Description
Let the Boy Go
Elizabeth Simpson was born 10 February 1808, at Bolton, Lancashire, England to Thomas and Ann Brigg Simpson. Little is known of her childhood.
In 1836, she married William Haigh. Together they had two children, and then William Haigh passed away in 1840. Sometime after, Elizabeth was introduced to the Restored Gospel and was baptized. It is said that she “suffered persecution and abuse by relatives and friends for having joined a religion so unpopular as the Mormons.”
In March 1844, she married Richard Bradshaw in the Manchester Cathedral, and they had four children. Then tragedy struck again and shortly before the birth of her sixth child, Richard Bradshaw also passed away.
Elizabeth “never gave up hope of gathering to Zion. She worked, waited, and prayed that God would open up the way.” That opportunity finally came in 1856, but there came opposition and enticements from her brothers,
They pleaded most earnestly and said, “Elizabeth, don’t take these little children at this time of the year to go to those God-forsaken Mormons and to such a despised place as Utah and her people.” They promised she would never want for anything money can buy, as they were financially wealthy and would gladly educate and care for her children. Elizabeth turned to them and said, “I am going to Zion. The Gospel is true, and Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God.”
On the strength of priesthood blessings and promises, Elizabeth, twice-widowed, made the journey with her five living children and joined the Martin Handcart Company in the summer of 1856.
Something of the mettle of Elizabeth Simpson was demonstrated on October 19, 1856, at the last crossing the Platte in Wyoming. The river was deep and running swiftly with ice. High winds were blowing sand and snow from the north in blizzard conditions as the emigrants came to the river and began to cross. The family records state,
She, a very small dainty woman, (less than five feet tall) took her youngest son Richard, a lad of six years, seated him upon her shoulders with his legs around her neck and holding to her head. She started across the stream, was caught by a ripple in the water and was carried some distance down the stream below the ford. It looked as if death was inevitable for both mother and son. Several called, “Let the boy go from your shoulders or you will both be drowned”, “save yourself and let him go into the water.” Elizabeth refused and struggled on and on. She finally reached the opposite side but at a place where the bank was very high and steep, and she could not possibly climb out. Others came to her assistance, and someone reached down, took Richard from her shoulders, and pulled him up the steep bank to safety. Others helped her out of the water, and in her exhausted condition, she raised her right arm to the square as a witness of the testimony she then bore to the waiting crowd that God had protected and saved both mother and son.
And like Mother, so like daughter….
Elizabeth’s 19-year-old daughter, Sarah Ann Haigh, “carried 16 people across the river on this day, thus becoming a heroine to many.”
Elizabeth made it to Zion safely—with all of her children. She settled in Cache Valley, Utah where she lived out her days in faith. It is said,
She who had been born to people of wealth and influence in her native land, England, died a humble member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1872 at Hyrum, Utah, and is buried in the cemetery of that place.
Copyright Glenn Rawson 2023
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