Eliza's Story
Birth: March 17th, 1863 | female | in Old Whittington, Derbyshire, England
Death: August 28th, 1863 | Infant | in Sand Hill in Nebraska
Memorial: Stone 13 | right column
Eliza Orme is the third of thirteen children born to Joseph Orme and Emily Green, both from England.
The Orme family immigrated from England to America on the ship “Amazon.” Upon arriving in America, they traveled to Nebraska and joined the John W. Woolley Company. Along with other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Company departed for the Great Salt Lake Valley on August 9, 1863.
Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, premature birth, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Histories of the parents indicate that cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water) affected children and adults within the Company. High temperatures during the day and cold nights were the perfect recipe to deplete immune systems.
The Company had been on the Mormon Trail West a little more than two weeks when 5-month-old Eliza passed away. She is buried near Sand Hill, Nebraska, where they had camped for the night.