Profinda Atkinson

Profinda Atkinson is the sixteenth of seventeen children born to William Atkinson and Phebe Campbell, from Canada. William, Phebe and their children joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints in 1850 and 1851 and wanted to immigrate to America to be with other Saints traveling to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

The Atkinson family moved to Nauvoo. While the Saints prepared to go west, they lived in Keokuk, Iowa. The family joined the William Atkinson Company of 1853 and left Keokuk on May 18, 1853.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, premature birth, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Cholera, a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water, infected many of the travelers. With one day into the journey, 2-year-old Profinda passed away and is buried in the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois.

Profinda's sister wrote: “On May 19th Profinda Atkinson died, which detained us one day. She was then youngest child of William and Phebe Atkinson, about 2 1/2 years old.”