| Description |
The Marriott-Slaterville City History Collection was created by the residents of the town to document their history. The collection includes Autobiographies, Oral Histories, History of Marriott, History of Slaterville, and the History of the Merging Townships to create Marriott-Slaterville City. This information has left behind rich histories, stories and important information regarding the history of the Marriott-Slaterville area. |
| OCR Text |
Show TRUE FRIENDS JOHN MARRIOTT & CHRISTOPHER LAYTON The following words are taken from Christopher Layton's writings. One of his most cherished friends was our ancestor, John Marriott. Note the accounts of their travels, trials, times of hunger, despair, enemies, illnesses, and also their receiving assistance from God through prayer. It can be said of them that through prayer they remained close to the Lord and were blessed from day to day. "We were enrolled with many of the other Saints on the good ship 'Swanton' (with ship) Captain Davenport, our destination Nauvoo. It was the 19th company of LDS emigrants with Lorenzo Snow as the company captain. We were held in Liverpool (England) for two weeks for repairs of the ship. We were given permission to live on the ship during this time. We did our own cooking there, we held our own prayer time together giving thanks to our Lord and asking for his care while over the water not forgetting those among us who were not in good health. On January 16, 1843, we set sail from Liverpool, and we slowly saw the land disappear in the distance. We sang the songs of Zion and tried to cheer each other up. (It was here upon this journey that Christopher Layton met John Marriott) Brother John Marriott and his wife Susannah (Houghton Fowkes) were in our company and although conditions were not of the best on the boat my wife gave birth to a son and Brother Marriott's wife blessed him with a child. We were proud of our children and grateful to our wives. We sailed for seven weeks and three days arriving at New Orleans. Here we transferred to a steamer called 'Amaranth.' We sailed another four weeks up the Mississippi River. Later we were transferred to a barge. Here we had to stay two weeks waiting for ice on the river to break up. This part of the journey was hard; cold weather, low provisions, and the delicate strength of the women gave us worry. Sometimes we were threatened with danger on this boat, but we consoled ourselves with faith and prayers to the Lord to protect us. Many times we kneeled and implored the Lord to console and give us courage. We could not help but think about Nauvoo and wonder what awaited us there. About the 7th of April, a small steamer fastened a cable onto the barge and tugged us up the river toward Nauvoo. On April 12, |
