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William and Sarah Ashton

When stories are told of the Martin Handcart Company – of their sufferings and sacrifice, of their rescue and struggle, the story of this one family surely needs to be remembered and someday we’ll know the rest of the story.

William and Sarah Ashton left England in May 1856 on the ship ‘Horizon’ with their children- Betsy, Sarah, Ellen, Mary and Elizabeth Ann. They left all behind including their youngest Esther who had passed away just before the journey.

The family arrived in Boston and while they waited to board the train to Iowa City, Elizabeth Ann just (two years old) also passed away. The family continued on and eventually found themselves in Iowa waiting for handcarts. You know the story, the hand carts were late in coming and the immigrants of the Martin Handcart Company did not depart Iowa City until July 28, 1856.

The Ashton family pulled their handcart 300 miles across Iowa to Florence, Nebraska. There, Sarah Ann Barlow Ashton gave birth to a baby girl. But Sarah, weakened by all that she had endured, did not survive.

August 26, 1856, Mother Sarah passed away at Cutler’s Park. The family continued on and then shortly after, on September 11, the newborn infant passed away and was buried on the plains of Nebraska, nine miles west of Prairie Creek.

One can only imagine the burden of grief the family bore with all that they had lost as they continued on to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. There, for reasons we don’t know entirely, on October 9, 1856, William and a few others enlisted in the United States army.

Now, it was not unusual at that time for a cash inducement to be offered to recruits in the wilderness, as well as draws on the commissary in advance of future pay. Perhaps William saw this as a way to provide food and supplies for his three girls whom it is presumed he left in the care of the Barlow family as they went on. While Betsy, Sarah and Mary continued on, William, their father, remained behind at Fort Laramie. Ten days later, severe winter storms caught the Martin Company on the banks of the North Platte. Rumors reached William that none of the Martin Handcart Company survived.

William the Englishman served five years as a foot soldier in the United States Army, making his way from Wyoming to Kansas and finally to California. Upon his discharge, he vanished from the records believing that his girls were gone.

The three girls suffered with the handcart saints at Red Buttes Camp near the Platte River. There, eleven-year-old Betsy succumbed to the cold and passed away. Sarah and Mary, the only two left, continued on to the valley in the bitter cold journey. Sarah lost her sight in one eye.

In time, both girls would marry – Sarah to Thomas Beckstead and Mary to Isaac Wardle.

Mary and Isaac were expecting a child. At his birth, they would name him William Ashton Wardle and while he would live to a good age, his mother Mary passed away at his birth.

Now, of a family of eight, only Sarah was left. She was a devoted wife and mother, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, true and faithful. She and Thomas had 10 children and eventually settled in the small farming community of Whitney, Idaho.

Then, sometime after December of 1888, a man named Clark brought a copy of the Latter-Day Saints Millennial Star published in England to Sarah’s door. In it was the following ad:

“Wanted: Elder William Ashton is very anxious to learn the address of any one or all of his daughters- Betsy, Sarah and Mary who emigrated from Stockport, England on the 18th of May, 1856. They crossed the plains in one of the handcart companies. Brother Ashton’s address is Charlesworth near BroadBottom Derbyshire, England. Utah papers please copy.”

After 33 years apart, William was reunited with his family. If I take one thing from this unusual story, it is that no matter what happens to us and our families, go on in faith and God willing and He is, all will be made right, fair just in the reunions in the heavens.

Sources:

https://www.tellmystorytoo.com/member_pdfs/mary-ashton_882_299.pdf