Ellen (Nellie) Purcell Unthank

Ellen (Nellie) Purcell Unthank. . Ellen (Nellie) Purcell was born November 6, 1846 in Tintwhistle, England. At 9 she, with her parents and sister Margaret (Maggie), 14, began the trek from Iowa to Salt Lake Valley in 1856 with the Edward Martin Handcart Company. , Early snows overtook the company, both Nellie's parents died on the trail. Nellie's feet were frozen. , On arrival in Salt Lake Valley, she was strapped to a board. No anesthetics were available. Both her legs were amputated just below the knee with a butcher's knife and carpenter's saw. , For the rest of her life she moved about on the painful stubs of her legs. , At 24 in Cedar City she became the plural wife of William Unthank. His income was small. , Beginning as a wife in a one-room log house with a dirt floor, she kept her home spotless. Nellie took in washing, she knitted stockings to sell. She gave birth to 6 children. Her Bishop and Relief Society occasionally brought food to her family. To even the score, once a year she and her children cleaned the meeting house throughout. , Nellie died at 68 in Cedar City -- A noble representative of the rank and file of Mormon Pioneers.