Willden Family History

The Willdens left St. Louis 12 April 1850 on the steamer, "Correy", and arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a new settlement, 4 May 1850. At Council Bluffs they bought a farm from a man named Solomon Walker, a farm consisting of 50-60 acres and two houses for the small sum of $20, as Walker was going to Salt Lake City. After paying for the place they had only two dollars left with which to buy necessities, and they were strangers in a new land, but they were able and willing to work.

They stayed there about two years, engaged in planting and harvesting corn and wheat. This work was done by hand as they had no team nor machinery. They carried the produce on their backs from the field to the house. This must have been the first year.

While my daughter was visiting in Council Bluffs a year ago she tried to find a record of this land but found the land records did not begin until 1853 which was about a year after the Willdens migrated to Utah.

Feargus and his sister Ann, went to school about six weeks while the family lived here. Mary Ellen Elizabeth was born November 5, 1850, in Council Bluffs.