A Pioneer Child's Experience

Orpha's mother, Sabina Ann Adams Nicoll, was born 17 February 1837 in Perth, Ontario, Canada. Her parents had been converted to the Mormon faith in 1835. The family left their home to join the Saints in De Witt, Missouri, in 1838 when Sabina Ann was a baby. Mob persecution during the winter of 1839 forced them to flee to Far West, Missouri. From there they soon fled to Illinois where her father was instrumental in building the city of Nauvoo and helped to build the temple there. In the summer of 1846, they were forced to flee Nauvoo and settled near Council Bluffs, Iowa, to prepare to seek refuge with the Saints in the Rocky Mountains of Utah.



The family crossed the plains with the Samuel Gully Company, leaving Winter Quarters, Nebraska, 7 June 1849 and arriving in the Salt Lake Valley 25 September of that same year. Traveling together in two wagons with twelve-year-old Sabina Ann were her father Arza (age 45), mother Sabina (36), and her siblings Nathan (17), Joshua (15), Nancy (7), Theothan (4), and Joseph Smith (2). They brought with them ten oxen, twelve cows, four sheep, two pigs, one chicken, two ducks, one cat, one dog, and a hive of bees. (Unfortunately the dog was shot one night early in the trek for making too much noise and endangering the company.)

Sabina Ann's mother insisted on fresh milk for her children on the way, so they brought a good milk cow with them. When the morning milking was done, the milk was put in a small wooden keg and strapped to one of their wagons. When they camped at night, the keg was opened and a nice pat of butter floated on top. This was eaten at dinner with fresh corn bread or baked potatoes along with the remaining buttermilk. The night milk was used the next morning at breakfast.

Sabina Ann walked a large part of the journey and drove the milk cow and her calf. Her father had given her the calf and she dearly loved it. About halfway along their journey, the family camped by a river and the calf wandered off. They spent almost all of the next day looking for the lost pet. Her parents finally convinced her that the Indians must have already taken the calf or it would have come when its mother called it. Sabina Ann left heartbroken and was sad for the rest of the trip.

Happy Pioneer Day!