John McBride Belnap was born 11 May 1849 at Fremont
County, Iowa, the second child born to Gilbert Belnap and Adaline Knight. Their
first child, Gilbert Rosel Belnap, was born 8 January 1847 in Winter Quarters,
Nebraska. His parents remained on the
banks of the Missouri River another three years preparing for the trek to
Utah. While residing in Fremont County,
Iowa, John McBride Belnap was born.
The Belnap family set out for the Great Salt Lake Valley with the Warren Foote Company on 15 June 1850, leaving Kanesville, Iowa, initially with 104 wagons and 476 persons. His father, Gilbert, was appointed captain over ten wagons in the second group of fifty. The Belnap group consisted of John’s parents, his brother, and his maternal grandmother, Martha McBride Knight Smith Kimball.
On 20 June 1850 members of the Warren Foote Company
met a number of California emigrants returning home who reported terrible cases
of cholera in wagon companies up ahead.
They were encamped east of the ford at Salt Creek, near present-day
Ashland, Saunders, Nebraska, when 13-month-old John took ill during the evening
of 21 June 1850 with the cholera plague beginning to sweep through the
camp. John died in the latter part of
the night on Saturday, 22 June 1850.
The next morning his body was placed inside his father’s tool chest and
was buried in an unmarked grave near the confluence of Salt Creek and the
Platte River. The tool chest had a
tight-fitting lid which screwed down protecting his remains from the bare
earth. The exact location of his grave
is unknown.
After the burial of John McBride Belnap, the second
group of fifty moved on but was delayed by a heavy storm of wind and rain. His family arrived in the Great Salt Lake
Valley on 17 September 1850. Two weeks
later the Gilbert Belnap family was sent by Brigham Young to settle in Ogden,
Weber, Utah.
Although John McBride Belnap did not live to
adulthood and leave behind posterity, his story is an integral part of pioneer
history as he paid the ultimate price during his family’s migration to the
West.
(Written
by Brent J. Belnap. Submitted on behalf
of the Belnap Family Organization to the Sons of Utah Pioneers in 1996.)
BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION
Name: John McBride Belnap
Born: 11 May 1849, Fremont County, Iowa
Died: 22 June 1850, Salt Creek, Nebraska
Parents: Gilbert Belnap
and Adaline Knight
Pioneer Arrival: Died crossing the plains
Company: Warren Foote Company (by
wagon)