Caroline Reeder

Caroline Reeder Caroline is a daughter of Lydia Balls and David Reeder, both of England.

David had buried Caroline's mother in England prior to immigrating to America. He along with daughter, Caroline, 16 and his son, Robert, 18 sailed aboard the ship “Thornton.” After arriving in America, they traveled to Nebraska and joined the Willie Handcart Company bound for the Utah Territory. They left on the journey on August 17, 1856.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. On October 1, 1856 near Ft. Laramie, Caroline's father passed away on October 1st. Caroline, 17-years-old, passed away two weeks later on October 15, exhausted from travel and little food. She is buried near Independence Rock in Wyoming.

Her brother Robert said that she died while doing her duty of gathering firewood: "Our rations were growing shorter and we reduced them by common consent from day to day. Nights were getting colder and some would sit down by the roadside and die. My younger sister, Caroline, 17 years old, after traveling all day and seeing the camp being made for the night took off her apron to tie some sage brush in to bring into the camp. She sat down to rest, leaning on her bundle, exhausted. They found her chilled and dying and carried her to camp. She died without gaining consciousness. She, too, was placed in an unmarked grave near Three Crossings—Sweetwater. She died the evening of 15 October 1856. Her death was another real loss to us but we must hurry on in threatening weather and colder nights on the Wind River Pass."