Before and After Mt. Pisgah -- Part 6

by Clare B. Christensen

F. Walter Cox’s Families Go West

In the spring of 1852 “at Silver Creek, Mills County, Iowa, F. Walter Cox had been making all possible preparation to move his families to the Rocky Mountains. He had been building his own wagons and getting food and supplies on hand. Since mostof the summer would be required to travel and there would be no time to raise crops, he had to have food sufficient to last his families two years. . . .Emeline was going to have another baby and would have preferred to remain at Silver Creek another year. However, with his added problems due to Cordelia and Jemima having to live elsewhere, he felt that he could remain in Iowa no longer.” (p. 213)

The journey was filled with challenges including cholera for F. Walter Cox and his little son Byron. “One woman was killed in the camp by a stampede of cattle which started when some of the animals were frightened by the shaking of a buffalo robe.” (p. 214)

“On August 6th, they passed Fort Laramie. The next day they stopped beneath the cottonwood trees on the bank of the North Platte and the women engaged in washing. Emeline did not help much for early the next morning, 8 August 1852 in the wagon, she gave birth to Emily Amelia Cox. She said that although the conditions were difficult, the confinement was one of the easiest she had. With the mother and babe adjusted in the bed in the wagon, that afternoon the caravan moved on over the hot dusty prairie. Emeline knew that cooler weather was ahead so when she was well enough, while the wagon rolled along, she knit a pair of stockings and a pair of mittens for the baby. . . .

“They arrived in Salt Lake Valley on September 28th and rested until October 4th before they went on to Manti” where the Coxes and Whitings settled. (pp. 215-216)

_______________________

In 2003 David and Karen Luthy went on a Pioneer Trek with the North Logan Stake Young Men Young Women. One night they camped on the Sweetwater River below Rocky Ridge. There were echos of the pioneer past all around them, especially when Karen walked along the tree-lined river and thought of Emeline.

Before and After Mt. Pisgah -- Part 5

by Clare B. Christensen

Five Years in Iowa

When spring came to the saints in Iowa and Council Bluffs, “April conference at Winter Quarters was cut short. It had been planned to send as the first company just 144 select men to the Great Basin. Those plans were altered by circumstance. One man was sick. Three women and two children were permitted to go. A second company of whole families was to follow. F. Walter Cox had hoped to go in the second company but Brigham Young assigned Cox the job of inspecting wagons. No wagon was to start on the westward journey without Cox’s okay. (pp. 138-139)

Walter Cox’s willingness to follow the prophet meant that he and his families remained in Iowa until 1852.

“An ordinance was passed in Mills County against polygamy.” One man when confronted with problems from the law, disowned at least two of his wives.

F. Walter Cox began to suffer persecution. In the fall [1851], he was summoned into court. He was told that it was not lawful for him to keep his two younger wives. Polygamy was a religious practice. F. Walter’s grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War for religious freedom. Being an able speaker, he no doubt told the court so. He said, ‘I will never desert those two girls, so help me!’ Seeing his firmess, they agreed to leave him unmolested if he would move Cordelia and Jemima out of Mills County on or before January 15th. He went in search of a place for them to live. The only place that he was able to find was a deserted cabin in Carterville Pottawattami County.

“In compliance with his agreement, very early on the morning of January 15th, he loaded his wagon with provisions and some household things and hitched his team of oxen to it. Into the wagon were bundled Jemima, Cordelia and their five child, three years old and under. They began the journey toward Carterville, twenty-five miles away. The early morning was cold and they thought that they would freeze but after the sun came up it began to thaw and they were a bit warmer. It took them until nine o’clock that night to reach their destination.

“The building was not more than fourteen feet square. It was shingled with split timber about three feet long. It had one four light window. He hastily fixed it as comfortable as possible spreading straw for beds. That was how they spent the first night. The place had been used as a stable. In the morning, they took up the floor and cleaned under it. Then they washed the boards and put them back. F. Walter made shelves by using split timber for boards. Those he laid on pegs driven into the walls. His brother Amos Cox brought a stove for them. Across the end of the room, F. Walter built bunk beds. He used a pole across the room with a crotched stick. He made more split timber for slats upon which they put their straw mattresses. F. Walter cut some wood for a fuel supply and arranged with a neighbor man to cut more for them. F. Walter returned to Silver Creek to continue his preparations for the westward journey.

“The practice of plural marriage was new to the Latter-day Saints. Few were thoroughly convinced of its truthfulness. Fewer still, had a burning testimony of it. Among those not sure was Cordelia. One night she went to bed gloomy and depressed to the extent that she felt it was for her children only that she cared to live. She cried herself to sleep. She dreamed that there was to be a meeting and she went to it. The congregation was large. President Young spoke. He said that there would be a spirit go around the congregation to whisper comfort in the ear of everyone. Cordelia said, ‘It came to me -- that spirit -- and said to me, ‘don’t ever change your marriage conditions or wish it otherwise, for you are better of (as you are) than thousands of others’.’ It had been promised in her patriarchal blessing that, ‘The Lord by the power of His Spirit shall whisper unto thee comforting words.’ That dream was such a comfort to Cordelia that she never afterward had a doubt that plural marriage was right.

“They soon ran short on the wood that Walter had cut for fuel. Cordelia left the heavily pregnant Jemima with the children and made her way through the snow to the man who had promised to cut more for them. Walter had left them with a ow to keep them in milk. The cow took sick and they thought for a time they would lose her but she recovered.

“February passed. Walter Cox had promised to return but had been delayed. Jemima’s time had arrived. They needed help. Night came upon them. There was no one to go to but God. Cordelia said, ‘When it was bedtime we knelt down in humble prayer.‘ Soon a knock came at the door. They asked who was there. A woman’s voice answered, ‘a friend.‘ They opened the door and a strange woman entered. She was fully prepared with all the necessary things. There in the lonely cabin in the night of February 29th, 1852, Ester Philena Cox was born to Jemima. When the ‘kind woman’ had finihsed taking care of the new born babe and the mother, she departed. When F. Walter Cox arrived about three days later, all was well. He searched and inquired about the neighborhood to find the woman who had befriended them, but no one knew of a woman of that description.

“‘There are some experiences in life almost too sacred to tell’ -- those were the words of the writer’s mother [Maud Driggs Christensen] when she told the story to him. Maud had heard the story first hand from Cordelia.” (pp. 183-185)

Thinning Carrots

Last year I never made time to thin our carrots.

It’s tedious, careful work on hands and knees.

When I see the rows of tiny leafy greens, nestled together

I balk at removing so many healthy ones.

Yet all winter long as I use the crooked, puny carrots that grow in unthinned rows,

I am reminded day by day to take time to thin this year’s carrots.

Summer is here. The morning is cool.

I kneel and thin the carrots--carefully leaving space for each to grow.

I hardly dare to look back where I have been.

Even the ones left standing aren’t really standing.

They lean and droop, unused to holding themselves erect.

But I have learned that in not many days,

When I return to check on them,

If they are in soil that’s rich and damp,

They will again be reaching for the sun.

When our children have left family, leaders, friends--

All the things that have kept them nestled close--

I’ve learned that they too may lean and droop a while.

But each time I trust that if we have loved and taught them well,

It won’t be long before we can tell that

They are standing tall again--

Because they, too, are reaching for The Son.

by Karen Christensen Luthy

Before and After Mt. Pisgah -- Part 4

by Clare B. Christensen

The Birth of Rosalie Ellen Cox and The Exodus

The Exodus from Nauvoo began in February 1846. On 22 February 1846 Emeline gave birth to Rosalie Ellen Cox--our grandmother’s mother. Because of the new baby, the Cox family delayed their departure until late March. They traveled across Iowa until they reached Mt. Pisgah--some miles east of Council Bluffs, Nebraska.

They went to work plowing and planting crops. They were living in two “huts” which Walter Cox built for his family. Even in that circumstance Walter Cox “cut down trees, split the trunks and made benches for a little school in a grove.” (p. 134)

In the summer of 1846, “a dreadful sickness broke out in Pisgah. . . . There were very few who escaped the sickness, and the people were short of bread. Mary wrote:

‘We had pretty gardens which helped us for food and [we] should have done very well if it had not been for the dreadful sickness. When I think of that time, it gives me the heartache -- those two sweet little girls of Emeline’s [Louisa Jane 7 years old]] . . . laid away in that old graveyard. Emeline was lying at the point of death at the time. When she called me to her in the morning and told me how she wanted to fix some of her burying clothes after the little girls death, it seemed as though there was no use in trying to live. Just that same day, someone at Garden Grove sent a dose of quinine, which saved her life. When the dear little Eliza died [Eliza Emeline 3 years old] there was not well ones enough to wait on the sick. Walter made her coffin and carried her to the grave and I think, buried her alone.’

“. . .Jamima Losee Cox was one person who seemed little effected by the sickness. She waited on the others until she was exhausted. . . .Somehow Emeline’s baby Rosalie Ellen survived. [Emeline’s mother] Sally Hulet Whiting died of the disease that August was buried with others in the cemetery of unmarked graves on the hillside.” (pp. 135-136)

* * * * * * * * * *

David and I visited Mt. Pisgah in April 2009. In the little cemetery there we found the monument with the names of our courageous pioneers:

Sally Hulet Whiting -- Emeline's mother

Louisa Jane Cox -- Walter and Emeline's 7-year-old daughter

Eliza Emeline Cox -- Their 3-year-old daughter

Thank heavens, literally, that their baby daughter Rosalie Ellen Cox lived, married Benjamin Woodbury Driggs, and became the mother of Maud Rosalie Driggs, and the grandmother of Paul Driggs Christensen.

{Karen}

Before and After Mt. Pisgah -- Part 4

by Clare B. Christensen

The Birth of Rosalie Ellen Cox and The Exodus

The Exodus from Nauvoo began in February 1846. On 22 February 1846 Emeline gave birth to Rosalie Ellen Cox--our grandmother’s mother. Because of the new baby, the Cox family delayed their departure until late March. They traveled across Iowa until they reached Mt. Pisgah--some miles east of Council Bluffs, Nebraska.

They went to work plowing and planting crops. They were living in two “huts” which Walter Cox built for his family. Even in that circumstance Walter Cox “cut down trees, split the trunks and made benches for a little school in a grove.” (p. 134)

In the summer of 1846, “a dreadful sickness broke out in Pisgah. . . . There were very few who escaped the sickness, and the people were short of bread. Mary wrote:

‘We had pretty gardens which helped us for food and [we] should have done very well if it had not been for the dreadful sickness. When I think of that time, it gives me the heartache -- those two sweet little girls of Emeline’s [Louisa Jane 7 years old]] . . . laid away in that old graveyard. Emeline was lying at the point of death at the time. When she called me to her in the morning and told me how she wanted to fix some of her burying clothes after the little girls death, it seemed as though there was no use in trying to live. Just that same day, someone at Garden Grove sent a dose of quinine, which saved her life. When the dear little Eliza died [Eliza Emeline 3 years old] there was not well ones enough to wait on the sick. Walter made her coffin and carried her to the grave and I think, buried her alone.’

“. . .Jamima Losee Cox was one person who seemed little effected by the sickness. She waited on the others until she was exhausted. . . .Somehow Emeline’s baby Rosalie Ellen survived. [Emeline’s mother] Sally Hulet Whiting died of the disease that August was buried with others in the cemetery of unmarked graves on the hillside.” (pp. 135-136)

In April of 2007 David and I went to Mt. Pisgah and saw the little graveyard where our courageous pioneers are buried. Their names are on a monument there:

Sally Hulet Whiting -- Emeline's mother

Louisa Jane Cox -- their 7-year-old daughter

Eliza Emeline Cox -- their 3-year-old daughter

Thank heavens, literally, that Emeline's baby Rosalie Ellen survived! She is Grandpa Paul Christensen's grandmother.

{Karen}

Before and After

Mt. Pisgah -- Part 3

by Clare B. Christensen

The Poignant Visit of Frederick, Emeline, Cordelia, and Jamima to the Nauvoo Temple

“Cordelia Morley [daughter of Isaac] had been closely associated with F. Walter Cox from the days in Missouri. During that winter in Nauvoo, Emeline W. Cox was told that her husband intended to marry Cordelia. Emeline was not happy at the news. When Cordelia heard that Emeline was troubled, Cordelia went to Emeline and forthrightly asked whether she should marry F. Walter or not. Emeline replied that Cordelia must decide the matter for herself.” (p. 121-122.)

“Tuesday 27 January 1846 was the day at the temple never to be forgotten by the Coxes and Whitings who went. . . .

“Sally Emeline Whiting [Cox] and Cordelia Calista Morley . . . came to the temple and had their endowments that day. Jamima Losee also returned to the temple that afternoon to be married. Emeline knelt at the altar first and was married to Frederick Walter Cox for time and all eternity.

Frederick Walter Cox also married Cordelia Morley and Jamima Losee that day. In later years he would take three other wives--Lydia Margaret Losee, MaryAnn Darrow Richardson, and Emma Peterson.

Before and After Mt. Pisgah - Part 2

by Clare B. Christensen, 1979, Salt Lake City, Utah

The Day that Mobs Came to the Morley Settlement

“On September 10th [1845], an armed mob entered Yolrome [a code name for Morley]. The children were so frightened they never forgot that day. Most of the men were away. One of the neighbors ran to Emeline Cox’s home and said, ‘Here comes a mob of eighteen men.’ Nine years old Fred lay sick with a fever. One of the mobbers came to the door and told Emeline to get what she wanted out of the house in a hurry. She helped her sick boy to a near-by tree where he lay down on a blanket. Sic year old Louisa held her two year old sister, Eliza. William, not quite five years, followed his mother. She began removing their belongings from the little home. She was five months pregnant. The little cupboard was too heavy for her. Some of the houses were beginning to burn. Two men stood ready to burn Emeline’s home. She turned to them and said, ‘Won’t one of you men help me get my cupboard out?’ They both stared at her. One of them shook his head. After hesitating, the other man walked in and dragged the cupboard out of the door. The men carried some straw into the house and threw it on the floor. They took burning sticks from the fireplace and set fire to the straw. They carried burning sticks out and stabbed one each into the hay-stack and a stack of unthrashed grain. . . .

“When the men returned in the evening, F. Walter helped to cook supper on the dying embers of his home. They loaded their belongings in a wagon and spent that night at a house about two miles from Morley Settlement. The next day, they moved on toward Nauvoo in a heavy rain storm.” (pp. 115-116)

When Brigham Young and the Council of Twelve Apostles at Nauvoo learned of the plight of the people in the Morley Settlement, they “issued the following notice to the brethren in and around Nauvoo.:

September 12, 1845

To the Brethren in and about Nauvoo, Greeting:

The Council of the Church requests every man who has a team to go immediately to the Morley Settlement, and act in concert with President Solomon Hancock in removing the sick, the women and children, goods and grain to Nauvoo.

[Signed]

Brigham Young president

[DHC VII page 443]

“Men with 134 teams responded and went to bring the homeless to Nauvoo. . . .

“Mary Cox wrote:

“I think Brother [Stephen] Markham came and took us up to Nauvoo where we found Walter and [his brothers] Orville and Amos all living near each other on what they called Parley Street. . . .there were three and four families living in many of the homes but there were not many complaints.” (pp. 117-118) Thus they spent the winter of 1845-46.

For those who visit Nauvoo, it will be good to remember that when Walter and Emeline had to leave the Morley settlement, they lived on Parley Street during the winter of 1845-46 and that is where our great-grandmother Rosalie Ellen Cox was born.

{Karen}