.vi<!n,'ifu Pioneer History Binds Us 'logethe; Sarah Alice Boyden Whittier I was born on September 29, 1862, at Peterson, Utah, in a one room log cabin which was without a floor, door or window. This cabin was situated in the yard of my present home (3925 North 4000 West in Peterson). My mother was Mary Horsefield Boyden who migrated from Ashton-Underlyne, Lancashire, England in 1860. My mother's mother was Sarah Crabtree who remained in England, helping the missionaries with their tracting, walking many times from Ashton-Underlyne to Manchester, a distance of seven miles, to attend conferences. Mother came directly to Salt Lake City from England, walking all the way from Florence, a settlement near Omaha. The ox teams were too heavily loaded to permit riding. She left England in March and arrived in Salt Lake the last of September. Many pioneers walked in this company, wading streams, camping within the circle of wagons at night. The leader of this company was J.D. Ross. Crossing the plains was comparatively safe, the rivers being lower than usual and no serious Indian trouble was encountered. Arriving at Salt Lake, mother went to stay with some friends by the name of Lees, who had previously come from the same branch in England. In a few weeks she went to work as a maid in the family of Bishop William Thorn. She remained with this family until her marriage to Charles Boyden in 1861. My father, Charles Boyden, who was born in England, lived in the same branch of the church as my mother and was acquainted with her in England. He was married in England to Sarah Corns; they had three girls and two boys. The three girls, Fanny, Louisa, and Mary Ann, and one of the boys, John, came to Salt Lake City with father, crossing the plains in the same company with mother. The younger boy died as an infant in England. His wife, Sarah, died soon after arriving in Salt Lake. Charles Boyden, my father, married my mother, Mary Horsefield, and came to Peterson to take up land (1862) on squatter's rights, his family remaining in Salt Lake. He built the cabin in which I was born and farmed the land which I now own. Father was called to go on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands, then known as the Sandwich Islands. This mission was a "working mission." Men with trades were called to go with their families and teach the natives different trades as well as religion. Father was a carpenter. Father, Mother and I left in 1866 for the Hawaiian mission. I remember very little of the journey to the islands as I was only four years old. We left Utah with a caravan of missionary families and crossed the plains to San Francisco by covered wagon. We crossed the ocean to the islands on a sailing vessel, landing in the harbor of Honolulu. Our first home in Laie was a grass house. Later father and Brother Lawson were sent to Honolulu to work. Our home in Honolulu was a frame house. We remained there until we returned to the states. As a child in Honolulu, I remember the fig, lemon, breadfruit, coconut palm trees and the warm tropical climate with its rains. An old lady and her grandson afflicted with leprosy, lived nearby. They later moved to the island of Molokai in the leper colony. The king of the natives was also afflicted. The church had a sugar cane plantation upon which the missionaries worked. The sugar cane was made into brown sugar which was shipped to the United States for refining. The principal food was poi, made from the calla plant which grows in the mud and water. Natives worked in the fields which were flooded, miring the plant into the mud. It takes about fourteen months for the plant to mature. The plants were harvested and placed in a rock oven, previously heated, and covered with soil. When done, the plant was pounded with rocks until the consistency of flour. Then it was put into containers (calabash, which resembled an extremely large squash). Water is added and mixed into a batter. After fermentation set in, the poi was ready to eat. The family would sit around a pot of poi and dip baked fish into the poi with their fingers. I played with the native children and learned their language. 1 watched the native children dive for pennies thrown into the water by passengers on the boats. I went to my first school in Hawaii. Mrs, Mildred Randall of Salt Lake was my teacher. I remained on the islands about four years, returning in the same boat that took us from the states. We entered the harbor of San Francisco and remained at Sacramento four or five weeks until a party was organized to cross the plains to Utah. A party of Saints from the Redwoods joined us in the journey to Utah. Their horses and equipment were very poor. Father bought a pair of mules and a covered wagon. Mother made a bed for me back of the spring seat of the wagon. I became ill with mountain fever as we were leaving Sacramento. I remained ill all the way across the plains arriving in Salt Lake too weak to walk. All my hair came out with this