George Cunningham

Born at Borland By Dysart, Fife, Scotland

Son of James Cunningham & Elizabeth Agnes Nicholsen

Married Mary Wrigley, 10 Jan 1863, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Children - Abram Cunningham, Hannah Eliza Cunningham, Eve Cunningham, William Cunningham, Jemima Esther Cunningham, Clara Ellen Cunningham, Grace Mary Cunningham, Thomas Wrigley Cunningham, George Alonzo Cunningham, James Wrigley Cunningham, Elizabeth Cunningham, Rebecca Pearl Cunningham, Lillie May Cunningham

Pioneer with 1856 Willie Handcart Company

3 May 1856 left Liverpool, England. Thornton sailing ship to New York. By train to Albany, Buffalo, and Chicago, arriving Iowa City, Iowa 26 June 1856.

4th Handcart Company, James G. Willie, Capt. Rescued from the frozen plains of Wyoming, 9 November 1856. Arrived Salt Lake Valley.

History - Fifteen-year-old George Cunningham and his parent and his three sisters all made it to Utah alive. How the difficulties of the trek compared to laboring as a child for 14-hour days in a coal pit, six days a week, George does not say.

The Cunningham family was taken to American Fork, where they were cared for kindly. After family members regained their strength, they soon found employment and improved their poor circumstances.

George made trips to Fort Bridger and even back to the Sweetwater to sell and trade provisions with emigrants. He also transported grain for the overland mail company.

In August 1885, when George was 45 years old and just three weeks after his 11th child was born, he was called on a mission to the southern states and given only eight days' notice before he was to depart. "This found me in a rather a straightened condition," he wrote. He was in debt and had a large family, "nine of them in petticoats." However, he accepted the call and left for Chattanooga, Tennessee.

George died at the age of 72.

Utah Death Certificate

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, James G. Willie Company (1856)

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 27 2018, 2:55:49 UTC