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Show Bezzants Part of Pleasant Grove's Pioneer Heritage by Geri Taylor As we celebrate the arrival ar-rival of the first pioneers in the Salt Lake valley, we especially remember the ancestors who settled the Pleasant Grove area. The story of one brave pioneer is excerpted from a history written writ-ten by Ruth Bezzant and found in the DUP "Stories of our Ancestors." An-cestors." At the tender age of ten, Mark Bezzant had already experienced expe-rienced the persecution against his religion as he observed his father, the Branch President of Cogan Hill, Wales, conduct street meetings. On occasion they had been pelted with rotten rot-ten eggs, but that didn't stop his father from sharing his beliefs with fellow countrymen. As Christmas 1861 approached, ap-proached, Mark and his seven-year-old brother, Samuel, could hardly contain their excitement as they anticipated the great adventure ad-venture they would have the following fol-lowing Spring. Their grandparents, grandpar-ents, Samuel and Ann Sevier, had sailed to America the previous previ-ous year, and soon Mark and his family would follow, to a place called Pleasant Grove. Matthew and Ann Bezzant had buried a three-month-old daughter in 1858, and had finally fi-nally been blessed with another child, Emma, in April of 1861. With little money to pay the passage for five people, Matthew Mat-thew had applied to receive help from the Perpetual Emigration Fund, and the family were now awaiting their turn to join their parents in Utah. The thrill of the upcoming journey was soon crushed when Mark's little sister got sick and died on January 29. His mother died the following day from the effects of consumption and perhaps per-haps the great sorrow of losing two precious babies. One can only imagine the grief this family fami-ly felt as wife, mother, and baby were laid to rest. Reality is a cruel master, arjd Matthew felt he had to stay in Wales a while longer to settle their financial obligations. If they didn't sail at their appointed time, they would lose the funding offered through the PEF, so father Matthew informed Mark he would need to make the trip alone. He asked his son if he was afraid to travel on the ship without him, and after a long pause the young boy answered, an-swered, "No, father, I know that Heavenly Father will be with me and that Grandfather Samuel will be waiting for me at the end of the trip until you can come." Matthew promised: prom-ised: "And I will come." Arrangements were made for Mark to travel to America with a family of eight named Chivers, and on May 14, 1862 they sailed out of Liverpool, England on the ship "William Tapscott." The six-week voyage was uneventful until they passed Newfoundland and were caught in a violent storm that kept the passengers in the hold for three days. This was the first time Mark was afraid, but he poured out his heart to his Heavenly Father Fa-ther and soon he felt the calm he prayed for. He was among the many passengers who rode in an open cattle car from New York to St. Joseph, Missouri, constantly con-stantly needing to be on guard to put out sparks from the wood-burning wood-burning engine so their clothes didn't catch on fire. They then sailed up the Missouri River to Florence, Nebraska where they joined the Horton D. Haight wagon company for the journey to Zion. Journal entries from passenger pas-senger Isabel le Price, stated the company consisted of fifty-two fifty-two wagons and about sixty tents. There were not so many wagons as was expected and so they were too crowded for comfort. com-fort. There were fifteen people to each wagon and twelve to each tent, and by the time their trunks, bedding and provisions were packed, there was no room for anyone to ride, except the small children. Every ten days or so, they would camp for half a day to do washing and baking and it became a "fine holiday for the men and boys, in fact for all the youngsters." Once the children went exploring and in the distance could see a clump of trees, a rarity on the plains. They saw something red in one of the trees and soon discovered a dead Indian, wrapped roughly in his blanket and tied securely to the branches. Beside him were his bow and arrows, a tomahawk and some corn in a bag. While some of the children were scared and ran back, Mark was probably one of the older children who investigated this intriguing sight. On his eleventh birthday, August 1 0, the camp cooked him a special commeal cake and sang songs to honor him. As the words "All is Well, All is Well," floated through the camp, he knew they were true. The journey was not yet finished, but "All was Well." When the company arrived in Salt Lake on October 19, a messenger mes-senger was sent to Pleasant Grove to notify Mark's grandfather of his arrival. During the four days it took the messenger to deliver the note and for his grandpa to walk to Salt Lake, he stayed with the Musser family, which gave him the first comfort since his mother and baby sister had died. It was a happy reunion when Grandpa Sevier finally arrived and the two set out for Mark's new home in Pleasant Grove, where he lived the rest of his life. His father and brother finally made their way to America to the joy of a mje pioneer. pio-neer. The Bezzants have been a stalwart family in the community commu-nity and can be proud of their pioneer heritage. |