We have no way of knowing why Charles came to America without Louisa and their daughter. It may have been that he wanted to have a home ready for them when they arrived, but it was probably because they could not afford for all three of them to come to Zion at the same time. This reasoning is further shown by the fact that when Louisa and their daughter left England for Utah they came under the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, ticket order #138 made in the Salt Lake Valley by Charles. The Church established the Perpetual Emigrating Fund so immigrants could travel to Zion on money loaned to them. After arriving in Zion and obtaining employment they were under obligation to pay the money back so it could be used by others.

Louisa and her 18-month-old daughter, Hannah Louisa, left Liverpool, England April 8, 1854, on the sailing ship, Marshfield. They were under the leadership of William Taylor. They landed at New Orleans May 29, 1854. There were 366 Latter-day Saints on board. A synopsis of the voyage from the ship's record lists two births, one marriage, and one death—Orson William Nield, age five months. The story has been told in the past that Hannah Louisa died and was buried at sea. The ship's record does not bear this out. Her death must have occurred as they were crossing the plains after leaving Kansas City because family records give her death date as August 18, 1854, which was nearly three months after the ship arrived at New Orleans.

One writer described the 51-day voyage on the Marshfield as pleasant and prosperous. He recorded that a number of the sailors declared themselves converted to Mormonism, but none of them were baptized on board, as it had been the experience of former companies that some of the sailors would get baptized hoping the intimacy with the Saints thus afforded might assist them in their evil designs upon the honor of the young sisters.

According to one Latter-day Saint on the Marshfield, a few of the sailors were baptized, remained with the saints, and continued on to Utah. On June 1 they left New Orleans on two steamboats, James Robb and Grand Turk for travel up the Mississippi River to St Louis. Within six miles of St Louis they were detained six days on an island because of a false report being circulated that the Saints had taken the cholera. They finally arrived at St. Louis on June 13. From St Louis they traveled on three steamboats up the Missouri River to Kansas City. From there they went to Westport, Missouri, not far from Kansas City, which became their outfitting post.

Louisa Travels by Land to the Salt Lake Valley

Eight companies left Westport, Missouri, during the summer of 1854. Unfortunately we do not know which one Louisa and Hannah Louise traveled with, because no rosters are available for the 1854 companies. A shortage of paper at that time cut back on company journals. It is most likely that Louisa and Hannah Louisa were in the last company based on the date when the “Marshfield” arrived in New Orleans, and the fact that the leader from the “Marshfield” was an assistant to William Empey in the eighth company. The brief report for the Empey Company in “Church Emigration for 1854” is as follows:

“Elder Wm. Empey, one of the original pioneers of Utah, after returning from a mission to Great Britain early in 1854, assisted with Church emigration business on the frontiers. In the end of June, after Elder Orson Pratt and the other brethren had left for Salt Lake City, he gathered all the emigrants remaining at Westport and organized a company, the last of the season, and with 43 wagons started soon afterwards for the west. He was assisted by Elders Wm. Taylor and Dorr P. Curtis.

“Leaving the Missouri River about August (July) 15th, the company crossed the Big Blue River, 160 miles below Fort Kearney on August 4th and on August 15th met Apostle Erastus Snow and company traveling east. Elder Snow remarked that the company seemed to be in excellent condition and quite hopeful, in spite of the fact that they still had a thousand miles to travel. Elder Snow added: Unless the Lord stays the snows later than usual, they will have some cold fingers before they cross the last mountain. But the company was able to complete the journey without disaster and arrived safely in G.S.L. City Oct. 24th. They had passed Capt. Robert L. Campbell (Company) on the road a few days previously.”

Based on the dates given in the above quotation, Hannah Louisa, who died August 18th, must have died and been buried along the trail in Eastern Nebraska near Fort Kearney. One has to wonder if the two-year-old child died suddenly, or if she had been ill for some time. We can only imagine the feelings of Louisa as she went through this sad experience with no family members with her. No doubt her testimony of the gospel, and those in her company consoled her; nevertheless the journey would have been lonelier and more difficult after the death of her daughter.

Although a company journal was not kept there is a brief overview of Church Emigration for 1854. It says that the last trains (Louisa would have been in one of these) for the year were exposed to great danger from the Sioux Indians, who had taken the warpath, because an Army Lieutenant near Fort Laramie ordered his men to open fire on some Indians for killing and eating a cow that belonged to a Mormon company instead of taking time to resolve the conflict. The entire company of soldiers, numbering over thirty men, was killed. Almost immediately the country was thrown into a state of great excitement requiring the emigrants to take all possible precautions to escape death and destruction. One journalist told of passing the area just after the battle took place seeing the unburied remains of the soldiers. This August 1854 incident led to years of intermittent hostility along the trail.

If a company journal had been kept we would have learned that Louisa experienced a shortage of provisions just as Charles had done the year before. They also experienced other problems. Church Historian, Andrew Jensen, writing about the wagon trains of 1854 said, “In the whole history of the Latter-day Saints emigration, scarcely any thing is met with that is more heart-rending than some of the scenes of 1854, with the exception of the hand-cart experiences two years later.” Their situation was such that an appeal for aid for all companies was published in the Deseret News at the end of August 1854. The calls from Brigham Young, the bishops, and the newspaper resulted in substantial help which was sent to help the companies still on the trail. We can only wish that we had more details that would give us a greater appreciation for Louisa and the pioneers with her.

As Louisa journeyed closer to the Salt Lake Valley she was no doubt excited about meeting Charles just as he was to meet her. Did Charles go along the trail east to meet her, or did he wait until she arrived in Salt Lake City on October 24th? He may not have gone back along the trail because he probably didn’t know what company she was with. No rosters had been sent to Salt Lake that summer. When they did meet amidst joy, there would also have been tears over the death of Hannah Louisa.

Charles and Louisa in Salt Lake City

We do not know where they first lived in Salt Lake City or what their living conditions were. We wish we did. We do know that Charles and Louisa lived in Salt Lake City from 1854 to 1860. Three of their children were born while they lived there: Charles Robert (1856; died 1858), Wellington (1858) and Prudence Priscilla (1860). Charles and Louisa, along with their son Wellington and daughter Prudence, were listed as residents of Salt Lake City when the 1860 civil census was taken. Wellington was listed as age two and Prudence as age five and a half months, while their father, Charles, was listed as a laborer with real estate valued at $500 and personal property valued at $100. The real estate Charles owned where he and Louisa lived was between 2nd and 3rd West in the middle of the block on the south side of 7th South. Most likely their home was an adobe home like others built at that time. They lived in the Salt Lake Fourth Ward where Charles served as a teacher. On March 28, 1860, Charles and Louisa were sealed in the Endowment House.