The voyage of 1849
The Hartley was built with two decks but no galleries. Her first passage began on 5 March 1849 from Liverpool, carrying Welsh, English and Scottish Saints led by Elder William Hulme — among them the Peters family, Eames family and Owens family, neighbours from the parishes around Llanfrothen, Penrhyndeudraeth and Ffestiniog. The Peters party had sailed first from Princes Wharf, Menai Bridge, to reach Liverpool.
Hulme recorded that “the voyage was more like a pleasure excursion than a long journey, as the weather was very pleasant, and the sea and wind gentle during the entire voyage.” In fifty-four days at sea there was one death and one birth. The Saints landed at New Orleans on 28 April, where Elder Lucius N. Scovil received them and berthed the emigrants at No. 17 on the Levee; four sailors were later baptised by Hulme in the city.
The river was another matter. The steamer Mameluke left New Orleans on 29 April for St Louis; cholera broke out and raged fearfully — about sixty died. Nathaniel Eames died on the Mississippi on 11 May. The Owens family, travelling by the St. Croix, lost six members in eleven days. From St Louis the survivors continued on the Lightford until the current stopped her at Savannah landing, where they were put ashore to fend for themselves.
Welsh pioneers aboard
Everyone recorded in the archive with the Hartley as their ship appears here automatically. Passenger numbers for the full company are being verified.
Historical notes
1849 was a hinge year for the Welsh Saints: the same year the Hartley sailed, the first purpose-built Latter-day Saint chapel in the British Isles opened at Llanelli, and the Perpetual Emigrating Fund began helping converts afford the road to Utah. See 1849 on the timeline →