Chapter 34 Austin Plant - Plant Family History Group

Plant extracts
MORMON IMMIGRATION
Ship - Amazon
Date of Departure 4 June 1863
Port of Departure London
Date of Arrival 18 July 1863
Port of Arrival New York
Onward travel – All immigrants (882) reached Florence, Nebraska a few days after arrival at New York.
Included in the Passenger list were: -
William Plant age 59 born 1804 Occupation, Silk Twister
Mary A Plant age 57 born 1806 Occupation, Wife.
Ship - William Tapscott
Date of Departure - 11 May 1860
Port of Departure - Liverpool
Date of Arrival - 16 June 1860
Port of Arrival - New York
The ship which included 312 Scandinavians in the Total of 731 emigrants set sail from Liverpool on 11 May
1860. Owing to cold and a change of diet, considerable sickness occurred during the voyage and ten deaths
were reported.
On 3 June, smallpox broke out, and seven cases of the disease were reported though none proved fatal.
On Friday evening, 15 June, the ship arrived at the quarantine dock in New York. The next day two doctors
came on board and vaccinated all the storage passengers, a number of cabin passengers and the ships crew.
After being detained in quarantine five days the passengers were landed at Castle Gardens, New York, on 20
June.
The passengers with smallpox were taken ashore and placed in a hospital and on the 21 st the remaining
passengers left New York by steamboat and sailed up the Hudson River to Albany where they arrived on the
22 nd . From Albany, the journey continued by mule trains via Rochester to Niagara Falls.
The journey was continued through Canada along the north shore of Lake Erie to Windsor where they crossed
the river to Detroit and proceeded to Chicago which they reached on 25 th June.
From Chicago, the party travelled by railroad to Quincy where they crossed the Mississippi River to Hannibal
and thence by railroad to St. Joseph, Missouri. Here 13 persons were placed in a hospital, but after
examination, were found to be well enough to join the company the following day on the trip up the Missouri
River to Florence, Nobraska where the company arrived in the night of 30 th June.
There followed the journey across the plains considered the hardest part of the journey due to it being a low,
wet area, the nature of the soil (clay) rendering the roads almost impossible.
Arriving at Florence, the travellers found shelter in a number of empty houses while they made the necessary
preparations for crossing the plains.
A handcart company consisting of 126 people, travelling with 22 handcarts and 6 wagons left Florence on
their westward journey on 6 th July. After a journey of 81 days the company arrived in Salt Lake City on 24 th
September having suffered all the hardships involved in all handcart travel.
Included in the Passenger list was:
John Plant age 59, born 1801, Occ Blacksmith.
80