Scarce food, frozen tears, sickness and death — among the 70,000 to 80,000 pioneers who made the 1,000-mile trek to Utah in the mid-1800s, the greatest sufferers were those of the Martin and Willie handcart companies.
Having started late on their journey in 1856, these pioneers encountered severe winter conditions they had not been prepared for, and about 20% of the members in these companies lost their lives.
Yet “in hardship and suffering, faith was forged,” said Elder Evan A. Schmutz, a General Authority Seventy, at the Days of ‘47 Sunrise Service on Wednesday, July 24, in Salt Lake City. “No sacrifice was too great for those committed to their covenants.”
Elder Schmutz, joined by his wife, Sister Cindy L. Schmutz, shared the words of pioneer Frances Webster, who found more than suffering in the Martin handcart company: “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.”
Speaking on Pioneer Day — celebrating 177 years since Brigham Young and Latter-day Saint pioneers first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley — Elder Schmutz discussed the faithfulness of early Saints and shared five principles that people today can apply from their pioneer forebears.
‘All is well! All is well!’
In April 1846, two years after the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred and shortly after the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were driven from Nauvoo, Brigham Young anticipated hardship and suffering the Saints would endure west across the plains. In response, he asked William Clayton, a member of the Council of Fifty, to write a song that would encourage Church members in their darkest times.
“It is said that within two hours of that request, William Clayton had penned the lyrics to the beloved hymn ‘Come, Come, Ye Saints,’” said Elder Schmutz. “Surely the Lord revealed this hymn as a comfort and a strength to His people in their coming trials.”
Pioneers pushed forward with this anthem, echoing the lyrics’ plea that “no toil nor labor fear; / But with joy wend your way,” faithfully anticipating that “soon we’ll have this tale to tell — / All is well! All is well!”
Added Elder Schmutz: “In most cases, these early Saints were already possessed of a deep and abiding faith before setting out on the trail, but in the journey, their faith became unshakeable.”
Pioneer devotion from Wales to Wyoming
Elder Schmutz shared the story of his great-great-great-grandmother Catherine Jones Bennett, who in 1841 joined the Church of Jesus Christ in the country of Wales. With her husband, Benjamin Bennett, and their youngest child, Elizabeth, Catherine Bennett sailed to the United States in May 1860 to travel with other Saints across the plains.
The trek took a tremendous physical toll on 67-year-old Catherine Bennett, and she was buried in Wyoming without a permanent marker for her grave. Her children later migrated to Utah in 1862, not knowing of their mother’s death until they reached Salt Lake City.
In October 2023, the Friday before Elder Schmutz presided over a Bridger Valley Wyoming Stake conference, he and his wife traveled with the stake president and his wife to a pioneer trail. They also saw a grave site with a marker placed upon it.
“It was only after we began to read the marker that I realized this was the grave of Catherine Jones Bennett.” Elder Schmutz added, “I shed tears of joy for this faithful woman who had joined with the Saints of God, seeking a place God had prepared, in the West, so far away from her home in Wales.”
5 key learnings from pioneers
What can today’s Latter-day Saints learn from the courageous faith, toil and sacrifice of the early pioneers?
Although the struggles and tribulations of today’s Saints differ from those of the early Saints, Elder Schmutz offered five key principles to learn from pioneer ancestors:
- “Trust in God and in His promises.
- “Love and sustain our living prophets, and heed their prophetic vision.
- “Covenant with God to obey His commandments, and keep your covenant.
- “Press forward until the journey’s end without fear of what may come.
- “Sacrifice for those with whom you travel and for those who are yet to come.”
Elder Schmutz bore his testimony that today’s Latter-day Saints build on the foundations of the pioneers’ faithful and persistent examples. “May God Almighty bless us to endure with similar faith and fortitude the challenges of our day. And when the journey is done, may we join the chorus in singing, ‘All is well! All is well!’”
A choir closed the service by singing “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” a fervent melody that began in days of old and has carried on strong in the hearts of Latter-day Saints for generations since.
