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Pioneer Date Summary 04/08/1847 - Crockett
Date: April 8, 1847 Pioneer Camp on Little Papillion Creek: Brigham Young and Isaac Morley left for Summer Quarters. Wilford Woodruff and several others spent the day hunting. He noted that they "caught nothing but weary limbs & wet feet." Brigham Young and his company returned from Summer Quarters in the late afternoon. Young fourteen-year-old Rodney Swasey (the boy who had been hung by his heels by a mob near Farmington, Iowa, see March 9, 1847) received news that his step-father and mother had been freed from prison by the mob. He wished to return to them instead of going with the pioneers. John D. Lee agreed to let Thomas Woolsey take his place. Amasa Lyman had brought word that Parley P. Pratt had returned to Winter Quarters from his mission. Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, John Young, Amasa Lyman, Isaac Morley, and others left for Winter Quarters and arrived by sunset. When Wilford Woodruff returned to the camp from hunting, the evening, he received word that the rest of the Twelve had headed back on horses to Winter Quarters. It was too late for Elder Woodruff to make the trip that night. Summer Quarters, Nebraska: Camp at the Haystacks: Winter Quarters, Nebraska: Parley P. Pratt returned home from his mission in England at noon. During the past few days he had been cared for each night by many Saints as he made the final leg of his journey from Mount Pisgah. Elder Pratt wrote: "I crossed over the ferry at noon of a fine April day, and came suddenly upon my friends and family. . . . I found my family all alive, and dwelling in a log cabin. They had, however suffered much from cold, hunger and sickness. . . . One of the family was then lying very sick with scurvy. . . . I found, on inquiry, that the winter had been very severe, the snow deep, and consequently, that all my horses (four in number) were lost." He also only had seven cows left and four oxen. In the evening, the Twelve returned to meet with Elder Pratt. He gave a report of his mission at Willard Richard's office. Heber C. Kimball recorded his warm feelings on this occasion: "It was a time of rejoicing with us to behold our beloved brother and companion in tribulation." Elder Pratt reported the the British Mission had been set back in order and that he had collected tithing, 469 sovereigns in gold, from the British Saints. This money would would soon arrive with John Taylor along with astronomical and other instruments that would be useful to the pioneers. Parley P. Pratt recorded: "The President and Council seemed well pleased with our mission and management. They expressed an earnest wish for me to accompany them on the pioneer trip to the mountains; buy my circumstances seemed to forbid, and they did not press the matter." The Twelve decided by vote that the pioneers should move on from their camp seven miles out, to cross the Elk Horn River. The Twelve would return on next Tuesday to meet Elder Taylor and retrieve the instruments. Mormon Battalion, at Los Angeles, California: In the afternoon, a signal was issued from the fort, announcing the arrival of the ship, "Barstable." It sailed in from San Francisco with 40 barrels of flour for company B. An express arrived from an Indian, with letters from Colonel Cooke and General Kearny, stating that the battalion should be paid soon and that they should receive full rations of flour when the ship arrived. The pay was desperately needed to buy clothing. Sources:
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