Review

Title:   Liverpool to Great Salt Lake: The 1851 Journal of Missionary George D. Watt.
Edited by: LaJean Purcell Carruth and Ronald G. Watt
Transcription by: LaJean Purcell Carruth
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Genre: Documentary History
Year Published:  2022
Number of Pages: xxvi + 231
Binding:  Cloth
ISBN: 978-1-4962-2987-8
Price: $45.00

Reviewed by Sam Mitchell for the Association of Mormon Letters

For many (myself included), tales of early Latter-day Saint immigration to Utah can often be near-mythic as they recount bravery and faith in the midst of hardships. Liverpool to Great Salt Lake is for the most part a firsthand account of one such trek, lending clarity, and correction to the traditional narrative of the Mormon pioneer journey. George D. Watt, one of the Church’s first converts in England, kept this account primarily in Pitman shorthand, intending it to be a guide for future British Saints who would attempt the trans-Atlantic and overland crossings to Zion. While never published in his lifetime (in fact, the journal was only discovered in 2001 by its transcriber, LaJean Purcell Carruth), Watt’s writings offer a glimpse into the realities and unexpected mundanity of the trek.

 Liverpool to Great Salt Lake (hereafter LGSL) opens with several essays that set the stage for Watt’s account, including a biography of Watt, the context of both his journal and British Latter-day Saint immigration to Utah, and an introduction to Pitman shorthand and a description of LaJean Purcell Curruth’s discovery of Watt’s journal (xi–xxvi). Five short appendices follow the contents of LGSL, offering a style guide for the book’s shorthand transcription, a list of travelers under Watt’s direction during the overland trek, a list of George’s wives and children, two reminiscences of Latter-day Saint conversions in Britain, and tables approximating the number of overland pioneers during the mid-nineteenth century (157–169).

In addition to these opening and closing entries, nearly every chapter (four out of five) opens with explanatory notes pertinent to its contents. “The Atlantic Ocean” includes a history of Latter-day Saint trans-Atlantic travel, the realities of life aboard a ship, and the dimensions and crew of a vessel similar to the Ellen Maria (on which Watt and company traveled in 1851; 1–8). “The Rivers” discusses the history, dimensions, and problems of steamboat travel on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers (47–51). A discussion of the overland wagon trail is included at the beginning of the third chapter, “The Trail” (67–72). Because Watt did not finish recording his journal following his company’s encampment near Chimney Rock, the fourth chapter, “The End of the Trail,” is composed not of primary material but of information on the remainder of Watt’s company’s journey, as well as a biographical sketch of Watt’s life after he immigrated to Utah (95–113). “Sermons Delivered by Orson Pratt On Board the Ellen Maria,” the book’s fifth chapter, gives a concise introduction to the Latter-day Saint Apostle (115), but mainly consists of three sermons he gave that were recorded in shorthand by Watt during the sea voyage.

The meat of LGSL is, of course, the writings of George D. Watt as he, his family, and others traveled across the Atlantic on their way to gather in Utah with the Latter-day Saints. Watt intended his journal to be published for use by future Saints journeying to Zion. “I shall intersperse [in this account] remarks that may occur to my mind touching any situations and circumstances that shall take place in the course of this voyage worthy of notice. In writing this account I shall try to keep in view the edification of my friends and brethren whom I have left behind, that they may be better prepared to endure the many inconveniences that must be met with in crossing the great waters if they should at any time feel to do so” (11). There are travelogue details scattered throughout Watt’s journal that were meant to help and encourage future travelers, including inter alia protecting their young women from predatory sailors (19) and keeping track of children on board river vessels (53). Later, Watt poignantly laments the unnecessary loss of animal life on the plains: “Several hunters went forth to kill [buffalo] meat for the camp and several was shot and a many of them left to rot on the prairie. Elder Robbins shot four and could not use them or carry them away. This is a sin and a shame” (85).

Though perhaps not intentionally didactic, Watt’s complaints about the journey—including troubles with belligerent boatmen (57–61), tensions with other Saints (including apostle Orson Pratt; for instance, see 38–40), problems with wagons and oxen (74–75), distress at natural disasters and deaths (13–16, 19–20), anger and cursing at the presence of Missourians who he had heard were involved in the death of Mormons (58), and even notes on the mundanity of the journey (81, 89–91)—also serve important functions for his readers. Such moments highlight the unvarnished realities of the trek. Watt’s awe and fear at oceanic storms, his shock at the deaths of children at sea, and his inexperience and frustration with uncooperative oxen (“people do not know what kind of a temper they got until they … have to drive and manage a team of stupid oxen”; 93) are raw, real, and revealing of details I consider all too little when contemplating this part of the Latter-day Saint story.

Now that I have finished reading it through a socio-historical lens, I believe approaching LGSL literarily may prove an interesting and useful future experiment. Because Watt was intentional in his writing, including (and certainly excluding) portions of the trek for a variety of reasons, this account becomes something that transgresses and flirts with the boundaries of memoir, sermon, and epistle. Such a phenomenon demands further inspection with a variety of lenses and from a variety of perspectives. For instance, using animal studies to reread Watt’s lament for slaughtered bison could reveal the potential taint on holiness, sainthood, and the environment such killing could bring, and thereby open up new ways to think about ecological theology.

Regardless of LGSL’s future reception in terms of literary studies, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the realities of traveling to Utah during this early period of immigration. It is a reservoir of historical data! The experiences of danger, loss, fear, faith, humor, and even boredom resonate with the reader. While not necessarily representative of all early Mormon demographics or immigrants, this work is nonetheless an important contributor when considering how we can better understand the complexities and realities of the Latter-day Saint trek.