of Brother Christian Staufer from Berne died; on the

18th my little boy,Henri,16 months,passed away and on the

19th the little boy of Johann Keller died. All three were

buried on Staten Island.We felt very bad over losing the boy,

but willing to recognize the hand of the Lord in it ... [Our

Pioneer Heritage,Vol. 12, p.477]

C A T H E R I N E J O N E S B E N N E T T4 4

The Bennetts and their companions wereallowed to visit the grandeur of Niagara Fallsand the man-made wonder of the suspension

bridge. [New York Historical Society]

Charles F. Jones became the captain of the group

that the Bennetts were in as they crossed the plains.

At the arrival to New York,Charles Jones had a daughter,

Amy,who got very sick. He wrote:

While on the Steamer Isaac Newton, at 3 a.m. of the

morning of the 22 of June my child Amy Elizabeth died

on board the above named boat.And in consequence of

arrangements having been made with the railway compa-

ny to start the saints by train at 12 a m of this day I [had

the painful agony] of leaving my child in the hands of an

undertaker in Albany and the President of the New York

Branch Brother Crocksal very much to the grief of myself

and dear wife.[Charles F. Jones Journal Private Journal Vol

3 MS 1679]

Henry Reiser described the trip from New York to Florence:

On the 21st we went to Albany where we arrived in the

morning of the 22nd. From there we took the train for the

Niagara Falls. These are wonderful to look on. Then we

went to Jefferson. There we had to cross a river which

took us about. five minutes.After that we had to take the

train to go to Quincy. There again we had to take the

steamboat. Smallpox increased rapidly and four of the

swiss saints were sick.

We arrived at Brookfield where we stopped for half and

hour; as we were Mormans we couldn't get anything to

eat.While in the train, sister Keller gave birth to a child.

On the 28th we arrived at St. Joseph, where we remained

one day. On account of the smallpox we had to leave here

family Keller, Sister Theurer and sister Staufer, the captain

of the boat not being willing to take them along.

In the morning of July 1st, at 3 o’clock, we reached

Florence. Brother Heinrich Fischer from Zuerich died on

the way and was buried in Florence. In Florence houses

were assigned to us, so that we didn't have to wait long for

a living place.

Writing about visiting Niagara Falls, Fanny Fry, who

was a part of the pioneer group that followed the same

route a year earlier, recorded the view and the reaction:

A P I O N E E R J O U R N E Y F R O M T H E D E E T O T H E M U D D Y 4 5

1860s daguerreotype of Niagara Falls.[Library of Congress]

The conductor stopped the train and let us all have a

good look at the Niagara Falls. I have never forgotten the

grandeur of the scenery.At every depot of any size there

would be a crowd of people waiting to see the company

of poor deluded Mormons going to Utah.The young girls

oh how they did pity us, going there to enter into

polygamy.They would express great sorrow for us. [Fanny

Fry Simons (Journal), Our Pioneer Heritage, compiled by

the Lesson Committee vol. 6 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of

Utah Pioneers, 1983) p. 190]

C A T H E R I N E J O N E S B E N N E T T4 6

Daguerreotype of a riverboat from the 1860s. [Library of Congress]

Sketch of the steamboat Omaha, which theBennetts took from St. Joseph to Florence. [Free

Public Library, Council Bluffs, Iowa]