A HANDCART PIONEER - 1856
Elizabeth Ann Morris was born in Ponteat, Carmarthen, South Wales on June 13, 1817,
the daughter of Richard and Eliza Jones Morris. In 1841 she married William Butler, a coal
digger, who was the son of John and Mary Thomas Butler. William was born June 12, 1816 also
at Carmarthen. Ann was the mother of four children, Elizabeth, born June 21, 1842; William
Richard, born May 1848; John Thomas and Jane, dates unknown. When Ann was thirteen years
of age her mother died, leaving six children whom she and her sister Margaret cared for. Their
father married again shortly after the death of his wife Eliza, and the woman he married had three
children. Through her influence Richard deserted his own family and they were left to care for
themselves. When Ann was fifteen years of age she was given a good home by a family who
loved her as their own, and where she was taught household duties, and how to make a living at
sewing, which profession she followed.
Ann and William Butler were among the first people to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints in Wales. The missionaries who first introduced the gospel to them were
Elders John Corrill and Elias Higbee. Dan Jones and other elders came to Wales about 1843
[Dan Jones arrived in Wales in January 1845; William Henshaw began his missionary work in
Merthyr Tydfil in late 1842]. After prayerful study the Butlers accepted teachings and soon
commenced preparation to cast their lot with the Saints.
At last their dream was about to be realized; reservations were made and fare paid for the
family to sail to the "promised land". But tragedy struck before sailing time, the husband and
father was stricken with cholera and died July 13, 1855. Some time later John Thomas developed
Cholera and died, as did Jane two days before the ship was to sail. Ann was now faced with the
struggle of supporting her two remaining children. For two years they had worked and saved to
go to America. Personal belongings had been packed and sent to the port in readiness. If Ann
stopped to bury her son and daughter she would give up her chance to leave. Her hard earned
savings had been spent for reservations which could not be refunded. Her sister, Margaret
Morris, who also planned to go to America, offered to stay and attend to the burial of the
children, and then follow them to Zion as soon as possible. This was a heart-breaking decision to
make, but Ann decided to go on with Elizabeth and William Richard. They sailed April 19, 1856,
on the Samuel Curling under the direction of Elder Dan Jones and landed May 25, 1856 at
Boston where the ship was inspected by the health authorities and commended for its cleanliness.
They rode on a cattle car from Boston to Des Moines, Iowa, a distance of 1300 miles.
After three weeks of waiting for their handcart to be made ready they started the trek
across the plains, leaving Iowa June 23, 1856, in Captain Edward Bunker's handcart company
just three months since leaving Wales. During the ocean voyage William Richard had observed
his eighth birthday. Elizabeth was fourteen years of age. They traveled to Winter Quarters where
each received 100 pounds of flour and other provisions. They had progressed some distance
when cholera broke out in camp and the daughter, Elizabeth, became very ill. Ann asked the
captain if she could stop and doctor the sick child as she was too ill to walk or if she might ride
in one of the supply wagons. The captain said, "No, we must go on, your daughter is old enough
to walk." Ann and William put Elizabeth on the cart and prayed that something would happen to
delay the train. The first wagon had scarcely pulled out when one of it's axles broke and a halt
was called. It was about nine hours before the wagon was repaired and ready to go, and as it was
nearly night, the train did not move until morning. When they were ready to start Elizabeth was
better and able to walk. Their supplies were about gone except for the flour, and this they lived
on for days. Many times they stopped for herds of buffalo to pass and some were killed for food.
A supply wagon came to meet them or they would have perished, but God was with them. When
they arrived in the Valley, October 2, 1856, their clothes were in tatters, and women's dresses
were worn out completely across the front and back where the cart handle had rubbed, and rags
were wrapped around their cracked, sore feet. The only distance they rode was on a supply
wagon while crossing the rivers. The children were given a ride on a wagon load of wood from
Echo Canyon into the valley by one of the settlers. When the company reached their destination
they found the children had been washed and fed by some of the kind Saints. When Heber C.
Kimball saw them as they came into the Valley, singing and so happy, he said, "If anyone
deserves a reward in heaven, it is these poor Saints who have pulled their bodies without any
shoes on their feet all this long way." President Brigham Young said, "I hope they will keep on
pulling."
One of Ann's friends from Wales took Ann and the children into her home for a few
days, then Heber C. Kimball asked Ira Rice, a widower of means originally from Michigan, if he
would employ Ann as his housekeeper. The mother of his large family had died in Iowa. Ira hired
Ann to keep house for his motherless children. On the 20th of November, 1856 Ann and Ira were
married. They were happy in their pioneer home with their two families, but were never blessed
with children of their own.
*This history was taken from the book "OUR PIONEER HERITAGE" by Kate B. Carter -
Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.*
