Keeping Going

On October 23, 1856, during the Willie Company’s brutal trek over Rocky Ridge, William James and his fourteen-year-old son, Reuben, stayed behind in the freezing blizzard to help bury two pioneers who had died. His nineteen-year-old daughter, Sarah, took the younger children ahead with the family’s lighter handcart. Once their grim task was finished, William, his wife Jane, and Reuben set out with their main cart. Weak from weeks of starvation, William suddenly collapsed into the deep snow, completely unable to stand. Knowing their younger children were far ahead in the blinding storm, William looked up at his wife and gave his final, selfless plea: “Go to the children… keep going, don’t stop for me.” Jane was forced to leave her husband to save their freezing children, and William passed away on the ridge that night.