Toward evening on Tuesday, September 16th 1851, the Garden Grove Company of Saints arrived at Fort Bridger. The camp journal records "All is well. Our teams are looking weak." They did not camp there however, but drove another mile or so. At a meeting later that evening it was decided to "divide the teams so that all might go on." This was probably a further refinement of the decision that had been made to put all of the animals under the direct control of Captain Walton. The pioneers knew that as they approached the passes of the Rocky Mountains it would be necessary to yoke several teams of oxen together to get the wagons up the steep ascents. This would require the cooperation of all of the families. The company is now about 113 miles from the Valley.

Three days later, on Friday, September 19th Louisa Emily Griffeth was born. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Carson Griffeth and her husband Patison Delos Griffeth. This is the third child for the couple. Traveling with them were Phebe Ann, age 4, and George Andrew, age 3.

Family stories tell us that Elizabeth's husband "laced rope back and forth, making the wagon box into a temporary bedstead on which their bed was made while crossing the plains. While camped on the Green River in Wyoming Elizabeth gave birth to a little girl."

While the date of the birth is probably accurate, the place of birth given in this account is surely wrong. According to the camp journal, the company crossed the Green River for the last time on the 12th of September. By the 19th when Louisa Emily was born the pioneers were about a hundred miles west of the Green River and just fifty or sixty miles from the Valley.

A further complication to the story is that several family records state that Louisa Emily was born on plains at Sweet Water, Wyoming. This can't be accurate because the company crossed the Sweet Water at the first part of September.

Wherever it was, one of the families stayed with the Griffeth to assist with the birth of little Louisa Emily while the rest of the company drove on. The history of the life of Elizabeth Carson Griffeth records that "the next morning the Griffeths and friends drove fast until they caught the company."

It was at about this time that the Garden Grove Saints had their first contact with those Saints already in the Salt Lake Valley. Susan Zimmerman remembered that "two or three days before we reached Salt Lake Valley, Sister Farrer sent us some garden vegetables by a boy and sent some to all the companies. He sold some of it and this vexed her. No wonder we were glad to get something out of a garden. We did enjoy those vegetables after not having anything green all summer."

There were several Farrer families that had made the trek to the Valley in 1850. I have not been able to identify which Sister Farrer was so generous, but Susan Zimmerman wrote that "we never forgot her kindness."
It is interesting that in the last few weeks there have been so many remembrances and stories about sharing, giving, and helping one another. While they started out from Garden Grove as 21 separate families, through the hardships and losses of the trek seem to have become a true community of Saints.

A few days from now, the Garden Grove Company will complete their journey. The remaining miles however cover the most difficult and dangerous trails, ascents and descents of the entire trek. It also covered some of the most spectacular scenery that the pioneers had seen, or ever would see.

 

Part 14

Part 15