Surge Louis Jacob

Surge Louis Jacob is the fourth of nine children born to Nicholas Jacob and Maria Marggi from Switzerland. The Jacob family immigrated to America, sailing on the “Windermere.” After arriving in the New York Harbor, they traveled to Florence, Nebraska where they joined the William H. Dame Company bound for the Salt Lake Valley. With other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the company left August 14, 1862.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Just a month into the trek, Maria gave birth to a son, Surge Louis. The baby was named for one of the church leaders, Serge L. Balif, who had sailed with them over the ocean. Sadly, the baby passed away at one-day-old and is buried just west of Fort Kearney, Nebraska.

A sister wrote: "One night a little baby was born to my mother. It lived but a few hours. We camped for a day. The baby was buried and then we went on again. Mother could only walk a few miles a day, we had to travel slow for many days."