Item Detail
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17301
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0
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0
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English
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Jean Rio Griffiths Baker (Pearce) (1810-1883)
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Women's Voices : An Untold History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900
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Salt Lake City
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Deseret Book Company
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203-221
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January 4, 1851 to May 18, 1851. Baker sails from Liverpool to America on the George W. Bourne in January 1851 with her children. She describes daily life at sea, seasickness, and the death of her youngest son. She lands in New Orleans where she stops to visit a friend and tour the city. Baker offers detailed descriptions of the city, its customs, the slave market, and the plantations outside New Orleans. Sailing up the Mississippi River on the steamship Concordia, she winters in St. Louis where she provides a description of her home and her thoughts on religion in the region, particularly Catholicism. Baker also writes about adjusting to the American climate. She continues on her journey, sailing to Alexandria, Illinois, and then traveling by wagon to Utah in the John Brown Company in 1851. She describes a challenging journey, as she has difficulty learning to drive a team, weathers storms, and acts as a nurse/midwife for the group. Baker often stops to visit farmers, and her company joins with a group bound for Oregon. She mentions the difficulty of descending Emigration Canyon, before arriving in Salt Lake. She buys a house, visits local hot springs, and celebrates Christmas. At the end of the diary, Baker moves to Ogden, Utah.