Artifact #3 Reflection

My great-great-great-grandfather was also an immigrant to the United States of America.  Once in America, his journey to the Utah was long and difficult.  He recorded his voyage to America in his journal.

He was on the ship for two months. While the voyage wasn't easy, the terrible hardships for him came much later when he crossed the plains to Utah.  William was a skilled carpenter, so he was asked to make handcarts for the poor immigrants who couldn't afford to buy oxen and a wagon. William spent the spring and early summer months of 1856 constructing handcarts. He left with the Hodgett Wagon Train in the middle of July 1856.  They reached Wyoming in October where an early snow storm caught them unaware.  His wife, Elizabeth, delivered a baby girl during the snow storm.  They both died.  Many others died as well because of the blizzard.  William and his two young sons arrived in Utah weary and frostbitten.

Reyna's father, Natalio, came back to Mexico after many years away, for his children.  He wanted to take them to the United States so that they could live a better life.  Their journey across the border was tiresome and a struggle.  Reyna was about ten years old when she crossed the Mexico-U.S. border, so the journey was especially hard for her.  The connection between William, my great-great-great-grandfather, and Reyna is the sorrow that eclipses their journeys. As mentioned, William lost his daughter and wife. Reyna, though she lost no one, saw something very terrible while she was crossing. Her second attempt of crossing, she came across a dead man who had failed to cross the border.  She learned that many people do not survive the Border Crossing then.

In the paragraph above, I mentioned that Natalio wanted to bring his children to America for a better life.  I believe that he was talking about money in that sentence.  His children were very poor and did not eat well and were not very physically healthy because of this.  By bringing them to America, they would be able to fully reap from the benefits that their father has with money.  William Stewart also wanted to come to America for a better life.  However, his reasons were not based off poverty.  He wanted the religious freedom that America offered for his family and himself.

Both families did eventually find a better life in America.

William after arriving in Utah.