George Patten as a Rescuer of the Handcart Companies

George Patten as a Rescuer of the Handcart Companies

It is reported that George Patten took in his horse drawn wagon to Salt Lake, a load of wheat to have made into flour. He was to arrive on Saturday, attend conference and then take his wheat to the mill on Monday morning and return home to Payson with the flour. He had left his wife Mary Jane and their small children at home while he made the trip. 
Brigham Young, having heard for the first time on Saturday evening there were two companies of saints stranded, when Franklin D. Richards made his report was devastated. He went into action and at conference on Sunday he announced he wanted every able bodied man with a wagon, to load up supplies and rescue these two companies. George took his wheat to the mill, went to a meeting with other men and was outfitted with supplies for the rescuers. George had a good wagon, a good team of horses and he was an accomplished teamster so he was much in demand. 
It is not recorded which company he was a rescuer, but because he was back home in Payson on 20 Nov, he must have been a rescuer of the Willie’s Company. (The Martin Company did not arrive until 30 Nov).
Mary Jane recorded she did not know what had happened to George for almost a month when a man came through Payson with a message from George. “Tell Mary Jane I have been sent by Pres. Young to help the handcart companies stranded in Wyoming.” There were no telephones, no telegraphs, so no way of sending a message except by mail (which could take weeks) or by word of mouth. Mary Jane was expecting her husband to come home by the middle of the week with flour and she did not hear anything until a month later. We can only imagine her anxiety because there were reports of hostile Indians, as well as accidents and etc. 
She could not have been surprised when she heard where he was. George Patten in his history and in his testimony said “He knew Brigham Young was a prophet and he would do anything he asked him to do.” George bore testimony that he was present when the mantle of the Prophet Joseph Smith fell on Brigham Young. 
At Martin’s Cove on one wall is a list of all the members of the Willie and Martin Handcart companies and across from it on another wall is a list of the rescuers. Almost directly across from Sophia Mason Crook’s name as a member of the Willy Handcart Company is the name of George Patten as a rescuer. I have always been very touched with the idea that my mother’s and father’s families came together in Wyoming and shared this experience.