A Brief History of Ann East

by T.K. Parker, 30 May, 2004

It would be an easy task to write down a genealogy of Ann East: born here on this date, parents, brothers / sisters, lived here... and here, who she married, who were her children, died here on this date. All that exists on genealogy charts compiled at various times by her descendants. This one person, I think, deserves more. She lived in an extraordinary time, the great migration west across America. She did more than just move across the plains; she left her home in England to come to America. She came because she believed she was called to do it. To her it was an article of faith.

This is a story of Ann East, who came to America on April 28, 1851. It isn't THE story; Ann wrote that, or at least snippets of it, in 1900. After a hundred years there is much supposition but not a lot of guessing. Ann was a Mormon, and their history is extraordinarily well documented. So we know within reasonable expectations when she left England and how she came to Zion. We have her testimony, we have family records, we have family history passed from generation to generation, and we have the records in the Latter Day Saints Family History Center to fill in the rest. I will not presume to put dialog in her mouth, and I will footnote my sources parenthetically as I go as in: (1), (2), etc.. This document is being written in HTML because 1). I expect to publish it on the internet, and 2). because I can't spell, and both Open Office and Netscape have excellent spell checkers. Any factual, grammatical, or spelling errors are mine. TKP 3/12/2004

Ann East was a working girl from a working family. She was born May 7, 1821, the daughter of William East and Ann Easy East in Whaddon, Cambridgeshire, England. Her father, William, was " a laboring man" by her account, "and as we grew up we had to work for a living". She had three brothers: Thomas, George, and Javes, and six sisters: Mary, Sarah, Lydia, Jane, Hannah, and Ruth. Two brothers and at least one sister, Jane, emigrated to America. About 1837 Ann heard Dr. Richards, a minister from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, preach, and she became interested in the LDS church. She was baptized "in Kings Bridge river in August, 1840." All the above is from her own testimony.

The Voyage

It would have been cold on Tuesday, March 4, 1851, as Ann East waited to board the ship Olympus (1) in Liverpool harbor. It's always cold in England in March, and especially cold by the water. So we can imagine Ann was cold and not a little uncomfortable. She was leaving her family and going across the ocean to a far place. She would have been excited also; she was going home. To Zion.

Ann had been called home as most Mormons after 1840 were called: the preachers talked of a "Gathering", the call to emigrate with the Saints to America. To get there wasn't easy; she would have sent her name "to the president of the European mission along with a recommend from the local church leader". (2) If accepted she probably had to raise her fare, about 3 - 5 pounds (over a month's wages) if she was to sail "Steerage", what amounted to third class passage. "After 1850 the church helped many emigrate". (3) We do not know if Ann had financial help but she says she almost couldn't go because she didn't have the fare. On this trip there were 245 Mormon passengers. (4)

The Olympus was (most likely) a square rigged packet ship, a sailing ship with no other means of propulsion on a set schedule between two ports. The 1850s were near the beginning of the change from sail to steam; it is possible the Olympus was a side-wheeler but it is unlikely she was propeller driven as was the later Olympus of Great Britain registry built in 1860. The trip to New Orleans took 8 weeks, in a dungeon-like environment. Steerage passage was below decks in what we would consider intolerable conditions, a mere 18" side to side clearance in a bunk shared with another passenger with miserable sanitary conditions and poor (at best) food. While single women traveled separately from families and single men we have to assume she shared a bunk with another woman. To get a clearer picture of the journey I recommend reading "Life On Board a Mormon Emigrant Ship" which is available at the BYU website: http://home.byu.net/%7Erch22/continuing_education/worldconfrep.j97.htm . Suffice it to say there would have been storms, and seasickness, and illness, and boredom. But not always. There were meetings and church services and sometimes singing and dancing. On the Olympus "50 persons were baptized... President Howell felt that some of the sailors would be the means of taking the Mormon message to foreign lands..." (5) Conditions would have improved somewhat as the ship made her way south, with warmer weather and the possibility of fresh fish as the ship neared and eventually crossed the gulf stream. It would have been warm when, on April 28, 1851, (6) Ann landed in New Orleans. She was glad, I'm sure, to have the voyage over.

Ann writes that she traveled to St. Louis, probably on a paddle wheeler, and stayed there for some unknown reason. She doesn't mention why she stopped; it's possible she just ran out of money and had to recoup her finances while the rest of the party traveled on. In St. Louis she met and married John Richard Bromhead, on April 23, 1853. We don't know much about John other than he came from England, but he was almost certainly Mormon. Otherwise he would probably not been allowed to travel west with the Saints.

A short history of the Mormon Church

To understand the journey west to Zion one has to know something of the events that drove the Saints to go there. The proper name of the Church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; they called themselves "Saints", or “Mormons”. The church was started by Joseph Smith of Palmyra, New York . It arose during a period of great expectation of the second coming of Jesus Christ. (7) In the 1820s Joseph Smith experienced the first of two visions that led to the formation of his church. Over the next ten years he translated the Book of Mormon and organized the church. Most of this is from the Mormon website: http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,956-1,00.html . The Mormons had a different view of Christianity and it caused them many problems with their neighbors. The church was forced to relocate several times, ending up in Nauvoo, IL. It was in Nauvoo that Joseph Smith and one of his followers were killed by a mob in 1844. Smith had planned a migration to the Great Basin in the Rocky Mountains to escape the religious persecution he felt his followers were being forced to endure, but it was left to Brigham Young to complete the journey.

On the Mormon Trail

By this time the church was justifiably cautious. They chose the way west paralleling the Oregon Trail, but largely on the north side of the Platte river while the Oregon Trail followed the south side of the river. This practice lasted until 1849, when the California gold rush usurped the northern route and used up most of the wood and grazing land. (8) By 1856 the gold rush had died down and they moved back to the north side of the Platte.

The Mormons had several jumping off points. The original starting place was Nauvoo, IL; they trekked across Iowa and stayed at Winter Quarters for the winter of 1846 - 1847 near what is now Council Bluffs Iowa, and left the following spring for Utah. Brigham Young led the first party, but it was Orson Pratt who was the first Saint to enter the Salt Lake valley on July 22, 1847.(9)

Orson Pratt was one of the earliest members of the LDS church. He was a preacher, a prolific writer, and an inventor. One of his inventions was an odometer so the Saints could measure their progress across the plains. He had preached in Europe, and he made more than one trip across the plains.

By 1848 immigrant ships began to arrive with Saints from Europe and elsewhere. In 1847 the Saints abandoned Winter Quarters and moved en masse to Utah (10). In 1849 through 1852 they left from Kanesville, IA. In 1853 companies left from Keokuk, which is just south of Nauvoo, IL, and Kanesville, IA (present day Council Bluffs, IA). In 1854 the origin was Westport, MO, just outside of Independence, MO and Fort Leavenworth, KS. All these departure points are on great rivers; Nauvoo, IL, and Keokuk, IA are on the Mississippi, and Council Bluffs and Westport are on the Missouri. It may be that these points were chosen because they could be reached by boat. Later companies left from Mormon Grove, KS, Iowa City, IA, and other places. John and Ann Bromhead left "in the spring of 1854 to come to Utah". We can assume they left from Westport (11) although they may have left from Fort Leavenworth, KS.

From Westport the Oregon Trail paralleled the Blue River up to near Fort Kearney Nebraska. The trail then followed the south bank of the Platte northwest towards South Pass. The Mormons had been using the north bank of the Platte until 1849. We don't know for sure which bank they rode in 1854 but we think they cut a new road from Westport to Fort Kearney by way of Fort Riley Kansas and the Republican river. Both forts were new, built to assist the wagon trains. By this road the distance from Westport, MO to the Platte was "330 English Miles" (12)

Disease was the bane of the traveler. Hundreds died of smallpox, malaria, pneumonia, and other illnesses, but cholera was worst of all. A person could catch cholera from food, drinking water, or from poor sanitation. There were no antibiotics and often no medical help. Thousands of Mormons died from cholera, either on ships, boats, or crossing the plains. One of them was John Bromhead.

John Bromhead died of Cholera at age 35 on June 21, 1854 at Sweetwater Nebraska according to Ann's history; her daughter Jane Ann Bromhead was born June 23, 1854. According to Ann, Jane was born in Orson Pratt's carriage. This account disagrees with the "Pioneer Companies That Crossed The Plains 1847 - 1868" data; Orson Pratt is listed as starting out "Late July, 1854". The earliest dates listed for a company was Hans Peter Olsen's group, which left 15 June, 1854 and Job Smith's independent company that left June 16. This too is problematic; if we assume the wagons traveled about 15 miles a day, and if we accept the estimate of 330 miles from Westport to Fort Kearney and the Platte river, then John died in Kansas, and Jane was born in Kansas as well. Ann says "We came to the valley on Sept. 21". That would imply she was with the Job Smith company; they arrived at Salt Lake on September 23. All other companies arrived either September 30 or in October. (13). Did Orson Pratt send a carriage ahead with Job Smith? That's possible. Did they leave earlier than June 15 - 16? That's improbable. Here's why:

The Platte River

The Indians called it "Nebraska" because it was flat. If you've ever driven Interstate 80 out of Omaha or Interstate 76 from Fort Morgan, CO, you can attest to that. The interstate crosses and re-crosses the Platte river. The river is wide and shallow, and in the spring it is treacherous. The Platte, North and South, drains the snowfall from the Rocky Mountains east of the Continental divide all the way from below Denver to Idaho. The spring thaw can occur from March to May, and is late as often as it is early. When the thaw is running the Platte spreads wide; before flood control it was often a "mile wide and an inch deep", but deeper and faster running during the thaw. Wagons had to ford the Platte; there was no other way to get across. (14) So they had to wait for the thaw to abate. Of all the Mormon companies that crossed the Missouri river only one or two did so before June 1. Many more started in July or August.

Sweetwater

There were few towns in Nebraska in 1854. There is a present day Sweetwater north of Kearney, Nebraska, but the first town in that area was incorporated in the 1860s. It would seem that Jane had to be born near Fort Kearney. The other possibilities are in Chase County, too far south of the trail and probably not in existence in 1854, and the Sweetwater river area east of South Pass, too far west by about a month from Fort Kearney. It is doubtful we will ever be able to locate her birthplace exactly. And it's possible that what Ann thought was Nebraska was actually Kansas, although I haven't been able to locate a “Sweetwater” there either.

The Plains

What distinguishes the Great Plains from other areas of America is what isn't there. The plains are mainly grasslands; there are few trees by comparison to the east coast of the United States, and few high hills. There is little to block the view, so it is possible to see for miles. For example, on a clear day one can see Pike's Peak from Limon, Colorado, a distance of about eighty miles. The land is flat, and violent storms can build quickly. Heavy rain and tornadoes are not uncommon. The wagons would have followed the Platte river, but not too close; the ground near the river would have been soft from the recent thaw. Wagon ruts are visible today in Nebraska from the migration of the mid 19^th century.(15) The Oregon Trail, both north and south of the Platte river was America's first “superhighway”. I have read repeatedly of “wagons as far as the eye could see in both directions”. The road existed from the early 1840s to the late 1860s, finally eclipsed by the Union Pacific railroad.

As the trail moved west the terrain gradually changed. Large rocks appeared, Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock, Scott's Bluff, and eventually the first mountains near Fort Laramie. The terrain became more difficult and the pace almost surely slowed. The trail followed the Platte to Fort Casper, where the Mormon Trail and the Oregon Trail merged. It then followed the Sweetwater river past Independence Rock and Devil's Gate, crossing the continental divide at South Pass. (16)

If it were not for South Pass the westward migration might well have come solely by sea. Where most of the continental divide is high in the Rocky Mountains, with passes at or above ten thousand feet, South Pass is a gradual rise, crossing the divide at only seven thousand five hundred feet above sea level. “The assent had been so gradual that... I should compare [it] to the assent of the Capitol hill from the avenue at Washington” John Fremont, 1842. (17)

After South Pass the Oregon Trail followed the mountain valleys to Fort Bridger. There the Mormon Trail split off and worked its way to the valley of the Salt Lake. While it was largely an uphill journey they were able to follow the valleys to the great salt lake basin and Salt Lake City.

We've all seen the movies; a long line of wagons strung out across the plains with horseback riders to scout ahead and protect them. While not totally inaccurate the image given is far from the actual truth. Keep in mind that the picture I'm about to paint was written about 1860 by Mark Twain, and between 1856 and 1870 many Mormons crossed the plains pushing hand carts (18) instead of carrying several families' belongings in a covered wagon. We do not know if the Mormons Mr. Twain saw were pushing handcarts, although he probably would have mentioned them if they were in use.

“Just beyond the breakfast station we overtook a Mormon emigrant train of thirty-three wagons; and tramping wearily along and driving their herd of loose cows, were dozens of coarse-clad and sad-looking men, women, and children, who had walked as they were walking now, day after day for eight lingering weeks, and in that time had compassed the distance our stage had come in eight days and three hours – seven hundred and ninety-eight miles! They were dusty and uncombed, hatless, bonnetless and ragged, and they did look so tired!” (19)

The location: just east of Independence Rock and the Devil's Gap in what is now western Wyoming. They had been on the road for eight weeks, and, besides the drivers, they had walked. They had herds to tend to and full wagons. Job Smith's party, for example, had 217 people and 45 wagons to carry all their belongings and supplies for the trip. There wasn't much room for passengers. Did Ann walk all the way? I doubt it. But if she rested for three weeks (the time my mother spent in the hospital when I was born in 1941) that meant she walked for four or five weeks by the time the company reached Independence Rock, and she had another three or four weeks more to walk before she reached Zion.

How did you get from here to there in 1854? Mostly you walked. In our modern time that is largely unheard of, but if you wanted to go you walked back then. If there is anything about the journey that impresses me this is it; more than leaving England, more than the voyage. A person who was willing to walk a thousand miles to go somewhere must have really wanted to go there. Ann clearly wanted to go to Zion.

“We came in the valley on Sept. 21, 1854. I came to Lehi and stayed the winter. When I had been there two years and a half, I married Samuel James. He died April 29, 1893 at Lehi. I have had many troubles and many pleasures and I thank the Lord for health and strength which I enjoy.” Ann East James, written about 1900. The rest of her story is remembrances, but that's not the whole tale; she does not mention her children with Samuel, and she does not mention her sister, Jane East.

Samuel James was a farmer from Frobridg(e), Wiltaker, England. He was born January 13, 1830 (or 1825 according to their census record), so he was somewhat younger than Ann. Their individual record file at the Latter Day Saints Family History archive says his parents were William James and Elizabeth Bonfield. He had two wives, Ann East (I find it of interest that she dropped Bromhead from her name; it may have been common to do that at the time), and Ann's sister Jane who he married in 1861.

In addition to Jane Ann Bromhead, Ann East James had two children by Samuel James: Elizabeth Ann James and Sarah Maude James. Jane East had four children by Samuel James: Rachel Hannah James, Samuel Thomas James, Joseph Alma James, and Lydia Ruth James. Ann's children's names come from my cousin Shirley Johnson, who is the expert on all things Holbrook. Jane's children's names come from the LDS Family Group Record of Samuel James and Jane East.

There is, of course, much more to tell, but it's about Jane Bromhead and will have to wait for another time.

30 May, 2004, TKP

Footnotes:

1). From "Pioneer 1848 - 1868 Companies, Heritage Gateway website. Ann says she "left England in 1851"; there were 4 ships listed as leaving Liverpool that year, and her name is listed on the passenger records of the Olympus on the Louisiana State Archives website.

2). From "Life On Board A Mormon Emigrant Ship", by David H. Pratt and Paul F. Smart, on the internet at HTTP://Home. BYU.Net.

3). Ibid., P.1

4). From "Pioneers 1848-1868", see above

5). From "life On Board a Mormon Emigrant Ship", see above, p. 13

6). The Louisiana State archives has a list of the passengers arriving in New Orleans between January and July 1851. We were lucky she landed during that period. See: http://www.sec.state.la.us/archives/gen/passenger.txt

7). From "Mormon Beginnings" by the Beaverton, OR, Church of Christ. While not particularly complementary to the Mormon church, the introduction speaks clearly about the religious beliefs and expectations prevalent in the early 19th century. See www.ch-of-christ.beaverton.or.us/mormon_Beginnings.htm .

8). See: www.westnebraska.com/MormonTrail.htm

9). http://www.saintswithouthalos.com/b/pratt_o.phtml

10). From "Pioneer 1848 - 1868 Companies", P. 2

11). There is a wealth of information about the Mormon westward migration at the LDS Family History Centers and on the internet. This information came from http://www.heritage.uen.org/cgi-bin/websql/query.hts?type=3&tid=52431. I have mentioned this site several times but neglected to enter the full URL. tkp

12). See the excellent article "The Mormon Road (Trail) In Kansas Territory" by Morris W. Werner at: http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/werner/mormroad.html .

13) The company data is from "Pioneer Companies 1847 - 1868": http://www.mormontrail.org/members/trace/company.htm which agrees with "Pioneers 1848 - 1868" above except it lists Orson Pratt instead of  Ezra T. Benson as the leader of the company and footnotes that Benson later replaced Pratt as Captain.

14). See http//www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/stories/0401_0131.html and http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/newsroom/newimages/images.php3? and look for "Platte River"

15).See “California Trails” in the September, 2000 National Geographic magazine for an excellent article and map of the migration west across America.

16. Ibid. From the map.

17. Ibid. From the map.

18. http://themormontrail.com/handcarts.htm, http://www.omaha.org/trails/history2.htm

19. “ROUGHING IT” by Mark Twain, Chapter 12.