Ellen and Maggie Pucell — Survival of the Martin Handcart Tragedy

During the winter of 1856, nine-year-old Ellen (Nellie) Pucell and her fourteen-year-old sister Maggie were members of the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. After both their parents, William and Margaret, died and were buried in snow banks along the trail, the two girls were left to survive the sub-zero temperatures alone. When rescue teams from Salt Lake City finally reached the company, the girls were found alive, though nearly covered in snow. Despite the extreme exposure that claimed the lives of approximately 150 others in their company, both sisters were miraculously preserved and delivered by wagon to Salt Lake City on November 30, 1856.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

My name is Ellen Pucell Unthank, but my friends and family call me Nellie. I was born in a beautiful area of England where the hills are soft and rolling and the grass is forever green. My parents Margaret and William were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There was a serious and disastrous delay. It was not until late in July that we began the long march, first to Winter Quarters on the Missouri, and from there to the Rocky Mountains. We were assigned to the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. With high expectations we began our journey. In a personal way I came to know my Heavenly Father and the suffering His son. Through a lifetime of affliction, I Nellie Pucell Unthank knew I could count on the Lord.