Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together John Ager and Caroline Coolbear Ager Caroline Coolbear was born in Ulting, Essex, England on March 16, 1835. When she was young, she had an illness with a very high fever that left her right side partially paralyzed. Her mother dealt with this by requiring her to use her right hand and arm for all "one- handed" tasks. She had thick black hair, gray eyes, and a pleasing personality. Around 1854, Caroline, her father (John Coolbear), her mother (Mary Ann Barnard Coolbear) and her younger brother (David Coolbear) were contacted by missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and all joined the Church. Her testimony was strengthened through a dream in which she saw a long train of covered wagons. Caroline was the first member of her family to come to "Zion." About three years later, her mother and brother came, but her father never did. He was angry with the church because the missionaries held meetings at his home until late into the night when he felt all respectable people were home and probably in bed. On April 11, 1859, Caroline left England on the William Tapscott. There were British, Scandinavian and Swiss Saints on board, speaking nine different languages and having different backgrounds and customs. Good planning, however, helped make it easier for the passengers to live as saints should. The company was divided into ten wards, five English and five Scandinavians with a president over each to see that his members observed cleanliness and good order. Morning and evening prayers, meetings, instrumental music, singing, dancing and games broke the monotony. On May 13,1859, they arrived at New York where the doctors and government officers said they were the best disciplined and most agreeable company that ever arrived at that port. After traveling by steamboat, rail and steamboat again, they arrived in Florence, Nebraska, on May 25, and joined a wagon train. Caroline walked most of the way. Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, she worked for a family named Clives for two years; then went to Sessions (later called Bountiful). Here she worked and fell in love with John Ager. John Ager was bom in Ulting, Essex, England on April 27,1837, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints twenty years later. He sailed from Liverpool, England on March 30, 1860, on the ship Underwriter with 594 saints on board, arriving in New York on May 1, and at Florence, Nebraska on May 3. John Ager, who had been a friend of Caroline's in England, came two years after she did. He was light complexioned, had blue eyes, light hair, and was short and heavy set. In 1860 he worked his way across the plains by hunting wild game for the wagon train company he was with. He did a very good job because he was such a good shot. He would save the softest bird feathers to make pillows when he married. On his arrival, John found Caroline and a romance between them began. The marriage of John Ager and Caroline Coolbear was performed by President Brigham Young in the Endowment House on January 5,1861. This couple then went to Centerville and lived in a one-room cabin with very little means; they had to raise most of their food. Their first child, Mary Ellen, was born there on September 27,1862. This same day, her mother, Mary Ann Barnard Coolbear, and her brother, David Coolbear, arrived at the Ager home. Mary Ann and David had come over the ocean on the William Tapscott and crossed the plains with John R. Murdock's ox team. In 1863 John and Caroline were asked to settle in Morgan and her mother and brother came with them. They lived by the side of a haystack or pile of weeds for six weeks while John readied some ground for planting and built a one-room log cabin. Here their second daughter, Caroline, was born on January 19,1865. Once when the weather was warm, Caroline went out to gather hops. Wanting the baby to get some sunshine, she took her out and laid her on a blanket on the ground and kept glancing at her. All went well until she glanced and saw a large rattlesnake gliding over the baby's face. As it slithered away, she picked up the child and went back to the cabin. After that, she placed the baby in a cradle by the door for her to get some sunshine. However, she had another scare with baby Caroline.