Description
Can I Forget You
Langley Allgood Bailey emigrated with his three brothers and his parents from England to Zion in 1856. At Iowa City, in mid-July, they were assigned to travel in the Martin Handcart Company. All went well until somewhere near the Missouri River, where Langley became so ill that he could not travel. A doctor was called and Langley announced “I must not go another step, or I would die and be buried on the roadside. A captain named Tune, [Toone] would not administer to me. [He] said he did not have faith enough to raise the dead.”
Langley’s mother went to Elder Franklin D. Richards and Elder Cyrus Wheelock and asked them to administer to Langley. They did, and promised the lad he would live to reach the Valley. Langley was unconscious for all of this. The Baileys determined they would push on in faith. However, Langley could not walk or pull a handcart.
Isaac Wardle was also a member of the Martin Company and became aware of the difficulty. He wrote the following,
“Being a strong man and having no relatives in the company, I took a sick young man (eighteen years old) in my cart. His name was Langley A. Bailey. Besides the sick boy, I had 100 lbs. of flour, a tent, and camp equipment for seven persons which I pulled for 1130 miles to Pacific Springs, Wyoming. John Bailey helped [pull] some of the way. We crossed the Missouri River at Florence. When we left Florence, there were about 740 souls in our company. With Edward Martin as our Captain, we did not have much difficulty on the road, except a few visits from Indians, until we encountered a severe snowstorm at Platte Bridge…in early October. Then our old men and women and some of the younger children began to give out and to get sick and many of them died, which I helped bury, but we kept moving on a little every day in spite of the cold and hardships. At one time I became so weary and overcome with cold that I fell down and was forced to lay there for some time.”
But Isaac got back up and continued on, drawing Langley along, until the rescue wagons met them at Pacific Springs and took them on to the Valley.
Family Search offers the following about Isaac Wardle:
“In 1910, at the age of 75, his occupation is listed as farmer in Parker, Fremont, Idaho…. He died on 30 October 1917, in Parker, Fremont, Idaho… at the age of 82, and was buried in Parker, Fremont, Idaho.”
And Langley Allgood Bailey…
He survived the journey as promised and recovered his health. He married Sarah Andrews and they became the parents of twelve children. Langley Bailey passed away at the age of 91 and is buried in Nephi Utah.
Just eleven months before Isaac passed away, Langley wrote him a tender letter. In the letter he said,
“My dear Brother, I honor and respect you much more than I can explain. You and my brother John hauled me in the handcart for hundreds of miles. Can I forget you? Can I ever repay your kindness? No. No.”
No ministering love and kindness is ever wasted.
Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWNK-NF5
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KWNK-NF5/isaac-john-wardle-1835-1917
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KWCT-LML/langley-allgood-bailey-sr.-1838-1929
