Handkerchief Dolls and a Pioneer Baptism

As promised, a tutorial on how to make the handkerchief dolls I wrote about in Eliza’s baptism post. 

We’ve made a number of dolls for Eliza’s friends who were baptized this year, but it seemed a most perfect gift for her friend Katherine, who was baptized last month, the old-fashioned way. You may remember, handkerchief dolls were made for small children as they walked across the plains in the 1800’s to their new home in the west.

Well, Katherine’s family recently did their own handcart trek through parts of Wyoming to gain a greater appreciation for their pioneer heritage and the challenges these settlers faced.

Here’s Katherine pushing the handcart. A big smile on her face.

Katherine belongs to my dearest friend, Kara. I’ve written about Kara enough now; I think you know her story. Here she is with her husband, Dave, and baby Caleb. Aren’t they beautiful?

Kara nursed Caleb along the way, carried him in her arms, walked the dusty trail alongside her children.

I’ve done two pioneer treks with the youth of our church. Treks are strenuous, blistering, and challenging. They are also rife with breathtaking scenery and moments of spiritual learning. But to do it with a baby, or young children? The way the pioneers did it? That would be an entirely different experience.

Katherine was baptized during their family trek, in the Sweetwater river, a tributary to the North Platte that runs through Wyoming. It was at this river that the Martin Handcart Company (which began heading west in 1856) was surprised by the early arrival of winter. Many company members had already died. Cold and hunger had left them extremely weak, and crossing the river at this point, seemed impossible. However, men from a rescue party sent by Brigham Young, some only teenagers, bravely stepped forward and carried many individuals across the frozen, icy water on their backs. This heroic act saved countless lives. And some of these young men later lost their own lives due to effects from the cold and exhaustion.

When President Brigham Young heard about these rescuers, he “wept like a child, and declared that this act alone would immortalize them” (Solomon F. Kimball, “Our Pioneer Boys,” Improvement Era, July 1908, 679).

What a place to be baptized. To remember the selflessness that turned a river holy. To remember how right and important it is to cross the deep for god’s children. To give our life for the saving of others.