John Powell and Elizabeth Harris
Elizabeth Harris Powell, the youngest daughter of John and Mary Evan Harris, was born October 12, 1821 at Radnorshire, South Wales. She received her education in England and while there met John Powell, at Sheffield, and they were later married. He was the son of David Powell and Margaret Lewis and was born at Radnor, Herefordshire, England July 9, 1813. He became a stonecutter by trade.
Their first child, William, was born January 24, 1841 and a little daughter, Mary, on November 2, 1843 in South Wales. A third child, Hannah Susan was born at Llanover, England. Later on, thinking to better themselves, they moved to the Iron Work Mills, but in a short time her husband and son William became ill with typhus fever. During this time they became acquainted with the James Huish family who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During John's illness the Huish family cared for the Powell's daugter, Elizabeth, who was born August 6, 1849. Other children of the Powell family were Joseph, January 6, 1845; Margaret, March 6, 1846, Sarah Ann, April 16, 1855. Joseph died in July, 1850.
The acquaintance with the Huish family was a lasting friendship. Through this association John Powell was converted to the Latter-day Saint faith and was baptized on November 28, 1850 with his wife, Elizabeth. The Powells left their home in Wales March 22, 1856 to go to Utah. At this time they had another child, David, born March 2, 1856. They sailed from Liverpool March 23, 1856 on the ship Enoch Train. Elizabeth was then thirty-five years of age and John forty-three. It took five weeks for them to cross the Atlantic from Liverpool to Boston. Sometime during this voyage Sarah Ann died and was buried at sea.
The family traveled by train from Boston to the Iowa camp grounds where they helped build their handcarts and joined the company of Captain Edmund Ellsworth. They had paid their immigration fee before leaving their home in Wales and expected to find teams and wagons to take them to Utah. While crossing the plains little David became very ill from lack of proper nourishment. His mother was so afraid that the children would not have enough to eat that she had deprived herself of needed food for herself and baby. As this brave and valiant mother had not regained her strength after the arrival of David, most of the camp work such as cooking and washing was done by Mary, who was twelve years old. At the Iowa campgrounds they saw the first stove with an oven and they had never seen a washboard until they came to America.
Crossing the plains was a long, hard journey. Robert Sheen, his father and relatives were in the comapny and often supplied game for the needy families. One day an elderly man strayed away from camp and they were delayed several hours while a search was made. He had found a shelter built of willows on a river bank and hidden in it--too tired to go on. They finally persuaded him to return to camp. It was very hard on the old, and sick, and the young children as they traveled as far as possible each day. Robert Sheen lost his little daughter, Emma, on the plains. They prepared her body for burial, performed the last rites, and tearfully resumed their journey after marking the spot with stones, but leaving as little trace of the ground being disturbed as possible. Some days they traveled long distances without water. At night the men dug holes in the buffalo wallows to get water. As soon as the dirt was damp, they held it in their hands to absorb some moisture in order to go on digging. The little children often grabbed the wet mud and sucked the water out to quench their thirst, not being able to wait for the water to seep in and clear.
After they had crossed the Green River and were climbing the long slope, they met a group of missionaries from Salt Lake City on their way East. They stopped their teams and shouted, "Hosanna! praise to God and the Lamb!" At the sight of this company so sunburned and weary, but with smiles on their faces and their eyes shining with joy, Bernard Snow stood on the tongue of the wagon and made a rousing speech welcoming them to the valleys of the mountains after which they went on their separate ways. This valiant band, filled with joy and thanksgiving as their journey was nearly completed, forgot the weary miles behind them and faced the remainder with courage renewed and hearts light and gay.
President Brigham Young welcomed them into the Valley and the people brought food for them. Hannah had walked all the way by the side of captain Ellsworth. When they came into the valley, he put her on his shoulder and asked the President to give her the first piece of bread because she had been so good and had never complained.
It was the latter part of September; they had been six months on their journey since leaving the home. In Wales, John Powell and his daughter, Margaret, were so ill that the elders had administered to them. They had promised John that he would get well and go to Zion where he would work on the Temple. As the elders had told John he should work on the temple, he rented a one-room house from Orson Hyde and went to work cutting stone. But after two days' work he became ill with Balck Canker. He lay on a bed of straw in one corner of the room. He died on his wife's thirty-sixth birthday, two weeks after they had reached the Valley. A kind neighbor brought a bed for him to be placed on. Another neighbor loaned them two chairs and a table. They had been using rocks before. A Mrs. Judd gave them two sheets for John's burial clothes. He with ten other pioneers were buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery the same day.
The family faced the coming winter with a scanty supply of clothes, bedding and other necessities, so they sold their handcart for food. The crops that year had been very poor and the population was increasing rapidly. For Christmas dinner they had boiled cabbagge, brown bread and toasted beans. Elizabeth, being a good seamstress, did tailoring for some of the prominent members of the Church. About 1858 she married James Butler from Redburn, England but this marriage proved unhappy. They were the parents of two children. She later moved to Payson, Utah where she bought an old adobe house which she renovated.
In 1878 her son David, and her son-in-law, James Betts, were killed in a snowslide in Payson Canyon. James' body was found that day, but it was not until a week later that David's body was found. Something strange happened during the search for these men. The men were about ready to give up searching for David, when Soren P. Christensen of Salem dreamed he was on the slide and saw a man pointing to a place he recognized. The next day he told Robert Sheen of his dream. Mr. Sheen recognized from the description of David that it was the boy's father with whom he had crossed the plains in the handcart company. They explored the spot and after digging several feet found David's body.
Elizabeth's last days were spent in semi-darkness. During this time she told her granchildren of their journey across the plains. Sometimes she remarked, "Oh, dear me, many times I wonder if it was worth it." But she never expressed any real regret as to the choice she had made. She came to the end of a wonderful life April 6, 1890 and was buried in the Payson Cemetery.
- Emma McDowell Jacobson
Elizabeth Harris Powell Butler
Elizabeth Harris Powell was born Oct. 12, 1821 at Brenyepant farm, Rednarshire, South Wales. The daughter of John and Mary Evans Harris, Elizabeth was the youngest child having brothers and sisters named William, Thomas, Mary, Joseph, and Martha. (1.)
She lived with her grandparents; they being lonely, persuaded her parents to let her stay with them. Her grandfather was a farmer so her childhood was spent on a farm in South Wales. The children in that country learned to work when they were young so when her grandmother died, Elizabeth kept house for her grandfather. Elizabeth's grandfather was a very religious man who adhered to the rules of the Methodist church. (1.)
Elizabeth attended a private school for girls in England. Here she learned the English language. While visiting a school chum, she met John Powell of Sheffield England. (1).
John Powell and Elizabeth Harris Powell moved to Abergavenny, South Wales. John Powell came to Wales as a foreman for Sir Benjamin Hall at the Llanover Estate. Sir Benjamin Hall represented that part of the country in the British Parliament. John was a stone cutter. A great many number of men were employed on the estate. (1).
The acquaintance with the Huish family was a lasting friendship. Through their association, John Powell, Elizabeth's husband was convert to the Church. He was baptized by James Walter Huish, President of the Branch at Blaenvavon, Wales (July 25, 1846) on Nov. 28, 1850 with his wife Elizabeth. (1).
The Powell family left their home in Wales March 22, 1856 to go to Utah with the Saints. They sailed from Liverpool England, March 22, 1856 on Ship p.29, Enoch Train, Handcart Company L. 856. His wife, Elizabeth was 35, John was 43; occupation, mason; address, Andren Gallony at John Braidley, Aborsychan, Pontypool, Monmouth. They came on an emigration fund. His P.E. Fund no# was 1057, allotment was from the Herefordshire Conference, England. Information of his wife, Elizabeth, is same as above. A freighter was converted to a sailing vessel with Captain Daniel McCarty. (1.)
When the Powell family joined the L.D.S. church and decided to come to Utah, Mrs. Powell's relatives were very bitter, telling her they would never write to her. But many years later she did recieve a letter telling her of the death of seven of their near relatives in a coal mine explosion (1.).
Father (John Powell) was an expert mason by trade. He took large building tracts. His brother, David in New York often wrote urging father to join him in America. But mother would not leave her aged father alone in Wales. Neither did my Father wish to forsake him in his declining years (2.)
After Grandfather died, my parents prepared to immigrate to America and join Uncle David. (2.).
The president of the Branch, now placed Father (John Powell) in charge of three districts. Lan Ellen, Abi Gavanni, Lan Tony Abbey. He met with the saints in one of these districts each Sunday. Often the elders returned with him and reamined [sic] at our place several days. (2.).
Mother (Eliz. Harris Powell) was a faithful member of the Independent Methodist Church. Father (John Powell) did not belong to any church but he always led the singing in Mother's Church. (2.)
(1.) Biography of Elizabeth Harris Powell and John Powell written by Emma McDowell Jacobson.
(2.) History of Mary Powell Sabin
