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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Martin Handcart Company At The Sweetwater: Another Look, Chad M. Orton
The Martin Handcart Company At The Sweetwater: Another Look, Chad M. Orton
BYU Studies Quarterly
This article looks at an oft-told story of Mormon pioneers who suffered on the trail in a severe early winter storm. Most Mormons have heard of three brave eighteen-year-old men who helped the stranded handcart pioneers across the icy Sweetwater River in the winter of 1856, carrying almost everyone in the company across and eventually dying from the effects of exposure. Chad M. Orton explores various accounts of the event to determine what is verifiable and what has evolved into Mormon folklore. For example, there is evidence that there were more than three rescuers; the three rescuers traditionally named lived …
Francis Webster: The Unique Story Of One Handcart Pioneer's Faith And Sacrifice, Chad M. Orton
Francis Webster: The Unique Story Of One Handcart Pioneer's Faith And Sacrifice, Chad M. Orton
BYU Studies Quarterly
Francis Webster was a member of a group of Mormon pioneers who in 1856 encountered severe early winter weather and suffered many casualties. Webster is remembered among Mormons as the man who stopped a Sunday School class from criticizing leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for allowing the two ill-fated handcart companies to begin their journey so late in the summer. Webster's paraphrased statement, recorded by a member of the Sunday School class, has come to represent the sentiments of all handcart pioneers in most Mormons' minds, but Chad Orton refutes the idea that the whole …