Elizabeth Wilkins

Mormon Pioneer:

"...Dear Mother, I was glad to have a letter from you, but almost afraid to look at it. I was sorry to hear Sophia, is dead. It must be very dull for James and you too. I am glad you have a good neighbor. I wish you could come next season. There was several in the ship I came in that had no money to take them to Florence. There was a gathering for them and they got there. They were allowed just as much victuals when they got there as the rest and a plenty too for any moderate person, more than I could eat when I had a good appetite. I was very hearty at Florence, I got so fat I could hardly get about. When I came along the plains I got thin enough. I had the diarreah [diarrhea] a month before I got here and a very bad appetite. I had five or six gatherings on my feet which made it worse. I have not the least desire to come back. If you could get a little cinnamon to bring, you might get a little milk for that purpose. (a cure for diarreah) Brothers Barnett and Fuller came in the same ship I did and brother Jones lodged in the same house as we did at Florence, and brothers, Reed, Barnett and Payne crossed the plains with us. Brother Margetts came to see us the same evening we came to the valley, and Sister Allen met us when we got here and stayed one night, a little time back..."

SOURCE: Steadman, Elizabeth Wilkins, to Dear Mother, in History of Elizabeth Wilkins Steadman, 8. (Trail excerpt transcribed from "Pioneer History Collection" available at Pioneer Memorial Museum [Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum], Salt Lake City, Utah. Some restrictions apply.) Retrieved from: http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/source/1,18016,4976-19361,...