Joseph Crossley Journal Now Available

The Church History Library recently acquired the original journal of a Martin Handcart Company member.¹ Its author was a 19-year-old boy from England named Joseph Crossley who traveled in the company with his mother, Mary; his brother, Ephraim; and two sisters, Hannah and Sarah. (At the time of their journey, Joseph’s father, James, had already gone ahead of the family and was waiting in Utah for their arrival.) Joseph was the oldest of the siblings. The journal tells the story of the Crossleys’ Atlantic crossing, beginning with their preparations to leave their home and ending with their arrival in Boston Harbor.

Joseph Jarvis Smith Crossley was born on November 28, 1836, in Tyldesley, England, not far from Manchester. The Crossleys later moved to another Greater Manchester city, Radcliffe. He and his family members joined the Church one by one through the late 1840s and early 1850s. In 1855, Joseph’s father immigrated to Utah in an unnamed pioneer company. In 1856, the family decided it was their time to go to Zion as well and joined an immigrant company led by a missionary returning from England: the Edward Martin Company.

Joseph was described as a “brilliant student and a school teacher as well as an expert writer of shorthand.”² Accordingly, in his journal, he took detailed notes about the transatlantic trip. For example, he recorded that the family left Radcliffe on May 19, 1856, traveling by rail to Liverpool to board the ship Horizon for Boston. On the day of the family’s departure from Radcliffe, he wrote, “We then, after exchanging farewell greetings with the saints, quite a number of whom were met together to watch us off, some smiling and some weeping, saw our luggage safe on the train and got in ourselves. The whistle blew, the bell rang and off we started, leaving Radcliffe behind forever for ought we knew.”³ Arriving in Liverpool, Joseph noted that “Mother procured three laps of straw for our three beds at eight pence per lap.”⁴ Then, with their provisions secured for the transatlantic voyage, they departed Liverpool on Friday, May 23.

The trip was eventful, to say the least. Even before the ship left British waters, there was a mutiny onboard the ship among the crew, and the ship’s second mate was beaten bloody. Joseph wrote that “the first mate came out of the cabin with his shirt sleeves rolled up and a cocked pistol in his hand threatening to shoot the first man dead who struck another blow.”⁵ As the ship was still close to shore, 20 disgruntled seamen disembarked the ship and were replaced by new sailors.

The difficulties didn’t end there. As the ship hit open water, the seas became very rough, and Joseph records that many people were “puking with sea sickness,”⁶ a problem that dogged many Saints for most of the trip (especially Joseph’s mother, who struggled mightily). There was an outbreak of measles among the ship’s children which eventually spread to the “marines” (perhaps British Royal Marines; the exact meaning is unclear) stationed onboard.⁷ Two elderly women, a young child, and an infant born halfway through the crossing all died, and the four were buried at sea.⁸

On a positive note, though, two couples got married during the voyage.

The last entry of the journal has the sea-weary company floating in Boston Harbor waiting to disembark.⁹ There is no evidence why the record ended at this point, as there are 26 blank pages left in the journal. Perhaps the challenges of pioneer travel simply kept him from making entries.

To learn what happened after the family’s arrival in Boston, we must refer to Sarah Crossley’s account of the journey. From this we learn that as a child, Joseph had suffered “hip disease”—perhaps a severe bone infection in his hip—which made it difficult for him to walk.¹⁰ Thus, once the family began pushing their handcart across North America, Joseph needed to ride in the handcart while his sisters pushed. His sister wrote that they “had always to pull Joseph along” and that “it was so hard upon [Joseph], jolting over the uneven road.”¹¹

Sadly, as with many members of the Martin Handcart Company, Joseph did not survive to see the Salt Lake Valley. As the Crossleys marched along the trail westward, winter storms came, and disease—cholera, some think—crept into the company.¹² It may have been disease or simply exposure, but on the morning of November 5, 1856, Joseph was found dead in his bed. The ground was frozen, and the company could not dig a grave. Without any other option, Joseph’s family wrapped him in a blanket along with four other pioneers who had died overnight and left the bodies on the side of the trail. Even before the handcart train had moved out of sight, the Crossleys saw wolves approaching the corpses.¹³

That evening, the company sought refuge in a place that has come to be known as Martin’s Cove. After their eventual rescue, the remaining Crossleys were reunited with James in Utah.

We believe that the journal was kept by Sarah after Joseph died. After being held by Crossley descendants for several generations, the journal was donated to the Church History Library in March 2023. It is listed in the Church History Catalog as “Joseph S. Crossley diary, 1856 May 14–June 29” (MS 34576). The collection contains both the original handwritten journal and a typescript. The pages have been scanned and are viewable online.

We are grateful for the donation of this journal, which contributes an active, detail-rich voice to the ongoing discussion of the Martin Handcart Company and the Latter-day Saints’ migration to Utah.

Top image: Survivors of the Martin Handcart Company march down Main Street in Salt Lake City to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley (“Survivors of the Hand Cart Company, Pioneer Jubilee, 1897 July 21” [PH 11]).