Item Detail
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17946
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0
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0
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English
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Diary
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Trails of Hope (Internet Database)
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Provo, UT
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Utah Academic Library Consortium
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October 16, 1849 to April 12, 1877. Smith leaves Salt Lake and crosses the Plains with Jedediah Grant and Shadrach Roundy. Because of their late departure, the crossing is very difficult. They arrive in Kanesville, Iowa and Smith continues on to New Orleans, where he sails to England. He goes on a circuit preaching tours around Norwich, Bedford and Northampton. Smith discovers a branch clerk has been embezzling and raises money to cover the missing funds. He marries Adelaide Fowles and has two children before returning to the US on the Windermere. During the voyage, his daughter dies and smallpox breaks out. His son dies en route to St. Louis, and many others die from cholera prior to crossing the Plains. Smith leads a small company across the Plains. Of seven family members that began the journey, only himself and Adelaide reach Salt Lake. He begins teaching school and marries Adelaide's widowed sister. His wives' millinery business supports the family when crops fail. Adelaide's virtue is questioned for doing business with Gentiles and she is briefly excommunicated. Miners and California emigrants cause the economy to boom and Smith incurs heavy debts to establish a large basket and millinery shop. The economy cools, and grasshoppers damage his willows and ruin the harvest. He is forced to sell virtually everything, waging a protracted legal battle to keep his last house. Smith moves to Cache County to rebuild, taking his new third wife. He works on the Logan temple and serves a short mission to California before the diary ends.