Horace Datus Ensign & Mary Bronson — Suffering at Winter Quarters
Compiled by Wendy Smith
Horace Datus Ensign and Mary Bronson Ensign lived in Westfield, Hampden Massachusetts. Horace was a Carpenter. They owned a sawmill and a box factory on Little River near Springfield Massachusetts. They have 6 boys and 1 girl. Their son, Martin Luther Ensign tells us about his parent’s conversion in his autobiography “My parents received the gospel in 1843, Edwin S. Wooley being the first Elder that brought the gospel. Father went to hear him through curiosity as he had been represented as a saint and was convinced the first sermon he heard. He invited him to Little River to lunch and mother was converted also; and many others, and a branch was organized.” (1)
In 1846, they decided to join the Saints in Nauvoo and set out on the long trip to get there. When they arrived in Nauvoo in May, they found out that the Saints had been driven out of Nauvoo. They stayed in Nauvoo for 3 weeks, long enough to get provisions they would need for the 300-mile trip to Winter Quarters. Winter Quarters was a settlement along the Missouri River near Omaha Nebraska in a place now called Florence.
When they arrived in Winter Quarters. Horace and his sons set out to build a house for the family. “Being Carpenters…. It was a fine house one of the nicest there. Typical buildings in Winter Quarters were made of logs from twelve to eighteen feet long, a few of which were split; the floors were laid with puncheon (logs split about three inches thick and hewed on one side. The timber used for the floor was made of cottonseed and Lynn. Roofs were made by splitting oak timbers into boards called shakes, six inches wide about three feet long and half an inch thick which were kept in place by weight poles (2). To give you a reference to just how small the house would have been, our living room is eighteen feet long by twelve feet wide. The Ensign’s house was one of the larger buildings in the settlement. It was also used as a meeting house for their ward. When they left Winter Quarters it was used as a store. (1)
Life at Winter Quarters was not an easy one. Not only was the winter that year bitter cold but food was scarce. The only way they had to grind wheat and corn into meal was with hand grinders. Fruits and vegetables were hard to come by. There was much suffering that occurred that winter by those at Winter Quarters. I can’t help but think of the spiritual growth that occurred as they became closer to the Savior in their suffering.
The Ensign family suffered a great loss that winter. Their beloved father, Horace Datus Ensign Sr., become sick with scurvy and “Black Canker”.
He passed away on his birthday, September 28, 1846. He was buried in the Winter Quarter’s cemetery in an unmarked grave. He died at the age of 49. Leaving his wife Mary and their 7 children. The oldest Horace Datus Ensign Jr was 20 and the youngest, Lydia was 5.
Sources:
- Ensign, Martin Luther. “Autobiography of Martin Luther Ensign” written in 1897, page 1; ]; images of unpublished manuscript, https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/170512136: accessed 2 July 2023)
- Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008; 1840-1849; 1846 August-December; Church History Library, https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/c8703fa3-c68c-495e-aadc-63c50f024f41/0/1126 (accessed: July 2, 2023)