SAMUEL LANE CROOK

SAMUEL LANE CROOK(8) son of William(16) and Margaret Lane Crook(17) was born 6 December 1832, at Apperly, Gloucestershire, England. His father was a farmer and did carpenter work on the side. He was the fifth child in a family of nine children. The children were Mary, Elizabeth, William Lane, Samuel Lane, George Henry Lane, John Lane, Joseph Lane, Richard Lane and Emanuel. In the Apperly Branch records (Film #086976) the following information was found. His mother, Margaret Lane Crook was baptized 20 March 1840, by Wilford Woodruff. (It appears that she was the first of the family to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) His sister, Elizabeth was baptized 30 August 1840. The baptism date of his father William Crook and Samuel Lane Crook was 12 January 1841, by Robert Harris. Samuel’s re-baptism date 22 October 1854, by William Wilkes is also recorded.

SARAH ANN HAINES(9) daughter of William(18) and Ann Stone Haines(19) was born 16 July 1830, at Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. She was the eighth child in the family of nine children. They were Sophia, George, William, William, Henry, John, Elizabeth, Sarah and Jane. Her father was a stocking maker. The story is told that Samuel took his girl friend Sarah Ann to hear the missionaries and she became interested and was baptized 19 November 1848. This information was from the same film. They began making plans to come to America. They left their native home, their brothers and sisters and everything that was near and dear to them to come to Zion to be with the main body of the Saints.

Ship “Thorton”- Franklin D. Richards, agent; with Captain Collins and
President James G. Willie, leader of the company.
Sailed from Liverpool 4 May 1856 and arrived in New York 14 June 1856 - 764 people
#166 Samuel Crook 23, labourer of Cheldenham Sterrage 1, 400 pounds Ordinary
#157 Sarah Haines 25, Spinster Sterrage l 400 Pounds, Ordinary

#144 Elizabeth C. Panting 28, wife Cheldenham Conference -Perpetual Emigrating Fund-
Christopher 5, and Jane 9 months’ Sterrage
Film #82-05691 Original Ship Records Emigration From Liverpool British Mission

And so started the journey of Samuel and Sarah Ann. They were married on board ship on the 29 May 1856, by Captain Willie. We have inserted a portion of the journal kept by the James G. Willie Emigrating Company. It gives a hint of what life was like on board the many ships that brought so many saints to America. Elizabeth C. Panting was Samuel’s sister. Her husband was the town drunk and had mistreated her and to get away from an unfavorable situation she was able to emigrate with the use of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund. She and her two small children accompanied the Willie Handcart Company on to Utah, enduring much hardship and trials before reaching the Salt Lake Valley. Fortunately, she kept in mind the promise made to her by Wilford Woodruff that she would reach Zion safely.

Samuel and Sarah Ann landed in New York after a three and a half week voyage. From there they went to Centerville, New Castle, Delaware where they stayed for about four years, farming to raise the funds for the trip to Utah. During their stay in Delaware, they were blessed with two children, William Joshua(4) who was born 1 June 1857. A little girl, Sarah Ann, was born 19 June 1858, but a year later on the 30 November 1859, she passed away. One memory Joshua recalled was that of his father catching eels in the Delaware River for food. They lived across the river from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and while there Samuel made intentions to become a citizen of the United States. He received his citizenship papers on 9 June 1888. Another unanswered question, why did it take so long?

Undoubtedly the unrest in the nation at this time made Samuel and Sarah Ann hasten their preparations for traveling west. The Civil War was about to begin and the Saints in the East were advised to come as quickly as they could to Utah. The little Crook family packed up and traveled by railroad to Florence, Nebraska.(By 1856, cost of outfitting a team, wagon and provisions had more than doubled so Brigham Young suggested travel across the plains be by pulling carts. The first handcarts departed June 9, 1856 and the last company left Florence, Nebraska on July 6, 1860.)

The Crook family made arrangements to join the Daniel Robinson Handcart Company at Florence and left for Utah 6 June 1860, they were in the next to the last handcart company to cross the plains. The company was composed chiefly of British Saints, with a few families from the Eastern States. There were 233 souls, 43 handcarts, six wagons, 38 oxen, and 10 tents.

The following is an account of what took place on their journey to Zion. It is taken from the journal of Daniel Robinson:

“When we were called to team up, six teams were put in lead, the carts were in the rear. The people pushed the carts. The boxes and carts were painted beautifully, and had bows over the top. These bows were covered with heavy canvas. The tongues of the carts had a crosspiece 2½ feet long fastened to the end. Against the crosspiece two persons would lean their weight, this they called pushing instead of pulling. It was very common to see young girls between the ages of 16 and 20 with a harness on their shoulders in the shape of a halter, a small chain fastened to that, and then fastened to the cart. There were some four or five people to a cart, some pushing, some pulling all day long through the hot, dry sand, with hardly enough to eat to keep life in their bodies.”

“Although it was one of the last companies, it was one of the most successful in its journey. Provisions were weighed out to each family once a week; at one time we were rationed to one-half pound of flour a day. Water at times was very scarce and on some occasions the only water available was in boggy places. Shovels were used and after digging three or four feet we would strike water, which was very yellow and resembled rain water which had stood for along time. This was caused from the alkali in the soil. When we camped at night, the carts were placed in a circle leaving an open space of about ten feet. This circle was used as a corral for the oxen. The oxen were unyoked inside the circle and then driven perhaps one-half mile away to feed for the night. Here they were guarded until midnight by two men and then they were relieved by others. When morning came, the oxen were brought in, each man yoking up his own oxen. As soon as breakfast was over, we were lined up for another hot day. The carts were loaded with bedding and cooking utensils, sometimes little children were put in the carts if their feet had gotten too tired to walk any farther. Most of the mothers were seen trudging along on the scorching ground, barefooted, leading their barefooted little tots by the hand, pausing now and then, trying to do something to relieve the pain in their blistered feet. When we camped for the night, we always had prayer and songs. We seemed very happy, we were putting our trust in God and were not deceived, for our journey was a peaceful one. Several bands of Indians passed our camp but we were not molested. At one time our food failed to reach camp. I swam the Platte River and made arrangements for provisions to be sent.

Arriving at the Sweetwater River, we found the bottom of the river covered with fish. Everyone had all they could eat, which was a treat after having to eat salty bacon from the time we started until now. We had no meat of any kind, except the salty bacon, because we could not keep it, and we did not see any animals that we could kill. We had to cross the Green River on ferry boats, all accept the oxen, who had to swim. We ran very low of provisions at this point and became weak from hunger. We, however did not get discouraged or lose our faith. We had pledged ourselves to the Lord, and so we would not permit ourselves to think of anything other than the Lord would provide. As we were struggling on our way fighting against despair and hunger, a wagon drove up-we know not from where-loaded with provisions. This proved to us that we had not put ourselves in the care of the Lord in vain. He will always provide if we put our faith and trust in Him.
We camped at the mouth of Echo Canyon on the Weber River, at a small town, Henefer, which was named after the only people living there at that time. Mr. Henefer donated five bushels of potatoes if we would dig them. The fishing was good in the Weber River and so after the potatoes were dug and the fish caught and cooked, of course, everyone had a treat. We reached Salt Lake Valley on the 27 August 1860 which had taken us nearly eleven weeks to make the journey.”
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Another journal of William Hemming reads:
“They passed Devils Gate and reached South Pass then traveled another fifteen miles when they reached the Green River. Here they were ferried across. The latter they came to Fort Bridger where they camped for a night. Men from Salt Lake met them and helped them over Bear River and down through Echo Canyon until they reached Henefer where they camped one day. The next day they traveled up the divide to Canyon Creek and camped for the night. The next morning they traveled to Big Mountain. A man who was living up on top of the mountain sent an Indian down with seven yokes of oxen to pull the carts to the top of the mountain. They camped at the foot of the other side over night and the next morning commenced to ascend the Little Mountain and reached the bottom the next day.”

Samuel, Sarah Ann and Joshua who was just three years old, walked all the way across the plains. Little Joshua had to have his shoes resoled three time. Their only possessions being what they could haul in their handcart. Each had to agonize over how to cull out precious possessions in order to reach the required 17 pound limit. Indians and buffalo were both encountered frequently. On one occasion there were so many buffalo in a herd that it took one-half day for them to pass by before the handcarts could continue on. This company came without disaster but that is not to suggest they came easily. A more leisurely gait, the absence of an extended period of hunger, and the presence of wagons sufficient to relieve the weary or sick, along with satisfactory weather conditions may have accounted for the low mortality in the Robinson’s Handcart Company.

The miles must have seemed endless, especially for Sarah Ann, who was so near to giving birth. Fourteen days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley a baby girl, Margaret Ann was born 9 September 1860. When they arrived in Salt Lake, they were sent to Kay’s Ward, later known as Kaysville, where a few other Saints had been sent to till the soil and make their homes. Their home in Kaysville was a dugout along the area where present day Layton Hills is located. They lived there for six years and two more children were born to this family, Orson Samuel born 4 November 1862, and Laura Louise 5 October 1864. Their two little girls both died before the family left Kaysville.
Samuel and Sarah Ann were endowed and sealed in the Endowment House 5 July 1862. In 1866, they were asked by Brigham Young to help establish a stronger Mormon settlement in the Bear Lake country. They first settled in St. Charles on the west side of beautiful Bear Lake. One child was born here, George Henry 5 November 1866. They later moved to Fish Haven where Samuel was engaged in farming. Elizabeth was born 6 April 1868, John Edwin 29 November 1869, Richard Lasell 18 March 1874, who died when he was two years old and Willard Hyrum 16 September 1876. George died when he was sixteen. Elizabeth was nine and John almost eight years old when they both died of diphtheria, one of the most dreaded diseases often called the black plaque, and they were taken to the cemetery and buried the same day.

The following was written by LaVere Johns: Samuel was one of the Queen’s gardeners in England but as soon as it was learned he had joined the Mormon Church he was told that his services were no longer needed. Their children attended a one-room, one-teacher school in Fish Haven and at that time they didn’t have any text books. The family lived their religion as they thought the Lord would want them to. They were an odd couple physically. Samuel was seven feet tall and the shortest of his father’s family and she a short muscular little woman. Their loyalty and love one for another was never questioned. They lived well and they died great and found favor with God and Man.

They received their Patriarchal Blessings at Fish Haven by J. M. Wourks, 14 April 1880. He praised them for past sacrifices for the gospel’s sake and held out the promise of a reward if they continued faithful. (Copies of their blessings are available.)
Samuel Lane Crook, age 59, died 30 March 1891, at Fish Haven, Idaho. Sarah Ann truly knew sacrifice, disappointment, and sorrow. They had buried seven of their ten children in their youth and now her husband. She spent the winter before she died in Smoot, Wyoming at the home of her son, William Joshua. He petitioned their living room with a curtain so she could have a room while staying with them that winter. Sarah Ann died 21 March 1906, at Fish Haven, Idaho. Both were buried in the Fish Haven Cemetery. William Joshua, Samuel Orson and Willard Hyrum were the only children who survived them.