The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-12-17
DEATH CALLS A
PIONEER WOMAN
Mrs. William Shovel Suddenly
Expires in This City.
HER TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS
-&
WALKED AND PUSHED HAND
CART IN TYEER'S COMPANY.
HER TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS

Mrs. William Shovel, the only non
Mormon member of Tylers company
Of Mormon emigrants who walked and
pushed handcarts across the plains
from Iowa City TO Salt Lake in 1856
died suddenly of heart failure at her
home in this city yesterday morning.
She had been i'll from a cold for sew
eral days, but death came so quietly
and suddenly that her husband, who
was by her side, did not know that
the end had come until he spoke to her
and found her dead. This was between
0 and o'clock yesterday morning.
Although she had been suffering from
a cold for several days and under the
care of doctor Mrs. Shovel seemed
to be better than usual Sunday night.
About o'clock Monday morning her
husband asked her how she felt and
she said she was feeling all right
When the husband awakened again at
o'clock and spoke to his wife, he
found her dead. The shock to the FAM
lily almost FRUSTRATED them. Mrs.
Shovel was an old and well-knOwn
resident of the city, and the news of
her sudden death viii be received with
the deepest regret by her many friends.
1CA LII 444444E NAdAGus
The death Of Mrs. Shovel marks the
close of a most remarkable career, one
filed with experiences that read like
fiction, but that TO those Who have un-
dergOne similar trials bring back the
stern realization of facts thrilling to
contemplate
Mrs. Shovel was born in Lancashire,
England, sixty-three years ago, and
when but a girl of Il years of age inn
| migrated to America with her father
and younger sister in the year of 1856.
The father and younger sister became
members of the Mormon church, but
the older daughter. who was a faith
full member of the Church of England,
would not give up her faith for the
new doctrine.
When Captain Tyler's company was
being organized in September Of 1856
I for its journey to Utah, Mrs. ShOwells
father decided to go, and his daughter
went with him to care for him and her
| younger sister. Many of that company
of men. women and children, who went
with their handcarts on that last
march across the plains to the new
/ Zion, started on a slow march to the
! Jaws of death. The grim destroyer
| with his scythes of cold, hunger and
! disease moved down the old and the
young with such fearful "reminiscences
| that it seemed as though no one would
| survive.
sufferings of Emigrants.
The tragedies and indescribable suf-
feriugs that befen that company of
| emigraHts, it would seem were beyond
/ endurance. but Mrs Shovel. as did
| others, walked every step of the way
/ from Iowa City to this valley and
/ pushed handcart before her, finding
/ time withal to look after and care
( for her father and sister The cold
weather which overlook the company
J before it reached here WAS so great
] that as Mrs. Shovel has often told,
! she saw men freeze to death while car
4 rying a load Of wood to the camps to
make a fire.
Many Starved to Death.
The sufferings which she and her
companions underwent from hunger
could not be told in words. Trenches
! filed with the starved. marked the
route, and Death reaped his own with
such greedy haste that the day the
remnant of the company reached
! SweetwateT. where they were met by
| the first relief train, they buried sixty
! three dead in a trench. Among those
/ who went out with the relief train sent
/ from this city was Nj Shovel who
met and about a year later married the
/ only non Mormon among the number
! who made the trip. The company
/ reached here Nov. Is. 1856.
/ Mr.. and Mrs. Shovel after living
/ here some. years returned to Nebraska,
/ but in the early Sos returned to this
/ city. and for the past thirty-eight years
/ she has lived in her present home at
/ 424 South Third East street. She was
/ a woman of most estimable qualities,
and was beloved by all who knew her.
; She leaves a husband and five children
/ to mourn her loss.