Sarah Lane Born: September 11, 1803; Semperingham, Lincolnshire, England Married: Joseph Elsey Died: November 2, 1852; Tooele, Tooele, Utah Immigration: 1855 on "Charles Buck"

Sarah Lane Elsey Nix

James Nix remarried on May 20, 1840. His new wife was a widow named Sarah Lane Elsey. She had four children from her first marriage. The names of the children include Susannah, Mary, and William. Together that gave them seven children, and then James and Sarah had a son on August 5, 1842. They named him Samuel.

Around 1850 the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints came preaching the gospel in Dowsby. James and Sarah were among the first converts in Lincolnshire. They were baptized in 1850. Apparently Susannah and Mary Elsey (Sarah's daughters) were baptized then also, and James and Sarah sent the girls to America. Susannah and Mary came to Salt Lake and were married. Susannah, the oldest, married Thomas Tanner; Mary Ann married a man by the name of Bradshaw. Their families were both sent to settle Tooele.

In October 1854, the Nix family was preparing to go to Zion. The family was ready to depart in December of 1854. All of the Nixes (except daughter Sarah) made the trip. There was James Nix and his wife Sarah, Thomas and his wife Mary and two children, George and Emily, William Elsey and James III.

Richard Ballantyne was commissioned by Franklin D. Richards to be a company leader to bring the saints from Liverpool to Utah. They boarded the ship "Helios," but it sprang a leak and the immigrants repacked their belongings and left the ship. Six weeks later passage was secured aboard the ship "Charles Buck." It must have been quite a hardship on the Saints waiting to come, but 403 saints boarded the "Charles Buck" on January 17, 1855 and set sail from Liverpool. They were fifty-six days in ocean passage to New Orleans.

Sarah Elsey Nix was sick all the way across the ocean. Since there was no doctor aboard the ship, Richard Ballantyne became the physician and gave what medical aid he could, along with priesthood blessings. He had developed his own remedies, too, which he administered to all the sick. One of the remedies was a composition tea. While he was a sympathetic doctor, he did not trifle with any patient who puckered up his face and tried to avoid taking his share of the treatment. The missionary spoke sternly to the recalcitrant and commanded that a liberal dose be taken.

One evening as the food was being rationed, a startling discovery was made. A check of the supplies revealed that a large quantity was not reloaded when the transfer was made from the "Helios" to the "Charles Buck." It was either an oversight or a matter of theft. In any case, the fact remained that there was not enough food to provide a wholesome diet throughout the voyage. Nothing could be done except to cut the daily rations, and so for the rest of the voyage the immigrants were reduced to a minimum subsistence.

Nor were all the dangers from short rations and the elements, for one day the Captain, William Smalley, sighted a pirate ship carrying a gang of cutthroats and robbers. It caused excitement bordering on panic, but the quick-witted seaman ordered every person on the ship to appear on deck. As there were eight hundred in all, this great number of people caused the pirates to reconsider whatever designs they had on capturing the ship. They tacked their vessel about and sailed away.

Richard Ballantyne was determined that there would be no idle hands in his company, and so before leaving England he arranged for the purchase of a large quantity of canvas. He then set the passengers to work cutting out the material and sewing it into tents and wagon covers.

Frequently meeting were held, sometimes at night under lanterns between the main mast and the gallery. Singing and preaching kept spirits high, and any evidence of grumbling was immediately dealt with by the organization leaders. The immigrants were divided into four wards, over which a president and two counselors presided.

Sometimes they had a problem of the crew expressing enmity against the Latter-day Saints and the Irish immigrants who were also aboard. Disease was a problem and short rations a worry.

The "Charles Buck" fought strong headwinds most of the voyage, which considerably slowed the speed and rapidly exhausted the already inadequate food supply.

However, during the trip the company manufactured twenty-one tents and twenty wagon covers for the trip across the plains.

Finally on March 14, 1855, they landed in New Orleans. From there they traveled by river boat to St. Louis, where they were greeted by Apostle Erastus Snow. When Elder Ballantyne reported the trip on the Mississippi to Elder Snow he indicated that the captain's conduct had been disgraceful in the extreme, several deaths had occurred and the provisions cost them dearly -- on the average the cost per passenger for the trip thus far was five dollars and six cents (for each adult).

At St. Louis the Saints remained for a week waiting for the ice to clear from the upper Mississippi. Elder Snow in the meantime had engaged a steamboat to take the immigrants to Atchison, Kansas. When Richard Ballantyne inspected the steamboat he found it to be old and dilapidated. He told Brother Snow he didn't feel right about it. They found a new boat, named the "Michigan." The original boat they had chartered met with an accident on the river and had sunk. The lives of hundreds of Saints were spared.

At Atchison, Kansas, four companies were formed of roughly 400 people in each company. My ancestors went with the Milo Andrus Company, thus parting company with Elder Ballantyne, who headed the Poor Fund Company to Salt Lake.

From Atchison the companies went on three miles to Mormon Grove. This was the chief outfitting place for the Saints who crossed the plains in 1855.

The Nixes reached Salt Lake in November of 1855. Susannah and Mary (who had emigrated earlier) came from Tooele with their husbands to Salt Lake to greet the family and bring them to Tooele. They got to Tooele on November 5, 1855 around five in the evening. Sarah Elsey Nix died that same night at eleven o'clock.

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