Great Salt Lake City [Great Salt Lake City, Utah] October 26 1856 [Sunday 1856-10-26]

Dear Erastus [Elder Erastus Snow 1818-1888],

As it is now almost time for another mail to leave I embrace the opportunity of writing to you to let you know I am still alive and enjoying the blessing of health and also my children for which I feel to thank the Lord for I esteem it a great blessing it is Sabbath evening. I have been to meeting all day and again this evening, we have had good instruction from Br [Heber C.] Kimball and [Jedediah M. ?] Grant, they now call upon us to repent and be baptised [baptized] for the remission of our sins and there seems to be general spirit of reformation throughout the City the teachers are going from house to house teaching the people and warning them to repent and [sic] of their sins and ceace [cease] slandering one another and purefy [purify] themselves before the Lord and cleanse their houses and their bodies they require every person to wash their bodies onse [once] a week Br [Jedediah M. ?] Grant has been visiting the nothern [northern] settlements and baptising [baptizing] the people although there was some so indifferent he left them the people in the Sessions settlement he would not baptise [baptize] he found them all asleep as it were the missionaries from Europe arrived on the fourth inst [instant – October 1856] they brought news that the indians [Indians] had killed a number of travelers upon the plains and had taken some women prisoners one is a daughter of Sister Holman Mr Babbit could not be found and they supposed he was also killed we had been looking for the Mail about a week and when the news came we felt very sorrowful for we supposed we should not hear from you for some time but it was not long before Br Franklins man came and brought a letter from you after B F [Benjamin Franklin ?] had been home about a week we called over one evening to see him he appeared very glad to see us he informed us that your health was poor. I hope as the wether [weather] becomes cooler your health will improve I pray for you continualy [continually] that you may be preserved and have health and strength to perform the work that you are sent to do time flies swiftly and we shall soon meet again and shall we not feel doubly repaid for our long separation I cannot say [I] am lonesome for there is so much bustle and noise and so much work to be done and the children to take care of that the days and weeks slip away before I am hardly aware of it but still when I retire to my room at night and my children are fast asleep I ofttimes think of you and then a feeling of lonelyness [loneliness] steals over me and were I to give vent to my feelings I should sit and weep but still I know it is all right and I realize that the Lord has called you to do a great and good work and would not have it otherwise your family are all well the children are not going to school at present there is to be a school meeting on wendesday [Wednesday – 29 Oct 1856] to appoint a teacher for this ward through the winter then they will go again I suppose you will want to know what we are doing Artimesia is spining [spinning] for cloth for the boys Minerva do [does] the house work and takes care of our babies and manages to spin some stocking yarn and do some sewing and Sarah is busy all the time doing whatever her Mother sets her to do I think you would laugh sometimes if you if you [sic] could step in and see two spinning wheels agoing [a going] and some one ironing at the table and the clothes [?] spread and the room so full of children we can hardly draw out a thread without stepping on some one of them little Elizabeth had her eye burned with a flat iron so that the eyeball blistered I was very much frightened for fear it would ruin her eye but it is well now she has just awoke and says tell papa I am a good girl little Florence is well she has had a very bad humor in her blood it broke out on her legs in the first plase [place] and they were runing [running] sores for about two weeks she was a great deal of trouble some days I could not get her out of my arms at last it settled around her neck and it is now healed up and she is doing well she is a fine little blue eyed girl more frolicksome [frolicsome] and lively than libby [Libby] the weather has been quite cold and stormy for the last two weeks we have had one snow storm in the valley and the mountains are covered with snow the handcart companies have not arrived they must have a cold time there was [were] 60 teams sent out to their relief at conference mostly horses and mules and today they have called for 500 more to start tomorrow morning to their assitance [assistance] they have taken provision and clothing with them well dear Erastus [Elder Erastus Snow 1818-1888] I am sitting in my room without a fire and it is very cold and I will get into bed to get warm and write some more tomorrow night so good night and may god bless you.

[29 Oct 1856] wendesday [Wednesday 1856-10-29] evening dear Erastus [Elder Erastus Snow 1818-1888] I have seated myself again this evening to close my letter I do not know as I can write anything to interest you I was in hopes the mail would have arrived and brought something for me to assure one that you have not entirely forgotten me. Minerva is writing and presume she will write all the news I do not feel much like writing tonight for I have a severe headache remember me always in your prayers I remain your ever true and faithfull [faithful] wife

Elisabeth [Elizabeth]