John Linford: He Died Pulling His Cart at the Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater — His Name on a Monument

John Linford (1808 – October 21, 1856) was an English convert who had saved for years to emigrate to Zion. He and his wife Maria and their three sons joined the Willie Handcart Company and departed Iowa City in July 1856.

Linford served as a tent captain in the company, responsible for a group of families including the ten-member Gadd family. He maintained a journal of names and details during the trek.

He never made it to Salt Lake City. John Linford died on October 21, 1856, at the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater River in present-day Wyoming — within sight of the mountains he had crossed an ocean and a continent to reach. He was 48 years old.

The Church History Biographical Database records his death at this location. A monument was later placed near the Sweetwater crossings honoring a mass grave of 13 people near the Willie Company's camp — among them, likely, members who died on the same days as Linford.

The Sweetwater Missionary couple serving near the Linford Monument are connected to his family. His story — a man who gave everything and made it most of the way — is one of the defining personal accounts of the Willie Handcart Company's tragedy.

John Linford's sacrifice represents the thousands who died before reaching Zion: pioneers who gave their lives as an offering of faith, whose deaths hallowed the trail others walked to safety.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Willie Handcart Company, Chapter 6: Sixth Crossing of the Sweetwater River, Nebraska Territory, to Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory):

Monday, October 20. 6:36 a.m.–5:23 p.m. John Linford from Graveley, Cambridgeshire, England, aged 49 years died; also, Richard Hardwick, from Moorhen’s Cross, Herefordshire, England, aged 63 years; also Mary Ann Perkins, from Norwich, Norfolk, England, aged 62 years died; also Sophia Larsen from Lolland, Denmark, aged 11 years. Many children were crying for bread and the camp generally were destitute of food. A beef heifer was killed for the camp. Capt. Willie, Capt. Grant, W. H. Kimball & others with 14 wagons with horse & mule teams arrived in camp with flour, onions & some clothing for the camp, this made the Saints feel well.