Thomas Steed

Thomas Steed (Rick's Great Great Great Grandfather) was one of the rescuers of the Martin Handcart company. I took a picture of his name on this plaque but didn't get a close up since there were people in the way. I was told that there was a bigger, nicer plaque in the Museum and so I had planned to take another picture there, but our group ran out of time and we were not able to go in. If you enlarge the second picture you can see Thomas Steed's name. My mother-in-law sent me some information from Thomas Steed's journal:

When Thomas Steed arrived, he saw his brother John's only daughter, Sarah, who was in the Martin Company. Grandpa Tom wrote: "In the early part of October 1856, with a number of others, I started on the road to meet the handcart companies. It was late in the season, and we had a pretty rough time. We met the first company one day's drive east of Fort Bridger. The sight I shall never forget; they looked like Indians from afar. They had encountered a severe snowstorm down on the Sweetwater, a most bitter cold to endure. In consequence, a great many laid down their bodies to rest in death, worn out with the toils and hardships of the journey, and many others were frost bitten very bad. I could not refrain from tears when I beheld the scene that surrounded me.

"Here I met my niece, Sarah E. Steed, my brother John's only child. I had sent for her from England. Thanks to the mercy of Providence, she was in good health, although a lame girl, aged about twenty. With them was also Brother John Bailey whom I had known in England, and his daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who later became my second wife. Brother Bailey was so severely frost bitten that his daughter had to carry him. I calculated to return with these to the Valley. I had come for that very purpose, but there was another company farther back, and Brother William Kimball, who was in charge of the teams, wished me to let others take care of my friends and accompany the teamsters who went after the last company. We wept together when I had to tell them of that decision. My poor friend Bailey died in arriving to Salt Lake.

"We traveled on until we came to the last crossing of the Big Sandy, going east, but could not see nor hear from them. Here we had a very severe snow storm and concluded to send two men down to the Sweetwater to see if any intelligence could be obtained, but the storm was so violent that the two men returned at night to us. Captain Amussen concluded to fall back unto Green River where about fifty teams were stopping. In the morning Van Cott and C. Spencer started back for the Valley. The rest followed until we were as far as Fort Bridger, and here halted for a few days waiting to see if we could hear from the company. In four days an express arrived telling that those people were down at the Sweetwater. We harnessed up and started and met them about ten miles east of the Pacific Springs. They were in a very sad condition; a great many badly frozen. We used all the care and attention we could to make them as comfortable as possible. My only blanket I gave to a sick girl to keep her warm. We made good headway towards the Valley and arrived on the 30th of November, thankful that the Lord had brought us safely through the cold and snow to our families."