Extracted from “Cardon Family Saga, Eternal Quest for Truth
Compiled and edited by Amy Cardon Odell, 1991, pages 10-13
“When the missionaries (13,14) of the LDS Church cane to Prarustin, Susette attended all of their meetings. Opposition grew with the success of the elders. After one of their meetings six miles from her home, a mob tried to do violence to the elders. Susette and her companions kept themselves between the mob and the missionaries until they were able to slip away in the dark. The angered mob threw stones and bricks at them with threats of great violence. In 1855 Franklin D. Richards and two other missionaries hiding in the high mountains from an angry mob, had been without food for three days when they sought refuge at the Stale mountain retreat. Susette grabbed a vessel, ran out and milked a goat, while her mother set out cheese, butter and bread for them. When they were ready to leave, Elder Richards told the mother her family would go to Zion. The mother, Marie thanked him for his good will, but she had no hopes of it. There was much bitterness and it was impossible to dispose of any property, even the wheat was stolen.”
“It was decided Susette and her cousin, Madeleine, should go (13). The girls said what they thought would be their last farewells and left for Liverpool (England) where they were to embark for America. When the company was ready to sail, Elder Richards realized it would perhaps be the last opportunity for the saints to leave Italy. He had the boat wait until he sent word to the Elders at Prarustin to send the family of the girl who milked the goat. He told them not to try to sell anything, just be ready to leave Turin for Liverpool and Zion. The family had about 60 hours to get ready. Jean Pierre had to get his son, Daniel, released from the army and papers necessary for them to leave. That took most of the time. The little group left with nothing but what clothes weren’t ‘waiting for the moon to be right for washing.’ Those were left in a deep barrel, the customary storing place.
“What suspense they must have endured. And what joy was theirs when they were reunited with Susette and her cousin. They sailed an the ship, John J. Boyd, with about 500 saints from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, and their own valleys, with Canute Peterson in charge. It was 40 years before another saint left this Piedmont Valley for an edict went out closing it to the missionaries.
“The John J. Boyd arrived in New York, 15 Feb 1856. The Saints then traveled by rail to Chicago, from there to St. Louis, and on to the next stop, Florence, Nebraska. There they waited three months while the first hand carts were being completed. Jean Pierre Stale spent this time digging wells, the dampness therefrom causing him to suffer with rheumatism. They were with the first handcart company with Edmund Ellsworth, Captain, when it left Iowa City. These hand carts were rather primitive in construction. The whole clumsy thing weighed only about 60 pounds. The weather soon made the wheels rickety and they broke.
“Sleeping an the ground aggravated Jean Pierre’s rheumatism (12) He would get up early and walk around to get the stiffness out of his joints so that he would be able to push the cart and keep up with the company. When the food became scarce and was rationed, he often added his share to that of his children, for he knew that he would never live to reach the Salt Lake Valley. He soon became helpless and had to be put into one of the wagons. The second morning when his wife helped him into the wagon, he told her that he would never reach the Salt Lake Valley, but that she and the children would and that they would never want for the necessities of life. She knew that he was nearing the end and that noon before they started after stopping to eat she climbed on the wheel of the wagon to see him. Because she was not able to communicate her problem to the leader of the group, he, thinking that Jean Pierre could walk if he wanted to, thought that she was also trying to shirk, and he struck her several times with his black whip. That night when they stopped and she went to see him, he was dead. His body was wrapped in a sheet and laid between two layers of sage brush an the bank of the Platte River (Nebraska) 17 August 1856.
This is documented by a notation in the official log book of the company lead by captain Edmund Ellsworth, organizer of the first handcart company, started 9 June 1856 at 5 p.m. left Iowa City. Arrived in 26 Sept 1856 in Salt Lake City. The Italian immigrants who joined the company at Florence, Neb. after they had started were never listed on the official Members of the company. However, the notation below, documents the fact that they were with the company. An addendum to the official records was requested. The official record was published in the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine (15,16).
“Aug. 17 (1856) The camp moved out at a quarter to nine a.m. and traveled twelve miles. We cross over Wolf Creek and ascended the Sandy Bluff. We crossed the bluff to the left instead of going up the old track. It is easier for handcarts and for ox teams. The road today was very sandy for several miles. Passed over several creeks. Camped at four p.m. on the side of the Platte opposite to Ash Grove. Brother Peter Stalley died today. He was from Italy.”
The courageous, forlorn little group plodded on toward the land of Zion. Daniel, 16, and Susette, about 19, had to push the cart. Marie, the mother, could not help as she had been ill all the way over on the boat. Margaret, 5, walked all the way across except when streams of water had to be crossed and her sister, Mary, 11 years, took her on her back. Susette related later to her grandchildren, that when she heard people say those who came with the hand cart companies spent the evenings dancing around camp fires, she thought that they were not on the trek. Campfires were few and far between. Buffalo chips do not make a blaze, they smolder, besides they were not to be wasted. Shoes were worn thin from the many miles of walking, they were hungry, too many loved ones were buried along the trail. On the nights that they were not too tired they did spend evenings in singing, studying the gospel and reminiscing and praying. She learned to sing “Come, Come Ye Saints” in English and it was always her favorite hymn.
“At Florence (Neb) all clothing, except that worn or carried in the hand cart had to be thrown away. Before reaching the valley, the teams became weak and a sack of flour was put on each handcart. Loads had to be lightened, so possessions and clothes, that had not been thrown away before starting the journey or on the way had to be worn constantly in all kinds of weather and to sleep in at night and was of little value on reaching the valley. Susette related later that it didn’t help much, later, to see others of the company wearing the dresses they had been forced to throw away.
At times water was so scarce they had to dip it out of buffalo tracks after a rainstorm. Other times ‘unusually long marches were made in search of water and fuel. When there was no expectation of finding wood, a sack was hung an the back of the cart in which to carry the buffalo chips picked up along the way. The first Hand Cart Company reached Salt Lake Valley 26 Sept 1856. The widow Stale with her four children were in a new country among strange people with strange custom, language handicaps, and faced with no means of support. They were met by Phillip Cardon (1801-1889) and his son, Paul, from their own Alpine Valleys, who had been in Utah for two years and living in Ogden. Two days later Marie, her son, Daniel and Margaret went with the Cardons to Ogden. Their first home was a dugout. The roof was made of willows with cattails on top and then dirt. The floor was covered with fresh straw every Saturday when they could get it. There was no furniture, for a bed forked sticks were put in the wall and floor, rushes were woven in between and covered with straw, for seats forked sticks and rushes were used the same way.
It was the year following the “hard times” and grain was plentiful in the fields. They gleaned enough for the winter’s bread. The youngest girl, Margaret cut sunflowers and one by one lighted them so her mother could see to spin and weave at night.
References:
12. Barker, James L. “Pioneer Reminiscences of Mrs. Margaret Stalle Barker”, LDS Relief Society Mag, July 1926, p 337-342
13. Matthew, Lucille Cardon, “Susette Stale Cardon Was My Grandmother” Feb 1956
14. Hunt, Isabelle Cardon, “Susette Stale Cardon”
15. Ellsworth Company, 1856, Handcart Companies, 1st Company, Captain Edmund Ellsworth.
16. The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, April 1927, “A Brief Record of the First Handcart Company.”