JOHNSON HISTORY FAMILY MANUSCRIPTS

OUR PIONEER MOTHER
____

CHAPTER III

LEAVING UTAH

      In the year of 1864, we and a few others planned to leave Utah.
      We had a good wagon, three horses and two cows, and a year's supply of flour and plenty of other supplies.
      My brother Charles, hearing of our plans of leaving, came to see if I really wanted to go, or if I were being forced. I told him that I very much wished to go, that I wanted to get far away from Utah and the "religion of polygamy."
      The Mormons believed that any Mormon who left Utah would lose his soul, and when I was to be married my father talked very seriously to Neils and me about not leaving Utah. He told Neils that he would never let him, nor anyone else take me out of the Territory, - that he would rather see me dead than to see me leave the valley. His thought was, "Better to be killed than to have a lost soul."
      When my father and another brother of mine heard of our planning to leave, they had my husband arrested, pretending that he had stolen horses. There was nothing my husband could do but to pay for the horses, which took nearly all our flour, and one of the cows.
      We still had supplies and two cows and were still determined to go. We heard that my father and brother were going to take other steps to detain us, so we had to be very careful in our planning. My husband took two horses and made a pack horse of one and rode the other. He had to travel all alone through a land of hostile Indians, taking the "Overland" Route, which ran through Nevada. Here I was left to follow later with Mr. Raisor's family.
      Mr. Raisor sold our wagon, as he did not have horses to haul it. He sold it for a cow, but when we were ready to leave none of the cows could be found. We really could have taken a little time and found them but I knew that Mr. Raisor was not anxious to take them, for that would require the buying of another horse and paying a boy to go with us to ride the horse and drive them.
      Mrs. Raisor had given my husband an old calico skirt, and we had charged him to hang a piece of the cloth at all his camping places, on some tree or bush, to act as a guide to us and also assure us of his safety.
      The wagon in which I rode was driven by a young man by the name of David Bullock, whose business it was to drive teams for people traveling across the country.

MY FATHER FOLLOWS

      We knew that as soon as father learned that I was leaving he would immediately follow and try to take me back, so my husband and friends went to the president of the Cedar branch of the church and gave him money for any inconvenience he might be put to for us, and persuaded him to take my part against my father.
      Nothing startling happened on our fist day of traveling and making camp, but when we were ready to start out the second day, Mr. Raisor found that he would have to remain behind to arrange some business affairs. Our party moved on for several hours and had crossed a valley, then when we looked back, - oh, how frightened I became, - for there came a white covered wagon, and we all felt certain that it was my father.
      Our teams were stopped and we prepared for resistance, the men saying, "Your father shall not take you, Ann."
      As the wagon neared us we saw that it was not my father, but Mr. Raisor in his top buggy. The sun shining on the buggy top made it look white in the distance.
      My father did start after me, and got as far as Wildcat Canyon, but the canyon was filled with so much snow he could not get through, so returned home. After a few days there was a thaw and both he and mother started out. They got as far as Wildcat Canyon again but there was a very steep hill to climb just before entering the canyon. The roads being soft and muddy the horses could not pull up the steep grade so there was another turning back home, and plans were made to start out a few days later when the roads were drier, but father was taken ill and the attempt to stop my leaving the valley was entirely given up.

A PIECE OF BLUE CALICO

      When we reached our second camping ground, we found no sign of my husband being there. We saw plenty of Indians and I became so worried and frightened about the safety of him, I could not eat.
      I was sitting in the wagon feeding the children when I discovered far up the road, something moving on a bush. I jumped out of the wagon and ran to see what it was. Joy of joys, it was a piece of blue calico. I snatched it from the bush and waved it to the eagerly watching friends. After this, at every camp ground we found a piece of the blue calico, but at one place we almost missed seeing it, for it had been tied to a limb overhead. My husband had tied it there as he passed beneath the tree.
      We found Indians all along the way, and they were always on the "war path." We made peace with them by giving them presents. I had to give away nearly all my flour, also all my clothes but those that I was wearing. But I was happy, for at every camp ground I found the piece of blue calico.
      At last we reached the first Government station on the "Overland" road. Here was a fort and soldiers, placed in this part of the country to keep the Indians quiet. We continued our journey but found no more signs of my husband till we reached Egan Station, Nevada, where we found him working in the silver mines. When I saw him, I jumped right out of the wagon into his arms. The soldiers at the station had told him that if my father would not let me leave the valley, that a complaint would be made at headquarters and the commander would send an escort and bring me to Nevada.
      We began hearing a great deal about a famine that was coming upon the land. A "famine" was prophesied and preached, and I thought that we might just as well have been killed by the Indians as to have to starve to death, but when we arrived at Austin, Nevada, a mining town, we found a large number of stores all well stocked with flour and other foodstuff. We laid in a good supply of flour, and here, bought our first sugar, - lump sugar at that! - Oh, how good it was. We ate it as we would candy, and for the short while we remained in Austin, we lived on the best of everything.

DAYTON, NEVADA

      We moved to Dayton, which was a large place, and decided to stay there, for there was plenty of work.
      In Dayton we met David Bullock, who had driven the wagon in which I rode when we left Cedar City. He stayed here for a year and when we learned that he was returning to his home in Cedar City, we sold him the two cows and the calf that we had left there for twenty-five dollars.
      Forty years later, when there was an excursion from Utah to Los Angeles, I met David Bullock again, and how we did talk about those "Old Pioneer Days."
      While we were looking for work in Dayton, we met two young men we had known in Salt lake, who told us that if we let people know that we were from Utah, we would never be able to get work, as everybody was "down" on those who came from that Territory. I thought this was all foolishness; I was not ashamed of Utah, and I declared to myself that I would tell the truth if I were asked any questions.
      We were camped outside the city where there were very few people, so I did not expect to have any unpleasant questions to answer. One day a man came to my door and his first question was, "Where are you from?" (Alas for my proud boast.) "Missouri," I answered. "What county?" he asked. I hesitated, then said that I did not know. I made up my mind, anew, that I just would not tell any more lies, - and I never did.
      The next man who came wished to know if we wanted work. I told him we did, so he left word for my husband to bring his team and do some hauling. My husband had a small wagon and two little horses and with these he was able to earn ten dollars a day.

ELDORADO

      We lived in Dayton for two years, then work grew scarce so we went to Eldorado. There I did the cooking for our employer's family, which paid the board of myself and children. Neils worked in the lumber and wood. He was taken ill and we did not know what the trouble was but concluded that he had too much blood. (That was the belief in those days that one could have too much blood, and that some of it must be let out before one could be well.)
      We heard of an old doctor who lived far up a canyon, so I rode there on horseback to borrow a lance. (This doctor was the man to whom I had told the lie.) He loaned me the lance and when I arrived home my husband had everything ready; the lint, the bandages, and the brown paper. He rolled up his sleeve and made a cut at the inner bend of the arm, and out flowed a pint of blood. Then he bandaged it. He knew how to perform this operation, for he had undergone it in the "Old Country," - Denmark. The patient was soon better and back at work.
      On November 13, 1865, Willard Willden Johnson, our first little son came to bless our home. I arranged for a woman to come in to wait upon me, but she was not very capable. When the doctor arrived he gave the woman instructions in caring for the baby.
      I had lined our little rooms with barley sacks to make them look nicer, and to help keep them more comfortable.
      When Willard was three weeks old, I stepped out of the room to get some wash water, and when I returned a moment later the room was all ablaze. I caught up the baby and dragged the other children out, then put the baby in Hanna's arms and ran back and threw all the wash water on the fire yelling at the top of my voice. Men rushed to my aid and the house and nearly everything was saved. My pretty new calico dress that I was so proud of was partially burnt so had to be cut up and made over for clothes for the children.
      While the fire was being put out, the poor, wee baby was suffering. He had breathed the cold strong wind and was almost black in the face.
      When Willard was quite a boy I strapped him on a horse behind Christina, as the two were going on an errand for me. He slipped, the horse became frightened, and Will could have been dragged to his death had the horse not been quieted. I had learned a lesson.

SPELLING - WRITING - READING

      When we first went to Nevada a man gave Hanna a little Primer which contained English words, both in the printed and script form. I secured paper and pencil and hunted for the words that I wished to use in a letter to mother. I would write the word as much like the word in the book as I could; thus, word by word, I wrote my first letter to her.
      One word I could not find, so I spelled it "id" for "idea." Mother was delighted with her letter, but when she answered, she told how she and father laughed at my way of spelling "idea." She told it lovingly, but just the same I was very much hurt. So I wrote to her again telling her that had we not been so poor, and had I not had to work so hard when I was a little girl, I would have learned how to read and write and spell. When I grew older, I was sorry that I had written mother unkindly and I let her know how I felt.
      When we went to El Dorado, a man who was a good writer, "set" copies for me and I learned to form the letters. Whenever I had a minute's time I would practice writing, and when we had pen and ink, I wrote with them.
      When he saw that I was so interested in learning, the neighbor who advised us not to tell that we came from Utah, gave me a dictionary. So little by little I learned to read and write and spell.