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 Original Orders to Outfit a Mormon Wagon Train,
1854-55. Group of 56 original documents, comprising 74 written pages involving the Perpetual Emigration Fund Company, a corporation established by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1849 to provide economic assistance to
more than 30,000 individuals who sought to emigrate to Utah and surrounding regions, some expected age-related wear and faultsAN OUTSTANDING AND HISTORICAL GROUP OF DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE PERPETUAL EMIGRATION FUND DURING THE EARLY HISTORY OF
THE MORMOM CHURCH. The Perpetual Emigration Fund financed an extensive Mormon Church-directed program based on missionaries promising wondrous opportunities in Utah Territory to poor European converts who would sign a bond promising repayment of
emigration costs to the Church. Included in this extraordinary group of documents are 43 different orders varying from $80 to $848 for delivery of oxen, wagons and provisions for a wagon train leaving Atchison, Kansas Territory, on an 1855
overland trail journey to Salt Lake City. Several are autograph letters signed by Erastus Snow, including one shipping a yoke of cattle, "if they live to go through," to his wife. Another has Snow's note relating to shipping "Doc
Bernhisel's store and fixtures" on the wagon train. One is a scarce substitution order, and another a rare receipt for team and provisions to be used as an order. Three orders provide for passage of lone women on the wagon train. There are
also also four extensive lists of settlers indebted to the Perpetual Emigration Fund showing wagon entry dates, those who married (several polygamous), and so on. Among other documents is a long list of personal debts transferred to Brigham Young
(Trustee) as a donation in 1860; three estate records showing passage and freight emigration balances settled by transfer of decedent's clothing and sundries to the Fund; a list of individuals payments not credited to Fund (1862); a list of 109
persons made by captain of wagon train in 1854, of indebtedness to Fund for flour supplied on the western trek; an 11-page trial balance sheet for Perpetual Emigration Fund in 1857; and an 1871 letter soliciting funds for passage of federal law
lowering emigration tax. Extensive holdings of early original Mormon documents are seldom available, and this is a most unusual opportunity to acquire a well-rounded group involving a fascinating and little known area of wagon train emigration
to the Western frontier (Image) View PDF of contents of this lot Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com |
E. $ 10,000-15,000
SOLD for $8,000.00
Will close during Public Auction |
