CONVERGENCE AT MORMON GROVE
by Thomas D. Parkes
Mormon Grove was established in early 1855 in the lush green hills of eastern Kansas. It
was an outfitting station for Mormon immigrants, a place where they could organize and
equip for the 1,000 mile wagon trek west to the Rocky Mountains. It sprang into
existence one year and was abandoned the next. In terms of the broad sweep of total
Mormon immigration, numbering in excess of 85,000 immigrants during the first fifty
years of “The Gathering” (1840—1890), fewer than 2,200 immigrants ever set foot in
Mormon Grove. But for those who did, and for those who weren’t interred in its small
graveyard, Mormon Grove marked a critical waypoint on the trek to Zion.
The stories of those who passed through Mormon Grove speak volumes about the faith
and perseverance of the immigrants, and also about the planning and logistics by church
leaders that made the whole enterprise possible. But their stories have largely been
overlooked in our official histories, which seem to focus on mainstream events to the
exclusion of temporary arrangements in out-of-the-way locations. The following story of
Mormon Grove has emerged slowly during a thirty year process of discovery. It was
initiated by a brief account of one of my progenitors, William Parkes, of Derby, England,
who was apparently buried at Mormon Grove. Few, even in his own family, knew much
of his story. But the real story goes far beyond one man. It is a story of an age and a
people.
The story of Mormon Grove emerged for this writer in three definitive phases:
1. Initial Research—Early 1980s.
2. First Visit to Mormon Grove—October 1985.
3. Return to Mormon Grove—July 2005.
Sprinkled between these events were several discoveries of documents, of major and
minor importance. They provide much of the fabric for this story of Mormon Grove.
1. INITIAL RESEARCH:
The LDS practice of “The Gathering” merged intimately with the “Age of Tall Sailing
Ships” to create a picture of well-organized companies of Mormon immigrants crossing
wide, frequently stormy oceans to reach their chosen Zion (America). This popular
image was given sharper focus with the 1983 publication of Conway B. Sonne’s well
written and documented Saints on the Seas, A Maritime History of Mormon Migration,
1830—1890.1 Sonne documents in great detail a pattern of migration from a wide
mixture of different cultures, seemingly disparate people united by faith in a personal
1
Sonne, Saints on the Seas, University of Utah Press, 1983.
1
God and in the good news of his restored gospel. These immigrants spoke different
languages: English, Welsh, Danish, Swedish, French, German, Dutch and Italian. But
regardless of their language or cultural origins, they called themselves Saints, or more
properly, Latter-day Saints. Their initial gathering in the early 1840s was to Nauvoo,
Illinois, their “City Beautiful.” After 1847 they added a 1300 mile overland trek to Utah
via ox team and handcart. The epic sweep of their migration often obscures our view of
the stark details of their daily lives. Sonne emphasizes the complex logistical planning
required for their success.
It initially came as a surprise to this writer that the vast majority (91%) of the ships
carrying Mormon immigrants to America during the sixteen years between 1840 and
early 1855 sailed from Liverpool, England, to New Orleans, Louisiana.2 Although this
routing took two weeks longer than to east coast ports, the additional time was offset by
low fares and ease of connections to ultimate destinations. From New Orleans, riverboats
typically transported immigrants up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where passengers
boarded shallow draft riverboats to their final destination: Nauvoo, Illinois.
Following the 1846 exodus of Mormons from Nauvoo, however, the “gathering” entered
a hiatus for several years. During this interval, a few intrepid groups were able to make
their way up the Missouri by steamboat to Council Bluffs/Kanesville, Iowa.3 But when
immigration officially resumed, that route was considered unreliable. Keokuk, Iowa,
along with one or two lesser known locations, was used for outfitting wagon trains in
1853. In 1854, however, the Church shifted its immigration to outfitting stations farther
west, along the Missouri River.
Smaller shallow-draft riverboats were required for navigating the Missouri, and even
many of these encountered problems during periods of low water and during floods. In
some locations the Missouri River’s shifting riverbed required dredging deeper channels,
even for the shallower draft stern-wheelers often used there. The challenges facing
navigation on the Missouri River are underlined by the 1852 explosion of the steamboat
Saluda, which killed a number of Mormon immigrants near Lexington, Missouri. A swift
current, choked with ice, apparently led to operational errors by a determined Captain,
which over pressurized the boilers, leading to the explosion.4
Westport, within present-day Kansas City, became the steamboat destination of choice
for 18545. It was already a well-established outfitting station for the Oregon Trail,
California Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and the Louis & Clark Trail. There was just one
problem: the Church was not comfortable using sites in Jackson County, Missouri. Too
many bitter memories lingered from two decades earlier when Mormon settlers there
were forcibly evicted from their homes and forced at gunpoint to leave the county, and
five years later, even from the state. That bitter memory also lingered in the attitudes of
many current Jackson County residents, who frequently caused friction with Mormon
2
Sonne, Saints on the Seas, University of Utah Press, 1983, See Appendix 5, p. 168.
Sonne, Ibid., p. 99-103.
4
Sonne, Ibid., p. 103.
5
Kimball, Ensign, “Eastern Ends of the Trail West,” Jan. 1980.
3
2
immigrants. It is understandable, then, that Church agents were instructed to find better
outfitting stations farther upstream along the Missouri River.
In the meantime, sporadic outbreaks of cholera and other diseases were threatening
immigration through New Orleans and along the Mississippi. In response, the Church
directed it’s agents in Liverpool to reroute most of its 1855 immigration to U.S. east coast
ports. The last Mormon immigrant company routed via New Orleans arrived there on
March 14, 1855, and arrived in St. Louis on March 27. Their riverboat trip up the
Mississippi was an unpleasant trip during which four children and two adults perished.
All subsequent Mormon immigrants were routed through east coast seaports.6 This was
the situation when Mormon Grove became the designated outfitting station for 18551856.
This writer’s first exposure to the name of Mormon Grove came during the early 1980s
while researching early Parkes family histories. In 1848, the William and Jemima Mary
Parkes family was converted by Mormon missionaries in Derby, England. It wasn’t long
before they decided to migrate to Utah, and began saving the funds for passage to
America. But the mother (Jemima Mary) suffered a serious kitchen accident, which led
to her death. Medical and funeral expenses quickly drained the family of funds for
emigration. Thus short of funds, one married daughter, Jemima, and her husband, Joseph
Robinson, took advantage of two last-minute cancellations and emigrated in 1853.
Subsequently, the family decided to have the father, William, escort his youngest
daughter, eighteen year-old Anna, to Utah in 1855, leaving the two remaining older
children to come later as funds permitted.7
Three family accounts of widower William Parkes’ death were found. They included: (1)
one account claimed he died at sea; (2) another said he died “on the plains;” and finally
another (3) that he died of cholera and was buried at Mormon Grove. At the time I had
no idea where Mormon Grove was located, but of the three accounts, I figured the more
specific burial location was likely the more credible. Our LDS Personal Ancestry File
(PAF) likewise lists William Parkes’ place of death as Mormon Grove, but erroneously
locates Mormon Grove in Florence, Nebraska.
Almost concurrently with this early research, your author chanced upon Stanley
Kimball’s 1980 Ensign article which specifically locates Mormon Grove 4 ½ miles west
of Atchison, Kansas.8 Sonne lists Atchison, Kansas, as a Mormon immigrant destination
along the Missouri River, but never mentions Mormon Grove by name. Thus, Stanley
Kimball closed this connection: For our purposes, Atchison is Mormon Grove. (At the
time, Kimball was a professor of history at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale,
Illinois, and had become a specialist on Mormon Trails. He has published widely on this,
6
Sonne, Ibid, p. 107.
Elizabeth Parkes emigrated in 1856, joined the Martin Handcart Company at Iowa City, and narrowly
survived its tragedy in the snows of Wyoming. Thomas never immigrated, but died in England at age 32.
His widow, Mary Hannah, and their five children emigrated in 1863. In Utah, she remarried to Thomas
Miller, and settled in Nephi, where her two year-oldyoungest son Thomas Henry George Parkes grew to
become a local turn-of-the-century Church leader as Bishop, Patriarch, and Counselor in the Juab Stake
Presidency.
8
Kimball, Ensign, January 1980.
7
3
one of his favorite topics.) Kimball’s Ensign article brought a major closure to this initial
phase of research.
2. FIRST VISIT TO MORMON GROVE—1985:
Although I had early become a student of Mormon history, I never suspected that the
history of my family had somehow been touched by the green rolling hills of eastern
Kansas. Nor did I have a clue, until the early 1980s, that these hills held the grave of my
paternal great-great grandfather, William Parkes.
A more complete account of Mormon Grove came to light twenty years later. But in
1985, I was still seeking additional information: What circumstances led to it’s founding
in 1855? Why was it disbanded after only two seasons? A host of questions suggested
further research. In the meantime, my employment domicile as an airline pilot shifted
from Chicago to Denver, and in the process of moving my “airline” car between the two
cities, I elected to take a church-history detour through Nauvoo, IL, and then west to
Atchison, Kansas, in order to search out the setting of Mormon Grove.
Unfortunately, I’d left Stanley Kimball’s Ensign article at home, and had to rely on hazy
geographic details imperfectly stored in my memory bank. Arriving at Atchison late in
the afternoon, I wasted over an hour making wrong turns, but finally found myself in the
rolling farmlands four miles west of town, looking for a farm that might hold the remains
of an old Mormon cemetery. How far west? Four or five miles? Was that measured
from the river or from the city limits? I puzzled, but was rapidly running out of daylight.
Feeling pressed for time, I stopped at a farm west of the Atchison airport. When I
inquired about any pioneer cemeteries that might be in the area, I was told “No, we don’t
know of any pioneer cemeteries, but I think I know who may be able to help you.” With
that I was given directions to the farm of 72 year-old Floyd Armstrong, who proved to be
a veritable goldmine of information. I quickly learned that the site of the Mormon Grove
cemetery was located near a grove of hickory trees immediately behind his family’s
original 2-story Victorian style farmhouse. It turned out that Mr. Armstrong had been
raised on that same farm and had personal memories, as a boy, of old wooden grave
markers still identifying some of the graves. Before taking me to the site, however, he
and his wife spread a detailed scrapbook before me, full of newspaper and historical
articles about Mormon Grove and early Atchison. They had methodically collected
information from a wide variety of sources over a number of years. He shared a few
extra copies of articles with me.
Dusk had settled over the eastern Kansas farmland by the time we got around to viewing
the historic Mormon Grove cemetery site. Our auto headlights disclosed little but rolling
Kansas farmland and a small grove of hickory trees, adjacent to which Mr. Armstrong
remembered the badly weathered grave markers of his youth.
Mr. Armstrong further explained that the State of Kansas had recently surveyed a realignment of State Highway 73 west of Atchison, which was to cross directly over the
Mormon Grove cemetery site. Kansas State highway personnel were persuaded to check
4
for evidence of graves. Their core drilling detected between 50-70 graves on the
property. The highway routing was subsequently altered slightly north to pass beside the
cemetery.9 In turn, Mr. Armstrong donated sufficient nearby property for a roadside
turnoff and erection of a historical marker recapping the story of Mormon Grove. (The
Historical Marker, since constructed, currently sits on the southeast side of the
intersection of Highway 73 and Osage Road, slightly over four miles west of the
Atchison riverfront and three-tenths of a mile east of the actual cemetery site.)
The Armstrong scrapbook included Kansas historical documents about the founding of
Mormon Grove early in the spring of 1855. Well organized work crews first fenced 160
acres (a quarter section) with a sod fence and planted 20 acres for food. With the arrival
of the first immigrants, an adjoining tent city rapidly grew on the rolling green hills west
of Atchison. Many of these immigrants found jobs in and around Atchison to help
finance their outfitting for the trail.
In his remarkable maritime history of the Mormon migration, Conway Sonne records that
early in 1855, 175 immigrants aboard the steamboat Clara were beset by delay and
disease about 20 miles short of their Atchison destination. The Clara encountered low
water near Leavenworth, KS, and was forced to lay up for a time, during which a second
Mormon company arrived on a second steamboat. Twenty Saints of the combined
companies died of cholera at that site. When finally able to proceed toward Atchison,
nine more deaths were recorded enroute.10
In the meantime, Mormon Grove was taking on the appearance of an orderly tent city.
Sonne quotes from the “Squatter Sovereign,” an Atchison newspaper dated May 1, 1855,
which suggests that the impact of cholera was not yet immediately evident: “The camp
of emigrants just back of town presents a city-like appearance, their tents leaving streets,
alleys, etc., between them. The health of the emigrants is good, with but little or no
sickness among them.”11
The logistics required to establish a trail outfitting station are hard to imagine. The
number of wagons required (over 330) and the number of oxen and harnesses (1800) all
needed advance planning. Herds of livestock were required for each wagon company.
Blacksmith and wagon shops needed equipping. Hundreds of tents, tools and utensils of
every description had to be purchased. The merchants of Atchison, of course, hoped to
benefit from filling many of these needs. They were also actively soliciting continuing
business from the Army at Fort Leavenworth, as well as from various frontier freighting
companies.
3. RETURN TO MORMON GROVE—2005:
Further details of Mormon Grove’s history did not emerge until 2005 when our daughter,
Linnea invited us to Topeka, Kansas, for a Bi-Stake celebration of Pioneer Day, to be
held in Atchison. The ostensible purpose of our gathering in the Benedictine College
9
A Google Earth view confirms that Route 73 was rerouted approximately 100 yds north of a straight-line
alignment through the Armstrong property, missing the cemetery site as well as the Armstrong home.
10
Sonne, Saints on the Seas, p. 106.
11
Sonne, Ibid, p. 109.
5
auditorium and gymnasium in Atchison was to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the
1855 founding of Mormon Grove, and to acquaint local Church members with its history.
Among the many displays in the gymnasium, was a fascinating historical display set up
by descendants of the 1855 St. Louis Stake President, Milo Andrus, who originally
selected the site for Mormon Grove, and negotiated with Atchison merchants for crucial
supplies. A display of photographs, letters, period newspapers, and maps told his
fascinating story. (Other displays of note in the college auditorium documented several
variations on early pioneer trails across Kansas, including small Mormon pioneer groups
finding their own way from Westport to the Platte River Valley.)
In brief summary: In February 1855, Milo Andrus acted on instructions from his
ecclesiastical leaders to personally assess a new site for an outfitting station along the
Missouri River. He found the developers of Atchison eager for the economic benefit of a
nearby outfitting station, and was able to locate an ideal site 4 ½ miles west of town, on
the headwaters of Deer Creek, where there was abundant water, feed and available space.
He appropriately named it Mormon Grove, for its scattered groves of hickory trees.
Mormon Grove offered several advantages over previous outfitting stations:
First, it was 45 miles up river from Westport, and thus 45 miles closer to Salt Lake
City, but also 45 miles farther from Jackson County’s strong anti-Mormon
sentiments.
Second, Mormon Grove was located near the headwaters of Deer Creek, where there
were excellent camping locations with plenty of water, wood, and range for stock,
but far enough out of Atchison to minimize contact with riverfront rouges.
Third, Atchison offered employment opportunities for immigrants needing funds for
outfitting for the trail. Atchison was a new community being developed by
speculators and businessmen who were in an expansionist mode and were eager to
employ Mormon emigrants in developing the new community's rudimentary
infrastructure. There were roads to be graded and buildings to be constructed. When
the first Mormon immigrants arrived in April, there wasn't even a dock for their
steamboat.
Fourth, Mormon Grove was located in close proximity to the Fort Leavenworth
Military Road, which tied in with the Oregon Trail near present-day Marysville,
Kansas. From there, the transition to the Mormon Trail was easy. Following the
Oregon Trail to Fort Kearney, they forded the wide but shallow Platte River, and
joined the Mormon Trail along the north side of the Platte.
1855 saw another major variation in emigration routing: While Mormon Grove was
getting organized, four sailing ships carrying Mormon immigrants from Liverpool
docked on the Delaware River at Philadelphia. Four others docked at New York. Most
of the immigrants aboard these eight ships traveled by rail to Pittsburgh, and then sailed
down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to St. Louis, then up the Missouri to Atchison and
Mormon Grove. This route avoided the cholera-plagued port at New Orleans, but not the
rivers themselves.
6
William and Anna Parkes arrived at Philadelphia aboard the ship “Juventa” May 5, 1855.
They traveled by rail to Pittsburgh, where they and their fellow immigrants were divided
into two groups. Sonne records that about 150 sailed down the Ohio to St. Louis on the
steamship “Washington City” while another 200 made the same trip aboard the
“Equinox.” William and Anna Parkes boarded the “Equinox.”
When finally arriving at Atchison, following three weeks on river steamboats, a
considerable number of these immigrants fell ill—probably with cholera, the “scourge of
the river”—and many died. Among the dead were Elder James F. Bell, who had recently
presided over the Malta Mission,12 and our great-great grandfather, William Parkes. His
18 year-old daughter, Anna continued on to Greater Salt Lake City with the balance of
the company, where she was reunited with her sister, Jemima, who had emigrated two
years earlier with her husband Joseph Robinson.
Stanley Kimball notes of Mormon Grove,
“[Between] June 7 and August 3, eight companies—totaling 2,041 people and 337
wagons—left for Zion. A group of 15 members remained behind to await the
next year’s immigrants. During the 1856 season, however, only one company of
97 Saints left from Mormon Grove. Most immigrants were then being directed by
rail from the east coast to Florence, NB. After 1856 a few Mormons formed a
branch [of the church] in Atchison, and non-Mormon squatters took over the
grove campsite.”13
The proximate cause of Mormon Grove’s 1856 demise was two-fold. By 1856, the U.S.
railroad system had extended west beyond the Mississippi River. The western terminus
of the railroad that year was in Iowa City, Iowa. Within the year it would reach the
Missouri River at Omaha. Rail transportation had proven to be far superior to river
steamboats, and had the major advantage of eliminating the danger of river-born diseases
along mid-American rivers and ports.
Now enter Brigham Young and his “handcart experiment.” With the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund running short of money for the 1856 immigration, Brother Brigham.
announced a new plan for bringing the poorer Saints to Zion. Expensive wagons and
oxen would largely be replaced by human-powered handcarts. Iowa City became the
outfitting station for these handcart companies. Therein lies another story—a very
dramatic one it turns out—which involves several other Parkes progenitors. But that
story must await another telling.
To the best of our knowledge, my wife Kaaren and I, with two of our daughters, Linnea
and Corrine, were the first of the Parkes family to visit Mormon Grove since William
Parkes was buried there in 1855. Now that the history of Mormon Grove has emerged
from its prior obscurity, it is our hope that others will follow a similar path, converging
on Mormon Grove and the story of their predecessors.
12
13
Sonne, Ibid, p. 109.
Kimball, Ensign, 1980.
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