A Handcart Trek Mystery - Part 2: Mary Mathieson and the Luggage Disaster

Our exploration of the life of William Heaton and his family in Part 1 of A Handcart Trek Mystery solved a few mysteries but raised a few more. Among those:

• Who was Mary Mathieson and why was she living and traveling with the Heatons in 1856?

This is a mystery that turns out to have a very interesting solution--but, unfortunately, a very tragic conclusion.

Mary Mathieson on the Enoch Train with the Heaton family

If you recall, in the passenger list for the ship Enoch Train (above), Mary Mathieson is listed as living with the William and Esther Heaton family at 50 Pleasance in Edinburgh immediately prior to the voyage. Heaton had been President of the Edinburgh Conference for the preceding two years and his family had lived in Edinburgh with him.

Between Mathieson and the Heatons on the passenger list is Daniel D. McArthur, who until recently had been President of the Dundee Conference, very near to Edinburgh.

And there is a strange and difficult-to-decipher note in the "Remarks" column for Mary Mathieson:

What does that note say and what is its significance?

All those questions--and many more--are answered in a real treasure trove of pioneer Utah history, the Autobiographical Sketch of the Life of Richard John Moxey Bee.

EXCERPT from the AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF RICHARD JOHN MOXEY BEE

Written from memory at the age of 75, while living in Georgetown, Idaho

I started on foot for Salt Lake but did not succeed in getting a job as I kept going on only stopping overnight in the city, and reached my Sister Jane’s house at Sessions Settlement, 10 miles north of the city and was entertained by her and Mr. Hatch, her husband.

Richard John Moxey Bee

They had a good large farm and were pretty well to do.  I engaged to stay with them and help him on the farm, which I did and the following summer farmed for him on share.

Richard receives an endowment from Herriots Hospital, Edinburgh, and uses it to help a lady friend emigrate to Utah

That year 1856 I became of age, 21, and about time I was applying for an endowment that was due me from Herriots Hospital.

I accordingly made out the papers stating how I had spent the time during the intervening years since leaving the Institution.  Certified to by several employers and me and of my good character morally. Of course some of my employers were imaginary, as they were entirely out of my reach.

I wrote Apostle Franklin D. Richards, then President of the European Mission, and residing in Liverpool, England.

Franklin D. Richards, President of the European Mission in 1855

I stated to him all the circumstances of the impending case, telling him what course to take, as my attorney to secure the money due me.

He received my letter, following out my instructions, proceeded to Scotland, applied for the bonus, succeeded in getting it, and after calling on a young lady I mentioned, offered her a chance of emigrating to Zion in America.

She was overjoyed and embraced the opportunity offered.

Elder Richards dealt honorably in every respect, paid himself 10 percent of the proceeds, emigrated the sister, and reported to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund that there was still $20 owing me at the same time writing me to call at the office in Salt Lake City and receive the balance due me.  In due time I went, presented myself at the office and I was asked what I wanted done with the remainder of the money.  I was so elated over the prospect of the sister coming I replied I would donate it to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and perhaps it might help someone else.

Mary arrives in Utah--but not as expected

To get back to my story.  During the summer of 1856 I was still living at Father Hatch’s and while there I had heard that Mary Mathieson, the sister I expected from Scotland, was on the way to Zion, and I was on the lookout, when any of the wagon trains would arrive.

It so happened that during her stay in Winter Quarters she had been persuaded by her companions in travel not to forsake them but to continue as she was and travel with them in the noted “Hand Cart” companies that were now organizing for a trip across the plains to Zion.

Daniel D. McArthur, leader of the 2nd handcart company, the company Mary traveled in

Her fare along with her luggage had been paid to travel in the wagon trains, but I, not knowing of the change, was expecting her along with the wagon trains ‘til I heard she was traveling with the 2nd Hand Cart Company in charge of Captain McArthur, which in due time arrived in Salt Lake.  I think about the latter part of September or the first of October of that year.

Esther Beilby Heaton

I met her on the campground but did not recognize her.  My sister, Mrs. Hatch, had reached her before I got around and I saw my sister pointing in my direction and supposing the girl with her was the party I was looking for advanced towards them.

Mary Jane McCleve, who traveled with the 2nd handcart company--and whose relatives also did not recognize her on arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.

After the preliminaries of introduction were over, she bid good bye to her companions, got into the wagon waiting for her, and accompanied us to my sister’s home in Sessions Settlement, now Bountiful.

Richard and Mary court and wed

We got quite intimate in our acquaintance, and my attentions more closely, ‘til it culminated in our marriage the 4th day of November following by Bishop Stoker of Bountiful.  After our marriage we moved to our home in Lehi where I remained ‘til the following fall.

Pregnancy, loss of possessions, disaster

In consequence of my wife’s having come across the plains with the hand carts she left the principal part of her clothing at Winter Quarters, then Florence, to be sent on with the wagons getting a receipt for 90 lbs. weight.

The wagons were detained at Sweet Water being belated, and had to remain there ‘til the fall of 1857 and notices were sent out to those having luggage in the train to call for it.

My wife and I accordingly made a journey to the city, expecting to get her luggage as per receipt.  All that could be found was shown to her in a small bundle tied up in a skirt, about 10 lbs. instead of a chest of clothing she had left.  She was so disappointed and horrified she fainted away to unconsciousness.  I had her conveyed to Bountiful 10 miles north of Salt Lake, where my two sisters, Mrs. Hatch and Mrs. Thompson lived.

We went directly to Mrs. Thompson and there my wife was prematurely confined of a baby girl, but who died about 10 hours afterwards.  She was born on the 10th day of October. Her mother surviving her by only three days never having recovered from the shock, caused by her disappointment.

After the internment of my wife and child I returned sorrowful and lonely to my home in Lehi.  I followed farming in company with Father Dobson, ‘til the winter of 1858-59.

Companions in travel

Clearly, the Heatons and McArthur must have been among "companions in travel"--perhaps the prime movers among those companions--who, Bee notes, urged Mathieson "not to forsake them but to continue as she was and travel with them in the noted 'Hand Cart' companies."

William Heaton, as Edinburgh Conference President, may well have been involved in Bee's business with endowment at Herriot's Hospital as well.  The Pleasance, where Heatons lived, was just a few steps away from George Heriot's School:

So what about that mysterious note?

Remember the "remark" entered on Mary's line on the Enoch Train passenger list?

 

This looks to read something like:

£q debited J. M. Bee
Also £o paid Mary
Matthieson See folio No. 188

There are some question marks there as to various words and numbers, but clearly it is indicating the amount paid by Richard for Mary's passage on the Enoch Train.

Not recognizing handcart travelers on arrival

"I met her on the campground but did not recognize her."

A similar incident was reported by Sarah Jane McCleve, who traveled in the McArthur company with Mary. When she and her mother arrived, they were looking for her two sisters, who had emigrated a year or two earlier:

We moved along the street watching very carefully. Finally Mother gave a shriek of joy and hurried to a group of people standing on the front porch of a store. The wooden porch was about a foot higher than the street. The group paid no particular attention to us except to cheer for everyone. I could see Mother’s dusty smile begin to fade as she stood looking at the crowd. I didn’t recognize the two well-dressed women with the big fancy hats and pretty dresses. I guessed my eyes were full of mud and exhaustion. Finally Mother reached up and took hold of Sarah’s arm. “Sarah, don’t either one of you recognize any of us?” she asked.

The disastrous luggage transport 

"All that could be found was shown to her in a small bundle tied up in a skirt, about 10 lbs. instead of a chest of clothing she had left."

Others in the handcart company complained of the problem with luggage transport. The McCleves lost most of their luggage during the railroad, when many travelers were packed into luggage cars alongside the luggage in order to save on the cost of a train ticket.

But Frances Hiley Booth Hanson reports that the situation for luggage left behind in Iowa City for later transportation to the Salt Lake valley--as was the case for Mary Mathieson's chest--was even worse:

Before starting for Florence the company had to leave there luggage which was piled up out of doors with the understanding that it would be delived at S.L.C that fall but it was not until the next and much of it was received for it was exposed to the weather all winter. 15 pounds pr. head was all that was allowed to be taken with the cam[p]. including beding clothing cooking in fact all we had for use.

It's no wonder Mary was devastated by the unexpected loss of her life's possessions in that chest. She had already culled her things down to the bare minimum before boarding the Enoch Train, and the few remaining keepsakes in that chest represented her only tangible connection to her life and family back home in Scotland.

A Handcart Trek Mystery, Part 2. Part 1 is here.

Sources 

• Ellsworth Handcart Company, Iowa City, Iowa to Florence, Nebraska Territory, 3 June to 8 July, 1856 is an extremely useful and interesting source that compiles all available journals from the Ellsworth Company, which preceded the McArthur Company by just a couple of days 
• Enoch Train passenger list and accounts at the BYU library 
• Autobiographical Sketch of the Life of Richard John Moxey Bee
• Frances Hiley Booth on FamilySearch (account required) and Frances Hiley Booth autobiography