They traveled through dust storms, electrical storms, and bright sun that sunburned and baked them. To keep their spirits up as they traveled they would sing:

"The Handcart Song"
Ye Saints that dwell on Europe’s shores,
Prepare yourselves with many more
To leave behind your native land
For sure God’s Judgments are at hand.
Prepare to cross the stormy main
Before you do the valley gain
And with the faithful make a start
To cross the plains with your handcart.

Chorus:
Some must push and some must pull
As we go marching up the hill,
As merrily on the way we go
Until we reach the valley, ho. (Walker, p49)

They camped about nineteen miles from Fort Laramie and there they had plenty of wood to burn. It was quite a treat after burning nothing but buffalo chips for so long. (Fischio)

On 18 September 1856, while the handcarts of the Ellsworth Company were traveling up the hill west of Green River, they were surprised to suddenly come upon seventeen missionaries bound for Great Britain and other locations. Thomas Bullock, one of the missionaries, wrote,

When reaching Fort Bridger and the mountains, the way became harder and they could not make as good a time. However, knowing that they must go through the mountains before reaching the promised valley, they pressed on. (Proctor)

After almost four months of weary traveling, having been delayed by sickness and deaths and the breaking down of handcarts, which were made of unseasoned lumber, the Edmund Ellsworth Company reached Salt Lake on the 26th of September 1856. The company was met in Emigration Canyon by Brigham Young, the Nauvoo Band, and a large number of Saints. They were given a hearty welcome. Harriet used to tell of them bringing watermelons to them on their arrival. (Fischio; Walker, p49) What a joyous day that would have been for Thomas and Harriet Richins to finally reach their destination after traveling such a long and difficult journey from their home in England. But, for the two Johns who had both buried their wives in the sea, it must have been bittersweet.

Church Emigration publications give the following report of their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley:

"In the evening of September 25th, 1856, it was reported that Captain Edmund Ellsworth’s company was encamped at Willow Springs for the night. Consequently, on the 26th, Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Daniel H. Wells and many other citizens in carriages and several ladies and gentlemen on horseback, with a part of Captain H. B. Clawsen’s company of lancers, and the brass bands under Captain William Pitt left the President’s office at 9:00 AM with the view of meeting them back of the Little Mountain.

President Young ordered the party to halt until the handcarts should arrive, and with President Kimball drove to meet them. Soon the anxiously expected train came into sight led by Captain Ellsworth on foot, and with two aged veterans pulling the front cart, followed by a long line of carts attended by the old, middle-aged, and young of both sexes.

When they were opposite the escorting party, a halt was called and their captain introduced the newcomers to Presidents Young and Kimball. This followed by joyous greetings of relatives and friends, and an unexpected treat of watermelons. While thus regaling, Captain Daniel D. McArthur came up with his handcart company, they having traveled that day from the east of Big Mountain.

From the place of halting to the public square in the Sixteenth Ward the following order of march was observed, under the supervision of Captain Clawson: 1. lancers, 2. ladies on horseback, 3. Presidents Young, Kimball, and Wells carriages, 4. the bands, 5. Captains Ellsworth and McArthur companies, 6. citizens in carriages and on horseback.

The line of march was scarcely taken up before it began to be met by men, women, and children on foot, on horses, and in wagons, thronging out to see and welcome the first handcart companies and the numbers rapidly increased until the living tide lined and thronged South Temple Street.

The procession reached the Sixteenth Ward Square about sunset, when the lancers, bands, and carriages formed in a line facing the line of handcarts; and after a few remarks by President Young, accompanied by his blessings, the spectators and escort retired, and the companies pitched their tents at the end of a 1,300 mile walk." (Fischio)

Mary Ann Jones described their arrival: "It was a day never to be forgotten. We had reached our goal, traveling on foot all of the way....We had left comfortable homes, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and friends, all for our testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the privilege of hearing a prophet’s voice and to live with the Saints of God." (Walker, p48)

Of the 274 people who embarked upon the journey of the Ellsworth Company, 13 persons died from consumption, diarrhea, and whooping cough, except for the death of Henry Walker who was killed by lightening. (Walker, p48)

Thomas and Harriet found a little one room dugout in the foothills, on the East Bench of Salt Lake Valley to live in and John and his son stayed with them just long enough to help build on an extra room and a lean-to. Thomas’ brother, John Richins, his wife, and their baby, were following in the Willie Handcart Company and would need a place to live when they arrived. That company, unfortunately, started too late in the season and got caught in mountain blizzards in Wyoming. When they arrived in Salt Lake they were in need of much help. (Proctor)

The Richins family stayed in Salt Lake for five years until they were called by President Brigham Young to move south and help settle Goshen, Utah County. Thomas engaged in farming and worked at his trade as a blacksmith. (Proctor)

John and Teddy Warburton stayed in Salt Lake until the following March when President Young issued John a quarter section of land in the northeast part of Battle Creek, Utah County, now known as Pleasant Grove. They moved to Battle Creek where John built a small adobe house in the fort. (Proctor)

On 10 Jun 1857, John Deveraux married a widow named Mrs. Ann Perkins Price. (Ancestral File) In the 1870 Federal Census Records, John is listed as age 65, living in a community called Newton in Utah County, with a wife named Anne who was 60. He was a farmer, owned personal estate worth $200 and property valued at $275. He could read and write and his birthplace was England. It may be that President Young also issued John Deveraux a piece of land.

Twenty years later in 1876, Edward (Ted) Warburton married Alice Mirentha Richins, a daughter of Thomas and Harriet Richins that had not yet been born when they crossed the plains together. Ted and Alice were my great grandparents.

Note:There is a discrepancy between English records and American records regarding John Deveraux’s birth date. English records have him born in 1800 while American records list his birth as 1805.