James Barnet Cole Rescues Lucy Ward, Pioneers

James Barnet Cole rescues Lucy Ward

Lucy Ward was a 10 year old girl when her father died, in England.  Befrore his death Lucy's father had given her a beautiful green veil or scarf.  A while after she lost her husband, Lucy's mother joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  All the rest of the family joined too.  The converts were encouraged to travel to Zion.  But before the family could immingrate to Zion (Zion was Utah.) her sister and her mother died.  (Lucy had two brothers.).  Lucy was only around 22 years old when she took a ship to New York City.  There she worked in a millinary (hat making) shop for a year in order to earn the money to travel to Utah to join the Saints.  

Lucy traveled to Iowa, USA, by train and she joined the Willie Martin Handcart Company  This company ran into trouble because they left Iowa late.  The company ran into winter storms and eventually were stranded in the Wyoming wilderness.  

Lucy had a warm wool cloak with her that she had brought with her from England.  She cut off the bottom of the cloak when the early winter storm was doing its worste and she needed some way to tie it on to keep her head and face warm.  She remembered the beautiful green veil that her father had bought her and she took it out of the handcart and she tied it around the piece of fur coat that she had cut off.  Basically the green veil was holding the fur on her head and against the sides of her face.  Doing this was probably significant in Lucy's survival because we lose a lot of heat through our head.  Many other members of the company died.   The ends of the green veil were allowed to blow in the wind.  

James Barnet Cole was from one of the first families that joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints years before.  He had crossed the plains via a wagon with a team of probably oxen.  James answered the call of the Prophet Brigham Young to go rescue the handcart pioneers in Wyoming.  On the way he had a dream.  In the dream he saw a beautiful woman with a green veil on.  She said to him that if he rescued her, she would be his bride.  

In the morning James woke up and told his traveling partner about the dream.  This partner was William Kimball.  Brother Kimball told Brother Cole that there were no beautiful women waiting for him, only starving saints.   It was a very challenging trip to get through the snow to the stranded handcart pioneers,.  In fact, rations or food for the Willie Handcart Company had been cut several times and the people were both freezing and starving.  

When James Cole's wagon came over the ridge the members of the stranded handcart party stood and cheered.  Lucy stood up and looked towards the rescue wagons.  The cold wind caught the ends of her veil and blew them in the air.  William Kimball turned to James Cole and said, "Well James, there's your dream girl!"  

James drove his wagon, full of supplies, up to Lucy.  He looked down at her, standing with her frozen feet in the snow, and he invited her to get into the wagon.  Lucy, always a proper lady, said, "I don't know you."  But she soon got used to him.  They were married three days later and stayed the winter in Fort Bridger.  She could not travel on to Salt Lake City because her feet had truly been frozen.  She lost all ten of her toes.  

Jamed and Lucy would go on to settle in or near Ogden Utah and have 11 children.  They were faithful members of the Church until thier deaths.  James would die in a horse accident 20 years after they met and Lucy would live as a widow for 44 years.  At the time of HER death at age 87 she had 156 descendants.   

I am one of their later descendants.  I think we need to be aware of how much our ancestors went through to get us to this wonderful modern age of our world.  In fact, Lucy's grandaughter tells of how Lucy taught her grandchildren to appreciate being able to eat an orange in a state far from where the oranges were grown. 

NOTE:  This drawing was done in pencil, and it was not inked in with pen.  It cqn be found in printable form by clicking on one of two buttons up top:   . . . . All Printables. . . . or .  . . . .
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