Also on the Enoch Train were five of my ancestors, John and Ester Deveraux, their daughter Harriet, her husband Thomas Richins and their 1-year-old son, Albert Franklin. Fifteen years previously, the Deveraux family had been baptized by Apostle Wilford Woodruff in a small pond on the John Benbow farm in Herefordshire. They had been among the 600 members of the United Brethren converted by Apostle Woodruff. When Harriet was 13, she was baptized on 30 July 1846 by Elder William Webb. (Fischio) Thomas Richins was baptized, at age 24, on 1 Jan 1850 at Sheepscomb, Gloucestershire. (Richins, p5)

Ester Deveraux was 60 years old and in poor health when she left England and had been advised not to start on such a long journey. But, her faith was so strong that she said she would rather die on the way to Zion than not to make the attempt. When the ship was about ten days out, Ester passed away from consumption and was buried in the sea. (Fischio; Mormon Immigration Index)

In January 1856, two months before the ship Enoch Train set sail, John and Betty Warburton, with their six-year-old son Edward (Teddy), had left Yorkshire and sailed on a cargo ship through the canals of Lancashire and into the Irish Sea. Their plans were to sail to Liverpool where they would join with a group of Saints that would then sail to America. Betty was expecting a baby and on the 2nd day of their journey, as they were going through The Channel, she became ill. Unable to obtain medical help, she died from complications of her pregnancy. Because the ship was then far out at sea, she was wrapped in canvas and lowered into the waters. John and Teddy were devastated as they watched their beloved wife and mother buried in the Irish Sea. Before her death, Betty made John promise that he would continue on to Zion. (Proctor)

Two days later, when John and his son reached Liverpool, they learned the ship they were supposed to have sailed on had left the day before. John was in despair until, he ran into some old missionary friends and they arranged for him and his son to sail on the ship Independence with church leaders and missionaries that were returning home. (Proctor)

Note: This is the reason John and Edward Warburton are not found in the Mormon Immigration Index.

It was the end of February 1856 when they landed in New York. John and Teddy stayed close to the church where John was able to find work and earn enough to care for their needs. A few months later, with another group of Saints, they boarded the Rock Island Railroad in New York and took the North Western route through Chicago to Iowa City. There were coach cars on the train but the Mormon immigrants rode in the boxcars. (Proctor)

After five weeks and five days on the ocean, the ship Enoch Train landed at Boston Constitution Wharf on 1 May 1856. The immigrants then went to New York by boat and rail, and by train to Rock Island, Illinois. Crossing the Mississippi River on a boat, they then boarded a train of boxcars. The cars had no seats; the travelers had to sit on their trunks and baggage and had no room to lie down at night. They reached Iowa City late at night on May 12 and had to walk four miles to the camp. The next five weeks were spent making handcarts and preparing for their journey across the plains. (Fischio; Walker, p45)