As I read the histories of our ancestors who paved the way through much tribulation to settle the Salt Lake Valley, I marvel at their faith and fortitude. Their stories are filled with persecutions, trials, and also many miracles. As we read these pioneer stories, they can help strengthen our own faith. Even now, we are going through a worldwide pandemic, and there will be more struggles to come. We will have stories to tell our posterity, and may they read them and grow in their own faith in our Heavenly Father's Divine Plan of Salvation.
I continue to tell my grandchildren to journal their experiences of today. I am sure that our stories will strengthen the children of tomorrow.
Just think about telling your posterity about what it was like to wear masks to school and social distance. Yes, there will be many stories to share.
Today, in remembrance of our pioneer ancestry, I am sharing a story by husbands', Great Great Great Grandparents, Elias and Cynthia Harrington Bowen written by Elsie Bowen, granddaughter of Elias Bowen.
Somewhere in the thousands of suffering exiles, the family of Elias and Cynthia Harrington Bowen made their way out of Nauvoo and started on the long miserable trail to Iowa. They had lost their home and all their belongings to the mob burnings, therefore they had very little to travel with.
This was the third forced exodus for Elias and Cynthia, and the fourth move they had made for the Gospel they had chosen to embrace.
Elias and Cynthia were both born in Shaftsbury, Bennington Vermont. He was born about 1809. She was born on November 30, 1811. They grew up as neighbors. He was the son of James Bowen and Rhoda Potter. She was the daughter of William Harrington and Elizabeth Hawley. They were married on December 20, 1829, and set up housekeeping in Shaftsbury, a community about 50 miles from Lincoln, just a short distance from Norwick, Vermont, where Joseph Smith's parents lived. Their first two sons, Casey Potter Bowen and Jonathan Slocum Bowen, were born in the early 1830s.
Elias joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 9, 1830, about two months after it had been organized. They had been married just eight months. The Bowen Family history indicated that Elias joined the church in New York. They speculate that he may have gone to New York to obtain work in building the canals and was introduced to the church there. Cynthia was baptized on June 6, 1834, nearly four years after her husband. It may have been because her parents were somewhat opposed to the church.
When Elias returned to Shaftsbury, he became instrumental in helping to spread the good news of the Gospel. A young missionary by the name of Brigham Young was preaching the Gospel in Vermont and was wearing a small Quilt or shawl for a cloak. Elias gave him a coat, which he wore all the time he was on his mission. Sometime before 1837, the Bowens joined the gathering saints in Ohio they lived in Newburg, about nine miles from Kirtland. Elias worked with other saints in building the Kirtland temple. Their son Joseph Leonard was born there on July 5, 1837. The saints were soon driven from Ohio. In seeking refuge with a group of saints established in Missouri, Elias and Cynthia joined about five hundred other saints in a trek that took the entire summer of 1838. Their son Norman was born somewhere along the trail. To their dismay, they realized their son was blind.
In 1838 the extermination order was issued by Governor Boggs, and the family quickly found themselves banished from another home. Their journey from Missouri to Nauvoo was filled with depravation and hardships. They were relieved to reach Nauvoo, "a place of refuge." They built a home, and Elias again helped with the building of the temple. Their only daughter, Rhoda, was born in 1840 (named after Elias' mother).
Brigham Young once visited his Vermont friends. He commented on their lovely family and especially mentioned what a handsome boy Norman was. Then asked, "But what is wrong with his eyes?" Upon being told that Norman was born blind, He asked if they would like a blessing. They readily agreed. Brigham Young laid his hands upon Norman's head and gave him a beautiful blessing. The history simply says, "From that day forth Norman could see."
As near as can be determined Elias and Cynthia left Nauvoo during the summer exodus of 1847 of about 10,000 saints.
Unlike the camp of Israel, these people generally traveled in small clusters of wagons, made up of relatives and friends; sometimes from two to twenty-four wagons in a company. They seemed to just start west, making their own trail. They were probably trying to find alternate routes, which offered feed for their animals. Most groups went through Iowa. Elias and Cynthia apparently followed the Missouri borders across the entire state, probably headed for Banks ferry above St. Joseph Missouri, where Brigham Young had originally intended to cross the Missouri River.
Those saints leaving Nauvoo with the winter exodus had struggled through mud and rain which left puddles and swamps filled with mosquitoes which spread disease through the camps of the summer exodus.
About twenty miles west of St. Joseph nearly at the end of their journey, Elias and some of the children became ill with the fever. Joseph and Rhoda, although just young children, carried water in large buckets all one night from a spring some distance from their camp, so that Cynthia could apply cold packs on the heads of her sick family to break the fever. The children recovered, but Elias became steadily worse, and before morning he died. The older boys began preparing his grave.
Several hours lapsed when Elias suddenly awoke, saying that the Lord had permitted him to stay with them three more days. He told them he would like to remain with them through their journey, but he was not permitted to do so, for he was needed on the other side. He bore a powerful witness of the truthfulness of the Gospel, testifying that it was as true as Heaven and Earth stand. He counseled Cynthia not to tell her family about his death. Her family was quite well to do, and he feared her brother would come and take her and the children back to Vermont. He was adamant that the children should be with the body of the church. The third day he died and was buried in the desert about twelve miles west of St. Joseph Missouri.
It is a tribute to Cynthia's testimony and strength of character that she would follow Elias' council and chose the hardship of the trail over going back to the easier life in Vermont.
They were destitute, but Cynthia found employment with a rancher in St. Joseph. Here she cooked for the ranch hands while her boys did chores and odd jobs.
A company of saints came through St. Joseph after some time. The kind rancher outfitted Cynthia and the children with means to go with her people, and they traveled on to Winter Quarters. Winter Quarters was located in a place they called "Missouri Bottom" in true gallows humor the saints dubbed it "Misery Bottom." Winter Quarters was a sorry place to be. There was not sufficient food housing or anything else. Because of the lack of proper diet many suffered scurvy which they called black leg.
In 1847 Francillo Durfee left Salt Lake City with a group of Battalion members sent by Brigham Young to Winter Quarters with wagons and supplies to help these saints move on to Salt Lake City.
Francillo was from Vermont and lived about fifty miles from where Cynthia and Elias were born. Whether or not they knew each other before is unknown, the time place and circumstances are not certain, but Francillo and Cynthia were married. They had much in common since they were from the same area in Vermont, they had both lost their homes and belongings to mob burnings in Nauvoo. She had lost her husband to disease along the trail, and he lost his wife from trauma while bearing a child. By then, the two older boys were old enough to take a lot of the responsibility from her.
Somewhere on the trail to Salt Lake Cynthia and Elias' only daughter Rhoda, died and was buried in an unmarked grave. They completed the trip and arrived in Utah some time in 1849.
Upon arriving in the valley, they traveled to North Ogden and made their home.
In 1853, fifteen-year-old Norman, and a friend, hired on with a cattle driver going to California. At some point, the two of them became lost. Having no food, they ate some wild red berries, which were poisonous. Norman passed away. His friend survived and was later rescued. He returned to share the sad news with Cynthia and the family.
During the April 1855 General Conference in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young read over the pulpit a list of names of men living on the Wasatch Front who were to go on a mission into the Salmon River Valley in Southern Idaho. Francillo Durffee was 7th on that list. He had been ordained a Seventy earlier in 1844. They were to build up Fort Lemhi and teach the Gospel to the Flathead, Bannock and Shoshoni Indians. They were to teach them how to plant crops and farm, how to build homes and raise gardens.
In 1858 the mission was discontinued. Francillo and Cynthia came home and settled in the town of Providence in Cache Valley. Later they took acreage over the hills into Beaver Dam, Box Elder County, where they lived and raised their combined family the remainder of their lives.
Francillo died in 1871 and was buried in the Providence cemetery. Cynthia died on November 2, 1883, in Beaver Dam and was buried in the Providence cemetery.
Cynthia Harrington Bowen
My hope is my children and grandchildren will read and honor their pioneer heritage. When things get rough, I have often used the adage; "If my Grandmother Dora can do it I can do it". My Grandmother and many other of my ancestor stories have increased my faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Great Examples of courage and faith come from these precious stories; read and enjoy!
