Since Linda's request is a common one, I'm sending my reply to the list. Try calling or writing Mr. Bashore at the Church History Library (not the FHL) in Salt Lake City. He keeps a data base of pioneer journals and published reminiscences by company/year for ships and companies crossing the plains. The indices are also on microfilm available from the FHL (find in the FHL catalog under "Utah-Emigration"), but they are a few years old. If you write to the Church History Library, they can send a copy of the list entries for the year you are interested in for about 10 cents per page. Many of the journals and other material are only on microfilm at the church archives, but some is in print. Some of the journals are also in collections at BYU, Univ. Utah, and Utah State. In those case, you'd have to go to the libraries and pore over the microfilm. Mr. Melvin L. Bashore Historical Dept. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 50 East North Temple Street Salt Lake City UT 84150 The telephone number is (801) 240-2745. At the risk of causing a run on mail-in requests, the library is very helpful in making copies from books they have in hard copy and on fiche. I have sent lists requesting articles from journals on western history and LDS church magazines going back to the early 1920s, and they only charged me for the copies. Be sure to be as specific as you can. They will not do the research for you, but will fill requests for specific pages or parts of books. I got copies of articles from Carter's DUP series a few years ago, before they were on CD-ROM. Another source would be the various CD's with LDS Bio Ency, PPMU and the DUP series. A search by surname of captain and the year might yield some brief narratives. If the captain was one of the Youngs, however, you'll pull up every reference to BY in that year, as well as the word "young." I found some additional bios for the year 1860 by this method that weren't listed in Mr. Bashore's database because they didn't have much material on the trek across the plains (only a sentence or two), but they were interesting anyway. Some of these give the person's conversion story and their life in the pioneer period after arriving in Utah. P.S. Re the old man's death, you might check genealogical data. If the family is in Ancestral File, the date and place of death (if entered) might confirm this. I discovered my great-great-grandfather's sister had given birth to a son who lived only a week while they were outfitting the company in Florence. This was not in the story my gggp's told. I discovered it from Ancestral file. Prof. Susan Easton Black of BYU compiled a list of documented pioneer trek deaths for the memorial dedicated last year in Nauvoo. I don't know if this list is published anywhere. ____________________Reply Separator____________________ Subject: [HANDCART-L] PE Fund CO. - Capt AO Smoot Author: Linda Gamble <llgamble@mail.caps.maine.edu> Date: 6/27/99 3:19 PM I have found information the John Carmichael and son James crossed the plains in 1852 in Capt Abraham O Smoot's company. It was listed as the PE Fund Co. They had traveled on the ship the Ellen Maria to New Orleans. John's other son, also named John, came on the Golconda. Any way to find out more information about this company and if it is possible that they could have hooked up before leaving to cross the plains? Also, family legend has the old man dying on the trip up the river or before setting off across the plains. How could I find this out? Thanks. Linda