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Show Thursday, August 24, 2006 Jonah Phillips . Doug Holm Nearly ten years ago, i Utahns celebrated the ses-quicentennial ses-quicentennial of the epic 1847 ' journey of Brigham Young . and the first Utah Pioneers. In 2000, Springville celebrat: ed its own 150th Birthday by commemorating the arrival of Bishop Aaron Johnson and his hardy band of colonizers. This fall we again pause to reflect upon the 150th anniversary anni-versary of another group of Pioneers the 1856 Handcart Pioneers. On September 26, 1856 the Edmund Ellsworth Handcart Company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley after a heroic three and a half month journey jour-ney across the American plains. The Ellsworth group was the first of ten companies compa-nies spanning the years 1856 to 1860. What distinguishes these companies from earlier groups of Mormon Pioneers is that they were mainly European Eu-ropean emigrants and they traveled by pulling their food and belongings in two-wheeled two-wheeled wooden carts. These carts (an innovation of Brigham Young's) were a less costly mode of travel but also one that demanded the utmost physical efforts of the travelers. One member of the Edmund Ed-mund Ellsworth Company was a young Welshman by the name of Jonah Phillips. Phil-lips. Jonah's journal is a rich first-hand account of his life as an early settler who first crossed the Atlantic Ocean by sail boat and then crossed the plains while pulling his belongings in a handcart. Jonah was a Welsh collier who was raised by adoptive parents beginning at the time he was three months old. Born December 18, 1831, Jonah was 24-years-old when he made the journey to America. According to his journal, "In the Spring of 1850 we all moved to Ab-erdare Ab-erdare Wales and worked at coal digging, and while there I joined the Church of J.C of LD. Saints. ..." Before leaving for America, Jonah sought out both of his birth parents and collected genealogical genea-logical informatioa On April 14, 1856 he boarded board-ed the ship Samuel Curling at Liverpool and embarked for Boston. Like many emigrants emi-grants leaving home, Jonah must have felt pangs of sorrow, sor-row, and writes that on "the second day out we lost sight of the Welsh mountains and Ireland." In his journal, Jonah writes about the weather during the ocean voyage and that at points there was "much seasickness sea-sickness on board." After arriving in Boston he and his R E 96 CD. i c fellow converts traveled by train through Massachusetts and New York and then followed fol-lowed the southern shore of Lake Erie westward through Ohio From there they continued contin-ued west toward Iowa. After the group arrived in Davenport, Jonah and some others stayed behind to heb with the group's luggage. Jonah notes that one of those who stayed behind was "Bro. Sinnett" who would later live in Spanish Fork. After arriving arriv-ing in Iowa City, the group made preparations for the westward trek. Jonah's account of the overland journey is both fascinating fas-cinating and heartbreaking. The journey began at Iowa City on June 9, 1856. Jonah notes that a mule team in the Ellsworth group was driven by Henry Moss who Jonah would later know in Springville Spring-ville and who would become a clerk to Bishop Aaron Johnsoa Assigned to a group of Welsh converts, Jonah writes that he and the others paused on July 4th to celebrate Independence Inde-pendence Day. But celebrations celebra-tions would prove to be rare. One of the problems the open-air travelers endured was severe weather. Jonah records that "when about 100 miles east of Laramie we had a heavy rain storm with lightning and thunder. The lightning killed one man named Edward Walker. Walk-er. Three other persons fell down just in front of me being be-ing shocked by it as we were going along. Bro. Walker left a wife, who had a son in Salt Lake City." According to Jonah's journal, jour-nal, "after crossing the little mountain, great preparations were made by our company to salute President Brigham Young and those with him by a tune from our brass band, and others sang the handcart song, after which President Young invited his company to bring out their bread and cheese and be liberal with what they had. He sjaid that they had come to meet, cheer, and congratulate us, who would be the first pioneer pio-neer handcart company into Salt Lake City, and who had come up through many tribulations." tribu-lations." Now we fast forward 150 years to a commemoration held on June 12, in Iowa City. There, various dignitaries including President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once again honored "the first pioneer handcart company into Salt Lake City. ..who had ,come up through many tribulations." In this sesquicentennial year mmmmm v, -.Jib 4- ' Pacific Horizon D I T UNI E. Center Springville 489-3603 FOR ONE YEAR Stop by or call today for more information! xjujvi. ii c. I UN rFR CREDIT.UNIONS'iluSiS SPRINGVILLE HERALD Springville Handcart Pioneer The Jonah and Ann Thomas Phillips Family who settled in Springville were part of the Ellsworth group of handcart pioneers being commemorated this year in Utah and Iowa. The picture shows their children holding pictures of three of the children who had died. we commemorate not just the Edmund Ellsworth Company, Com-pany, but all ten companies who braved the rigors of the American West. Many of these Pioneers would later settle in Springville, Spring-ville, including a young George "Beefsteak" Harrison Har-rison who traveled with the Martin Handcart Company as a boy and at one point was left in the care of Indians. Another handcart emigre was Ann Thomas a 21-year-old Welsh woman who traveled alone to America and was abandoned by her guardians along the way. Having promised her parents par-ents she would come to Utah, she fulfilled that promise with the help of the Charles Avery family who invited her to travel with them. She settled in Springville where she married another Welsh convert Jonah Phillips. Prior to arriving in Springville, Spring-ville, Jonah worked for Solomon Angel in Little Cottonwood Cot-tonwood Canyon quarrying granite for the Salt Lake Temple. While working in the Canyon he "got acquainted acquaint-ed with two stone cutters, Horace M. Alexander and Henry Packard from Springville." Spring-ville." Celebrating Pioneer Day in 1857 in Big Cottonwood Cotton-wood Canyon with several thousand people, Jonah and the others were interrupted by the arrival of Porter Rockwell Rock-well who informed them that Johnson's Army was on its way to the Salt Lake Valley. Val-ley. Later on, Jonah would be called up as a part of Salt Lake City's 8th Ward Company Com-pany to defend Salt Lake against Johnson's Army. After arriving in Springville Spring-ville Jonah records that "in the winter of 1859 and 1860 I crossed Utah Lake and cut cedar wood, which I hauled home to Springville and sold. In April 1860 1 commenced ' to work for William Douglas Doug-las and David Clark at my trade of blacltsmithing. . .and O N i I AAv. worked very hard." Later, Jonah would become a blacksmith black-smith in his own right, in addition ad-dition to farming in Spring-vie Spring-vie His journal records many jobs performed for various Springville residents and is a testament to his Pioneer work ethic Many entries record re-cord the frequent deaths and funerals of friends, neighbors neigh-bors and family offering a glimpse of a time when disease and primitive medical medi-cal care made life incredibly fragile. During his life, Jonah acquired ac-quired land in Springville including a plot purchased from Bishop Johnson. He also established a 40-acre farm south of town and built homes and farm buildings for his use. Today Jonah's principal home still stands and is currently lived in by a great-granddaughter and great grandsoiHn-Iaw. In addition ad-dition to their legacy of faith and hard work, Jonah and Ann Thomas Phillips now have hundreds of descendants descen-dants who honor them for their achievements and sacrifice. sac-rifice. Today, in 2006, people of all faiths and backgrounds look back with gratitude to those strong souls that V fa L- llliillils. lift iipispife 111 fmmmmmM mmmm - A! Online ordering means speedy turnaround times, Lana was certain she could find a way to get her images back from Snelsons fester. What she didn't realize is that we discontinued rocket delivery long ago. We found online ordering easier and safer. snolson made an arduous trek and innumerable sacrifices to help build a nation May the thousands of people who now live in Springville never forget the sacrifice entailed in building this beautiful dry and the debt we owe to those who came before. Thinking STRONG CD rate with an even stronger GUARANTEE. Looking for a secure place to grow your money? Get a guaranteed yield with a fixed rate CD from State Farm Bank. For information, call me today. LIKE A GOOD NFJGHBOR, STATE FARM IS THERE. V Wiiwbala8 10 open aaou and otiuiiiw slaw) AP isBOO A penalty LZJ ttiin Jldett'encwtaiiiatt taihesanaie S products and wivicw P0M01! Stale Farm Bank Home Ofrce: Fast turnaround times isn't rocket science and neither is online ordering. Werecenrjyinttduoedar8ertoh your dktaj carrwa. Onane ordering ts rx avaiobia at Sneison PhotoCotorLab. Vtehavectodonfcneorcletingtootf cuskTA8lcyigtaaridhanowQpQrth8t$efvio0k3tf of our good customers kxaly lb hy out our new serves simply go to sratxinpriokHspicsxom and sat up your few account locate soma pictures you'd us to print on REAL phctographc papsr, upfcad frwn and get fiem back quick. Log on now at snetsonphotoiab.lf8pics.com! Lana might ha to get her thras anotier way 0 WeaCanlK Street Sprtngv SK18 WMirmtKrtMc&s.can of these Handcart Pioneers, the words of Katharine Lee Bates' "America the Beautiful" Beauti-ful" come to mind; "O beautiful beau-tiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! Sources: Information for this article was obtained primarily from the "Autobiography "Auto-biography and Journal of Jonah Phillips". Additional sources include the "Biography "Bi-ography of Ann Thomas Phillips" by Adah Phillips Jessee, and the "Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847:1868" records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. General information about the ten Handcart Companies was obtained from "Some Must Push and Some Must Pull" from the July 2006 edition of the Ensign Magazine. Additional helpful information informa-tion was obtained from Jan Storrs. I,- -,ll,ll,il., DeanaHill State Farm Agent Springville, UT 84663 Bus: 801-489-9444 deana.hill.ne9ostatefajm.com Bank. Bloomiogion. It sutofarm.com 0105 |