Description

The Consecrated Shoes

Ellen Breikel was born and raised in Preston England. In September 1833, she married Alexander Neibaur. In 1837, Alexander joined the Church, but Ellen was unsure until she experienced a dream of clouds in the heavens forming a man’s face. She had never seen the man before, but when she later met that very man—Elder Willard Richards, a missionary from America—she knew it was a sign from God and was baptized.

In 1841, the family emigrated to Nauvoo and formed a close friendship with the Prophet Joseph Smith. In 1846, mobs drove the Neibaur family from Nauvoo. Ellen was sick, but with a small babe in arms and her six other children, she made her way with Alexander to Winter Quarters, Nebraska.

According to family records that journey across Iowa was very hard for Ellen.

She used to say, when she first started on her pioneer journey, that if there had been any way for her to have given it all up, and go back to her home in England, she surely would have done so, but before she had been many weeks with these brave pioneers, nothing could have turned her back.

Against all odds the Neibaur family left Winter Quarters in 1848, and came to the Salt Lake Valley. They passed that first winter in the Valley living in a tent—there were nine people in the family at that time. It was a time of terrible suffering and hunger.

Ellen was a small, petite woman, often described as very pretty. It is written of her:

When she was living in Lancashire, England, she won a beauty contest. Again, when they were living in Nauvoo, she won another beauty contest and after they moved to Salt Lake City, she won a third beauty contest and received certificates for all three.

As time passed, the circumstances of the family improved and by 1856 the situation was sufficiently improved that according to the family history:

When they got settled and began to make a little money, Alexander bought his wife a nice pair of shoes and then she knitted herself some stockings that were blue and white striped. She was very proud of them and thought they were very pretty.

Then came word in October 1856, that there were two companies of handcart emigrants still out on the plains—the Willie and Martin Companies. They were late in coming and would surely encounter harsh weather before they got in. President Brigham Young stood up in General Conference and called upon the saints to donate food, clothing, bedding, anything that could be used to sustain life for those saints late in coming.

It is said that Ellen removed her new and prized shoes, along with the hand-knit stockings she had made, gave them to the rescuers, and bound her feet in rags once again.

Some weeks later, word came that those handcart saints were coming into the Valley. At President Young’s urging, the Saints in the Valley turned out enmasse to welcome the newcomers and take
them into their homes and nurse them back to health.

Ellen joined the other pioneers who hurried to greet them. When she met them, she realized one of her best friends from Preston, England, was part of the group. She was excited to see her and hug her. Then to her delight, Ellen noticed something. That friend was wearing Ellen’s shoes and stockings.

Source:

The various histories of Ellen Breikel Naibaur at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJ4-V3S