Evelina Shelton

Evelina Shelton is the daughter of Charles Shelton and Rebecca Ann Dow. With a desire to travel to the Great Salt Lake Valley with other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, the family joined the James Brown Company.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Before they began their journey, two sons of Charles and Rebecca became ill with cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water). By June 27, Evelina had lost two brothers, and on June 29, 7-year-old Evelina had succumbed to the disease and buried along the Mormon Trail in Missouri.

From the journal of Charles Shelton (father): “Great Grasshopper, Missouri a few miles west June 29, 1854" Journal entry: And as soon as sickness would permit we started forward on our journey, in hopes to get out where a healthier atmosphere pervaded. My little girl died on the way and was buried while on the road with our teams."

A later journal entry reads: “… “Thus I left on the way to Zion, My wife and five children."