Louisa Ward Higginbotham

(William Ward, David Ward, William Ward)

(Nancy Thompson Ward, William Thompson)

By Julina Peery Parker

Salt Lake City, Utah - June 1996

Part 1

Louisa Ward was born March 12, 1808 in Ward's Cove, Tazewell County, Virginia, of goodly parents, William Ward and Nancy Thompson Ward, respected members of an Old-Virginia Commonwealth. On September 8, 1831 she married William Elliott Higginbotham, from a family equally as reputable.

Her husband, William E. Higginbotham, was born on February 26, 1811 in Liberty Hill, Tazewell County, Virginia. He was a large, tall, red-haired, dark-eyed man, a farmer by occupation. His daughter Elizabether Letitia Higginbotham Peery spoke of him this way: "He was of fine appearance and was a strictly good and moral man, as good a man as ever lived. He was pleasant and genial and made friends easily. His friends called him 'Billy Higginbotham.' He was kind to the poor, the widows and distressed. He was also very kind to his family. In fact, I do not ever remember my father scolding me, although my mother was more strict."

Two years after William died in Burke's Garden, Virginia on July 3, 1862, Louisa Ward Higginbotham, with her three remaining children, began a difficult and unforgettable journey to the Salt Lake Valley. "We went through a fiery furnace on the way to Utah" is the way she described that treck from Burke's Garden in Southwestern Virginia to Salt Lake City.

It was during the summer of 1863 at the height of the Civil War. Louisa was fifty-six years old and recently widowed when she set out in a wagon with her son Frank, a boy of sixteen, her daughter, Elizabeth Letitia, age eighteen, and her four year old granddaughter, Lettie. They were traveling with another family, and were to meet the rest of their party in Pikesville, Kentucky. Before they would get there, they would have to cross many miles of rugged mountain terrain infested with renegade robbers. It was not a trip for the fainthearted, but Louisa was a courageous woman of unshakeable faith, and she was no stranger to danger; that was not the first time she had embarked on a perilous journey.

The first time was eighteen years earlier, in the winter of 1846 when Louisa was thirty-eight and living in Nauvoo, Illinois. Louisa and her husband, William Elliott Higginbotham, had journeyed there from Virginia three years earlier after having been converted to the Mormon church by a missionary, Jedediah Grant.

They were living in Nauvoo during a time of lamentable upheaval following the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. It was a time when wicked persecutors of the Mormons had forced church members to abandon the beautiful city they had built. On a biting cold March day, Louisa and William had to pack their family and whatever belongings they could carry into a wagon, and leave their comfortable home to flee over the ice on the Mississippi River.

Their suffering at that time was intense, and made even worse as Louisa was desperately ill following the birth of her fifth child, a daughter, Elizabeth Letitia. The baby would not have survived without the loving care of other nursing mothers among the exiled women who freely gave of their own milk until Louisa regained her strength.

Fortunately, the temple in Nauvoo, which her husband William Higginbotham helped to build, was completed before they were forced out, enabling them to remarry there, for time and all eternity. That meant a great deal to both of them.

They traveled with the Saints on a long and extremely difficult trip across Iowa to Council Bluffs, where they stayed for awhile. But there was no work there for William, and no way he could feed his family. They were forced to move across the border into Andrew County, Missouri where he was able to sustain them. Their youngest child, Frank, was born there on March 24, 1848. After two lean years, word came from Virginia that Louisa's father had died. They returned to their former home in Burke's Garden, a beautiful spot in the Appalachian Mountains, hoping to claim part of an inheritance. When they reached Virginia, they were disappointed to find that the inheritance they expected had been depleted by other heirs. That required them to remain in Virginia to raise funds for the long treck westward with the rest of their emigrating people.

Her daughter, Elizabeth Letitia Peery, remembered Louisa Higginbotham as being a "kind and good woman, strong in her belief." "She was always anxious to gather with the saints, and rear her family as Latter-day Saints should be reared." It wasn't until eighteen years later that the trip finally materialized. During those eighteen years, great happiness, and even greater sorrow was to come into Louisa's life.

Louisa was a quiet, refined southern gentlewoman. She didn't talk much, but her words, when she did talk, carried considerable weight. After her conversion and baptism into the Mormon church in 1841 by Jedediah M. Grant, she was instrumental in converting several other people. Under her quiet, but strong influence her husband, William, soon followed. A short time after that, her three sisters and several friends joined the church. Years later, her influence, combined with other important considerations, persuaded her son-in-law, David Harold Peery, to embrace the faith. That fortuitous conversion would have far reaching effects, and change the rest of Louisa's life for the better.

It was while they were living in Burke's Garden around 1850, after returning from Council Bluffs, that Louisa's oldest daughter, Nancy, met and married David Harold Peery, a successful merchant who owned the general store there. They had three children, and for ten years were prosperous in their business and happy in their marriage except for one thing--David did not like the idea that his wife was a Mormon. No matter how hard he tried, he could not persuade her to leave the church. On three occasions, he invited a Protestant minister, a different one each time, to their home to talk to her, and on three occasions, Nancy out-argued the visiting minister.

The outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 was the beginning of a series of devastating misfortunes for both the Peery and Higginbotham families. Along with the Union Army, a raging epidemic of typhoid fever plagued Southwestern Virginia.

On May 1, 1861 Nancy and David experienced their first real sorrow when their dear little son, Thomas, died of the fever.

In 1862, David joined the Confederate Army. While in the army, he came down with typhoid fever and was sent by ambulance to the home of his parents to recuperate.

On May 17th, his mother, Eleanor Harman Peery, died of the fever.

On July 3rd, a severe blow struck Louisa when her lifetime companion and dearly loved husband, William Elliott Higginbotham, came down with the fever and died.

On July 8th, David's father, Major David Peery, died.

In July 1862, being still sick, David was removed to his own home in Burke's Garden.

On September 21st, Nancy Higginbotham Peery (David's wife and Louisa's daughter) gave birth to a son, William Harold.

On September 30th, another blow further devastated the family when Nancy died. Before she died, she entrusted her mother, Louisa, with little Lettie's care.

On October 12th, David's newborn son, William Harold, died. He was now left with only his two-year old daughter, Lettie. David Harold Peery was a stricken man.

Still stick and much distressed with his overwhelming sorrows, a great desire came over David to read his wife's books and to learn what it was in her religion that held her so firmly in its beliefs and teachings. With a believing heart he read her copy of Voice of Warning, then read a book by Orson Pratt on Eternal Family Relationships. He loved his family dearly, and was so impressed by what he read that he became firmly converted to the faith he had tried so hard to take away from his wife. He wanted to have her sealed to him for eternity, because, he is reported to have said, "Heaven would not be a heaven to me without my wife."

Throughout the time he was learning about the church, Louisa quietly encouraged and supported his efforts. It was through Louisa that he was directed to Absolam Finny [Young], the only Mormon Elder in the territory, who lived twenty-five miles away. So eager was he to join the church, David rode the distance on horseback over snow covered mountains to find Absolam Finny [Young]. Together they cut the ice on the North Holsten River, and in late November of 1862, David Harold Peery, Louisa's son-in-law, was baptized into the Mormon church.

Having recovered from typhoid fever, he returned to duty in the Confederate Army. While he was away, the Union Army ruthlessly invaded Burke's Garden, burning his residence, and storehouse full of goods, six out buildings, the bacon of 130 large hogs, and four hundred dollars in silver coins. All of it was destroyed. The value was $50,000 and he had no insurance.

It was then he concluded to join Louisa and her children and leave Virginia for Utah. Feeling that he was now a Latter-day Saint, he should gather with those of his faith in the land of Zion. Together, Louisa and David worked out a plan whereby he would go on ahead to make arrangements for his discharge from the army by finding a replacement.

Louisa and her children would travel with a second family: James Harman and his children who had agreed to join them. The two families would cross the mountains between Virginia and Kentucky and meet David at an appointed time in Cattlesburg, Kentucky where they would secure passage on a steamboat. Lydia's oldest child, Simon, age twenty-five, and James Harman, father of their traveling companions, were to be sent on ahead to Missouri to buy oxen and supplies for the journey, then meet the rest of the party in Omaha.

Part 2

On March 30, 1863 [August 14, 1863], Louisa Higginbotham, her son Frank, a boy of fifteen, daughter Elizabeth Letitia, age eighteen, and her little granddaughter, four year old Lettie, set out on their journey to Utah. With them were Oscar Harman age eighteen, and his married sister, Sally Harman Nichols, and her three small children. Sally's husband, Frank Nichols, who had gone on ahead, would also meet them at Cattlesburg. Those were the members of the Harman family who had agreed to travel with them. Sally Nichols was sick at the time, so Louisa and Elizabeth Letitia had to care for her and her children.

A friend of the Higginbotham family, Colonel Swan, of the Confederate Army, escorted them to the Virginia border. They then set out alone to cross the rugged mountains into Kentucky. They had all their belongings packed into two horse drawn wagons. Oscar Harman drove one, Frank drove the other. They had in their possession $1,400 in gold belonging to David Peery and $500 in gold belonging to Louisa, which they hid in a box with a false bottom. They also had several trunks. Among them was a trunk containing clothing that had belonged to Louisa's deceased daughter, Nancy

The little group crossed the rugged Cumberland Mountains to the Sandy River Valley only to find that the flooding Sandy River had completely covered the road, making further travel impossible. Ten miles below, at Pikesville, they had friends, but there was an impassable gulf between. They had no recourse but to camp there, so they chose a spot about 100 yards from the only house in the area, a cabin owned by an elderly couple named Blackburn.

As the Kentucky mountain boys were known to harbor dangerous renegade robbers, the two boys, Frank and Oscar, took the horses on a round about way to Pikesville so that the horses would not be stolen, and to notify friends of the plight of the women and children who had been left there alone.

Because Sally Nichols was ill, Louisa sought shelter for her and her children in the nearby cabin. Around sundown, the renegades came. There were ten or twelve of them, shooting their guns, swearing and using vile language. They were angered at not finding the horses, so they went after the trunks in the wagons. Louisa in her calm, quiet way asked them not to break the locks, and offered to open the trunks with a key. They paid not attention, but started to remove the trunks. When they approached the one containing Nancy's clothing, Louisa, this usually placed woman, started to scream. Her screams brought Mrs. Blackburn out, and because she recognized the mountain men, they left, but not without terrorizing the group again with their gunshots and curses.

The next day, Mr. Blackburn, with his team of oxen, moved the wagons closer to the house and brought the trunks and badly frightened family inside to keep them safe. That night the robbers came again, shooting and cursing. The horrifying activity continued for several hours before they gave up and finally left. The women were badly shaken by the experience, but were thankful they were otherwise unharmed.

Oscar Harman and Frank had successfully negotiated the hazardous trip through the mountains, and the next morning around dawn, their friends arrived from Pikesville with several armed men and two flatboats. The men pulled the wagons out of the river where the renegades had pushed them, and escorted the stranded travelers to safety.

After that, their plan worked like well-oiled machiner. David Peery and Frank Nichols were waiting in Cattlesburg as expected. The party, now complete, took a steamboat via the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Omaha where they met Simon and James Harman with the outfits that would take them to Utah.

Part 3

On July 3, 1864 [June 4, 1864] the family began the Western portion of their travels. From Omaha, the remainder of the trip was grueling in the extreme. They joined an independent party that lacked the organization, and fellowship, characteristic of Mormon pioneer parties. Three times they were attacked by Indians, but no one was killed. Their outfits consisted of three wagons, twelve oxen, and two cows. None of the men had ever driven oxen and were having difficulty learning how to manage them. Fortunately, among the fellow travellers they met in Omaha were two Mormon families, the friendly Pritchett brothers, Napolean and William, who with their wives and children had started for Utah. The Pritchett men were experienced in driving oxen, and helpful in teaching the others.

At Fort Kearney they were joined by a company of Missourians who were on their way to Oregon and the gold fields of California. There were about twenty wagons in the train. Some of the men in the party were hostile to Mormons, and tried to cause trouble in camp. They named their oxen Brigham and Heber. They would say "Get up, 'Brig,' go along, 'Hebe.'" It soon became clear to David Peery the party needed a captain. He suggested it, and nominated William Pritchett. When Mr. Pritchett was elected, the hostile faction, not wanting to be led by a Mormon, left the party in disgust and struck out on their own. Some time later, the defected Missourians were found stranded on the prairie. Indians had stolen their horses. They were a very contrite, forlorn group of people. The same Captain Pritchett whose choice they had scorned, directed his group to share their animals with the Missourians. There were enough animals to pull most of the wagons; the remaining wagons were pulled by hand as far as Green River, Wyoming where the Missourians purchased enough stock from ranchers to get them to Oregon.

The trip from Virginia had taken five months by the time Louisa and her little family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September first, 1864 [August 31, 1864]. The only people they knew in this strange, bleakly beautiful desert country was a family named Roby that Louisa had known years earlier in Nauvoo. The Robys, who had settled in Heber Valley, took them in, and helped Frank and Simon cut trees in the near-by-canyon and build a small log cabin. That winter was unusually severe; the snow was so deep, Letitia remembered, they "didn't see a fence all winter," and their diet consisted mainly of potatoes and sorghum molasses.

When spring arrived they joined David in Cottonwood where he had spent the winter teaching school. On April 10, 1865 David Harold Peery and Elizabeth Letitia Higginbotham were married in Holiday, Utah Territory, by Elder Winslow Farr. On November 7, 1865 they were remarried and sealed to each other in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. There, Elizabeth Letitia stood proxy for her dead sister Nancy, and David and Nancy were sealed to each other for time and eternity by Apostle George Q. Cannon.

In October of 1866, the moved to Ogden where David Peery was to become one of the most successful, respected, and influential leaders in the community. Louisa lived with David and Elizabeth Letitia and their children, and remained active in the church until she died on January 8, 1887 at the age of 79.

Louisa and William Higginbotham had seven children; only three of whom survived to make the trip to Utah. They also had eighteen grandchildren. Their children are:

Nancy Cambell [Higginbotham] Peery, born, 5-19-1835; died, 9-30-1862.
Lydia Louisa, born 1837; died at the age of two.
Simon Shelby, born 6-21-1839; died, 1-4-1899.
Son, no name, born 1841; died at birth.
Son, Jerome, born 1843; died in infancy.
Elizabeth Letitia [Higginbotham] Peery, born 1-13-1846; died, 1-13-1938.
Francis David, born, 3-24-1848; died, 10-9-1911.

Louisa Higginbotham, this kind, loving, gentle woman of the Old South was greatly loved by all who knew her. She was a general favorite with children. Her grandchildren were always glad to be with their grandmother; her room was their gathering place and nursery. They delighted in having her tell them stories, and remembered her as being kind, gentle, and affectionate, with an even, beautiful disposition.

Years earlier in Virginia, before her daughter, Nancy, died, Nancy entrusted the care of her young child, Lettie to Louisa. Later, Louisa's other daughter, Elizabeth Letitia, spoke of it this way: "Lettie was fortunate indeed, in having been entrusted by her dear mother during her last mortal hours, to the care and guardianship of such a wonderful and saintly character as her grandmother Higginbotham. She (Louisa) was full of grace and love, of loyalty and devotion to her kindred, her friends, and her church and to her God."

Louisa Ward Higginbotham was truly one's of God's nobelwomen.

Note: Julina Peery Parker (Joseph Stras Peery, David Harold Peery, Major David Peery, John Peery, James Peery #1) is a great-granddaughter of Louisa Ward Higginbotham. This history was compiled and submitted to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) for their project to publish during Utah's Centennial Year 1996 the histories of pioneer women who came to Utah over one-hundred years ago. Louisa crossed the plains in a covered wagon at fifty-six, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on August 31, 1864, prior to the completion of the transcontinental railroad. She died in 1887, while Utah was still a territory.

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