History of the Saints

The Handcart Story Part 3: Willie and Martin Beginnings

By the 25th of June, 1856, the first three handcart companies had outfitted and departed in Iowa City. The next day, another group of 856 saints arrived from England. A second group arrived twelve days later. They were mostly the poor, and they would be the Saints of the Willie and Martin handcart companies. They would experience tragedy in multiples before their journey was through, most of that due to the fact that their ships arrived in America so late. That is the focus of this episode: Why were those ships - the Thornton and the Horizon - so late?