Morman Overland Trail Database: Part 5

This is the 5th post on the Mormon Overland Pioneer Database.  The 4th is here.

This post is about the family of James Sheen Sr, my 4th great grandfather.  The Sheen family crossed the plains in the Edmund Ellsworth Company in 1856. This was the very first handcart company to cross the plains.  They left Iowa City, Iowa on June 9, 1856 and arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 26, 1856.  Traveling with the family were the following (and the information in the database is quite confusing):

James Sheen Sr.
Son Robert Sheen
  -Robert's Wife Eliza Elizabeth Taylor Sheen
  - Child Mary
  - Child Louisa ??
  - Child Annie
  - Child Emma (Died en route)
Son James Jr. (my 3rd great grandfather)
  - James' wife Mary Shields Jaynes (3rd great grandmother)
  - Child Annie Eliza  ?????
  - Child Sidney (Died en route)
Daughter Hannah
Daughter Ellen


Questions:
1.  Who is Louisa a child of?  I guessed Robert and Eliza but I'm not sure.
2.  James Sr. wife, Maria Loveridge, came across on the ship but isn't listed here.  My genealogy records indicated she dies on June 9, 1856 (the same date the handcarts set out from Iowa City) but no mention is made of this anywhere here in the Mormon Overland Pioneer Database.  Need more info on this.
3.  Annie Eliza.  This is apparently my 2nd great grandmother.  However her death certificate, obituary, and headstone all show her as having been born in 1860 in Utah.  There's something going on here that I need to sort out.  Maybe this Annie Eliza isn't the daughter of James Jr. and Mary (as is indicated in the database) but of someone else.

Below is a journal entry that mentions the death of Sidney

23^rd Came 14 miles to 4 mi. Creek 4 mi. from the Fort Des Moin[es] town. burried a litle child Sidney Chein [Sheen] 3 mos & 14 days old[.] suposed to have ben lain on by its mother during the night[.] I burried him about 30 yds South of the Bridge on the E. Bank

Mormon Overland Pioneer Database: Part 3

Part 2 of this series is here.

This post is about the family of Joseph Knight, Jr., my 4th great grandfather.  They traveled in the Benjamin Hawkins Company.  This company traveled from Kanesville (now Council Bluffs,) Iowa on June 5, 1850.  They arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 9th, 1850.  This company traveled by wagon.

Traveling with the family was Joseph Knight Jr., his wife Betsey Covert, Martha, Mary, Rhoda (my 3rd great grandmother), and Ellen.

Mormon Overland Pioneer Database: Part 2

This is the second post on the Mormon Overland Pioneer Database.  This first is here and is about the Henry Maiben Family.

This post concerns the family of John Paternoster Sqiures, my third great grandfather.  This family, like the family of Henry Maiben, also crossed the plains with the Jacob Gates Company in 1853. The company left Keokuk, Iowa on June 3rd, 1853 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 26-30 of that same year.
Traveling with the family was John Paternoster Squires, his wife Catherine Harriet Fell, and their children Mary, John Fell Squires (My 2nd great grandfather), Richard, and Henry.  Their son Richard died along the trail on September 12th about 200 miles from Salt Lake City.

This except from the life of my 2nd great grandfather John Fell Squires that can be found in the database is interesting as it talks about meeting his future wife (He was 6 or 7 years old on the trip.).

"There was a little black eyed curly headed girl [Alice Penn Maiben] under six years of age. Her Father’s [Henry Maiben’s] wagon was next to ours most of the way. She was gritty and tougher than myself. She truged along day after day walking nearly the entire distance from the Missouri River to S.L. City.

I used to watch her at this and I might say kept my eye on her until we grew up and became husband and wife. Since then she has kept her eye on me."

Mormon Pioneer Overland Trail Database: Part 1

This is an interesting database for those who have Mormon pioneers that traveled across the plains by wagon or handcart.  The database can be found here.

This first post looks at the family of my 3rd great grandfather Henry Maiben.

This family traveled with the Jacob Gates Company in 1853 by ox pulled wagons.  The company left Keokuk, Iowa on June 3rd, 1853 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley September 26-30 of that same year.

Henry Maiben, his wife Caroline Penn, daughter Alice Penn Maiben (my 2nd great grandmother), and an infant daughter Marion Maiben made the journey.  Marion was born in Keokuk.