Bickmore - Kidd Family

Alexander Kidd and his wife Phidelia/Fidelia Bickmore and her parents William M. Bickmore and Christena Bagley came across the plains in 1852 with the Joseph Outhouse Company. Alexander is listed as the captain of the third ten and family. The Bickmore family had quite an entourage of relatives numbering around two dozen relatives as far I as can tell from the list of travelers in this company thus making up about half of the company.

Alexander & Fidelia's family is recognized as being among the earliest settlers of Herriman, Utah and their graves are found at the reconstructed Fort Herriman cemetery.

William Barton's account of John Outhouse indicates that there was a lot of contention in this company with Captain Outhouse threatening to resign regularly as things weren't going well. Thomas Day called him a "genuine crank" and confirms that many of the families in the company split off of the main company during the journey. It is reported that Outhouse left the church and took his family to California upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.

More fellow company reminiscences...
Thomas Day
Ann Rogers Snow
William Lang
Mary Jane Bethers York
Jonathan Socwell Page
John Spiers
Lyman Stephen Wood

Lind Family

Jens Christian Anton Lind

Mariane Nielsen Lind

Jensina Katrina Lind Mortensen

My 2nd Great-Grandmother Jensina Katrina Lind (Mortensen) and her parents (my 3rd Great-grandparents), Jens Christian Anton Lind and his wife Mariane Nielsen (Lind) crossed the plains as part of the the John G. Holman Comany - in September of 1868. This group is known as the very last wagon train of pioneers as the railroad would be completed the following spring. They had left their native Denmark in June of 1868 along with many other Danish converts on the ship the Emerald Isle upon which ship they were badly abused by the crew. Interestingly, Jensina's future husband Peder Mortensen was another Danish convert aboard this very ship. The emigrants traveled by rail from New York arriving at the end of the tracks (terminus) in Benton, Wyoming on Sept 1st. From there they took ox-trains (wagons) into the Salt Lake Valley arriving on Friday Sept 25th, 1868 around 9 a.m.. They camped for a night in the "Tithing Yard" where the Hotel Utah was later built which is now known as the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was about a four month journey from Denmark to Salt Lake City. Read the brief narrative here.

Interestingly, Peder Mortensen was ill upon arriving in New York and may not have traveled with the Lind's by train at that time. Peder is not listed as an overland pioneer, so I assume he must have traveled the same route, but just a bit later, and perhaps after the railroad was connected all the way to Utah in May 1869. We don't know how well, if at all, the Linds knew Peder Mortensen at this time, but Jensina remembers Peder, being ill and being carried off of the Emerald Isle. Peder and Jensina were married in the Salt Lake Endowment House on Oct 30th, 1871, so three years after arriving in Salt Lake.

The Holman Company was the last immigration train in the year 1868. Ox-train passenger list.

For additional glimpses and stories into the travels of the Lind family, below are links to reminiscences of fellow passengers, leaders, and from the ox-train crew from Utah who went out to help bring in the saints:

Hans Jensen Hals
George Beard
Annie Bertlesen
Willard Carroll
Ane Kirstine Christiansen
George Hilton
John Johnson
William Lindsay
Christian Nielsen Lund
Thora Emilie Nelson
Hans Jorgenson - indicates that some who were delayed at the hospital in New York were able to catch up with the group by the end of August. I wondered if Peder had come in this group, but as he is not listed in the Holman Company, I still find it unlikely.

Pioneer Ancestors

The youth of Linder Ward of the Meridian Idaho Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing to do a handcart pioneer reenactment in July of 2013. This reenactment is commonly called "Trek". Preparations have already begun.

My son Kyle, will be twelve in February and will be able to attend Trek. As part of his preparation, he and I have begun researching our pioneer ancestors. All of our ancestors are pioneers in one way or another as they were the first to join the LDS Church, or the first to cross the sea to the new world, or they crossed the plains as Mormon Pioneers. For the sake of this exercise, I want to focus on the strict definition of the overland pioneers who crossed the plains between 1847-1868. After 1868, the railroad was in place and pioneers no longer had to travel the entire distance by wagon or handcart. At a future date I will look at how each of my family lines came to America and came to join the LDS Church.

My hope is to provide a brief biographical sketch for each of our pioneer ancestors. Because of the convenience of the internet, I may simply provide links to existing sites where the stories are written.