John Evington Bitton & Sarah Susannah Wintle

b.13 April 1830  London, England
d.15 Jan 1905 Ogden, Utah 

John came from a seafaring family. His father had also been a seaman but he had to retire early due to an injury sustained at sea as a young man which caused him to gradually lose his eyesight.


John hired on as a cabin boy on a sailing vessel at the age of thirteen. He later served as a seaman and sailed around the world three times. He studied diligently in order to better himself until he gained the rank of second mate. His first voyage in this position was to India. Upon returning he gave $600 to his parents. In 1848 his ship made port in California during the gold rush, and because he didn't desert the ship to run to the gold fields as many of his shipmates did, he was promoted to first mate for his loyalty.

b.28 March 1839  Great Yarmouth, England
d.27 Sept 1907  Ogden, Utah

He married Sarah Susannah Wintle on 13 May 1856 and they sailed for America twelve days later on the ship Horizon, a ship chartered by the Mormon Church to carry members of the Martin Handcart Company to Boston so they could travel by rail to Iowa City. At the time they joined the handcart company John was 26 years old and Sarah only 17.  The company got as far as Green River, Wyoming; there winter overtook them. Its members were so exhausted from lack of food and toiling with the carts that they were unable to proceed further. Word had been sent to Brigham Young that the company was in desperate circumstances. He immediately organized a company of men with teams to go to the relief of the immigrants. John, his wife Sarah and his sister, Jane Bitton, were rescued by John Poole, a resident of Ogden, Utah who had joined the rescue party with his wagon. They arrived in Ogden on 30 November and spent the winter with Mr. Poole. John Poole married Jane Bitton the following year, jokingly saying, "I rescued her from a snow bank, so I felt I had a right to her!"

John and Sarah had their first child in Ogden the following June and moved to West Weber shortly thereafter where they farmed for the rest of their lives and raised fourteen children.

THE EDWARD MARTIN HANDCART COMPANY

The Martin Handcart Company was the fifth handcart company to travel west to the Salt Lake Valley. This company of English emigrants left Iowa City, Iowa, on 28 July 1856. There were "576 [people], with 146 carts, 7 wagons, 30 oxen, and 50 cows and beef cattle” (LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen, Handcarts to Zion [1960], 93).

Edward Martin

At Florence, Nebraska, they stopped for handcart repairs. It was late in the season, and they wondered if they should continue. A few members dropped out, but most wanted to go on. They left Florence on 25 August.

They reached Fort Laramie, Wyoming, 8 October. After leaving Fort Laramie their food rations had to be cut. Because of their growing weakness, they had to lighten the loads they were pulling, so they discarded blankets and clothing. On 19 October they crossed the North Platte River. As soon as they crossed, it started to snow. Several people died that night.

As the storms and cold continued, the pioneers desperately needed the supplies they had left behind. The men became so weak and sick they couldn’t pitch the tents. Twelve miles beyond the river they were stopped by the deep snow. Fifty-six had died since they had crossed the river.

Early in October President Brigham Young heard there were still pioneers on the trail. He knew they would have problems, so he called for volunteers to go to their aid. Horsemen, wagons, and supplies were sent. On 28 October three men rode into the camp of the Martin Company. The deep snow had halted the rescue wagons, so the men told the emigrants their only hope was to keep moving to reach the rescue wagons. They struggled on, and on 3 November they reached the first of the supply wagons. The rescuers decided the company had to move on to find better shelter from the snow and cold.

The company pushed on until they came to the Sweetwater River. For many, crossing the river seemed more than they could manage, but men from the rescue party bravely carried several of the pioneers across. The company found shelter in a mountain cove where they stayed for several days.

When they moved on, they left most of the handcarts behind. The rescuers loaded the sickest and weakest into wagons, but the rest had to walk. The storms had forced some rescuers back, while others waited to try again. One of these, Ephraim Hanks, left his wagon and went on with two horses. One day he killed a buffalo and loaded his horses with the meat. That evening he reached the Martin Handcart Company. The meat was welcomed by the starving pioneers. On 11 November Ephraim Hanks and members of the handcart company camped on Bitter Creek (present-day Cottonwood Creek).

Gradually other wagons reached the pioneers, and all were able to ride the rest of the way into the valley. They reached Salt Lake on 30 November. Between 135 and 150 people had died on the way.

"  We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and

starvation, but  we became acquainted with [God] in our extrem[i]ties.

    I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go that far and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it.  I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there.

     Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."

(as quoted in David O. McKay, “Pioneer Women,” The Relief Society Magazine, Jan. 1948, 8).