The Women of Mormondom

by Edward W. Tullidge

ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF CALIFORNIA—A WOMAN MISSIONARY TO THE SOCIETY ISLANDS—HER LIFE AMONG THE NATIVES—THE ONLY MORMON WOMAN SENT ON MISSION WITHOUT HER HUSBAND—A MORMON WOMAN IN WASHINGTON—A SISTER FROM THE EAST INDIES—A SISTER FROM TEXAS.

The Mormons were not only the founders of Utah, but they were also the first American emigrants to California. Fremont and his volunteers, and the American navy, had, it is true, effected the coup de main of taking possession of California, and the American flag was hoisted in the bay of San Francisco at the very moment of the arrival of the ship Brooklyn with its company of Mormon emigrants, but to that company belongs the honor of first settlers. The wife of Col. Jackson thus narrates:

"In the month of February, 1846, I left home and friends and sailed in the ship Brooklyn for California. Before starting I visited my parents in New Hampshire. I told them of my determination to follow God's people, who had already been notified to leave the United States; that our destination was the Pacific coast, and that we should take materials to plant a colony. When the hour came for parting my father could not speak, and my mother cried out in despair, 'When shall we see you again, my child?' 'When there is a railroad across the continent,' I answered.

"Selling all my household goods, I took my child in my arms and went on board ship. Of all the memories of my life not one is so bitter as that dreary six months' voyage, in an emigrant ship, around the Horn.

"When we entered the harbor of San Francisco, an officer came on board and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to inform you that you are in the United States.' Three cheers from all on board answered the announcement.

"Unlike the California of to-day, we found the country barren and dreary; but we trusted in God and he heard our prayers; and when I soaked the mouldy ship-bread, purchased from the whale-ships lying in the harbor, and fried it in the tallow taken from the raw hides lying on the beach, God made it sweet to me, and to my child, for on this food I weaned her. It made me think of Hagar and her babe, and of the God who watched over her."

Passing over the hardships endured by these emigrants, which were greatly augmented by the fact that war was then raging between the United States and the Spanish residents of California, we deem it proper to here incorporate, as matter of history, some statements of Mrs. Jackson, made to the California journals, concerning the early days of San Francisco. She says:

"From many statements made by persons who have lately adopted California as their home, I am led to believe it is the general impression that no American civilized beings inhabited this region prior to the discovery of gold; and that the news of this discovery reaching home, brought the first adventurers. As yet I have nowhere seen recorded the fact that in July, 1846, the ship Brooklyn landed on the shore of San Francisco bay two hundred and fifty passengers, among whom were upwards of seventy females; it being the first emigration to this place via Cape Horn.

"In October previous a company had arrived overland, most of whom had been detained at Sacramento fort, being forbidden by the governor to proceed further. Upon arriving in Yerba Buena, in '46, we found two of these families, some half dozen American gentlemen, three or four old Californians with their families, the officers and marines of the sloop of war Portsmouth, and about one hundred Indians, occupying the place now called San Francisco.

"The ship Brooklyn left us on the rocks at the foot of what is now Broadway. From this point we directed our steps to the old adobe on (now) Dupont street. It was the first to shelter us from the chilling winds. A little further on (toward Jackson street), stood the adobe of old 'English Jack,' who kept a sort of depot for the milk woman, who came in daily, with a dozen bottles of milk hung to an old horse, and which they retailed at a real (twelve and a half cents) per bottle. At this time, where now are Jackson and Stockton streets were the outer boundaries of the town. Back of the home of 'English Jack' stood a cottage built by an American who escaped from a whale-ship and married a Californian woman. Attached to this house was a windmill and a shop. In this house I lived during the winter of '46, and the principal room was used by Dr. Poet, of the navy, as a hospital. Here were brought the few who were saved of the unfortunate 'Donner party,' whose sad fate will never be forgotten. One of the Donner children, a girl of nine years, related to me that her father was the first of that party to fall a victim to the cold and hunger. Her mother then came on with the children, 'till the babe grew sick and she was unable to carry it further. She told the children to go on with the company, and if the babe died, or she got stronger, she would come to them, but they saw her no more. After this, two of her little brothers died, and she told me, with tears running down her face, that she saw them cooked, and had to eat them; but added, as though fearful of having committed a crime, 'I could not help it; I had eaten nothing for days, and I was afraid to die.' The poor child's feet were so badly frozen that her toes had dropped off."