Emilie Blackner

Emilie Blackner was the fifth of 13 children born to James Henry Blackner and Jane Allen, both from England. After arriving in America, Emilie was born in New York. The Blackner family joined the John Smith Company to travel west to the Salt Lake Valley. On the company roster, she is listed as “Emma.” The company began their journey on June 22.

After traveling to Florence, Nebraska, whooping cough disease broke out within the company. Two-month-old Emilie succumbed to disease and was buried along the Mormon Trail east of Laramie, Wyoming, somewhere between Ash Hollow and Scott's Bluff.

From the Transcript for "The Immigration," Deseret News, 15 August 1860: “There had been three deaths in the company before arriving at Laramie. William Glover, aged 80, died on the 1st, John [Cartwright] Cherrington the 10th, and Emma Blackner on the 15th of July. The last two were children not a year old.”