Jens Nielson — Survival of the Willie Handcart Company

During the 1856 trek of the Willie Handcart Company, Jens Nielson suffered from severe frostbite on his feet while crossing Rocky Ridge, rendering him unable to walk. He urged his wife, Elsie, to leave him in the snow to die so she could save herself and their son. Elsie refused, placed him in the handcart, and pulled him herself, ultimately saving his life.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Biography of Nielson, Jens – Hole In The Rock Foundation):

Jens and his first wife, Elsie Rasmussen, joined the LDS church in their native Denmark in 1850. This cost them friends, status, and property. After Jens, completed a mission there, they, with six-year old son, Niels Jens, left Denmark for Utah in 1856, traveling from Liverpool aboard the Thornton. ... his feet were so frozen he could not go on. Their ward, nine-year old Bodil Mortensen also perished that night. Jens had pledged to God because of his earlier survival, that whatever the Church leaders asked, he would do willingly. ... Son, Niels Jens, was among those who perished before the Willie Handcart Company was rescued, and Jens, the father, only survived because Elsie put him in the handcart and pulled it on her own after