The Little Brass Bucket

As told by Malinda Gimlin Lewis to a granddaughter.

   The winter of 1846 was spent at Winter Quarters (Nebraska) where the Saints suffered much from the cold and for want of food.  Their son, little Edward tagged along one day when his mother went after water bringing his own little bucket. 

   There was a hole chopped in the ice in the Missouri River for the purpose of supplying the camp with water.  As the mother returned with her two buckets, she thought Edward was right behind her.  Turning, she found he was not anywhere in sight.  She hurriedly returned to the hole and all that she could find was the little brass bucket he had carried sitting on the ice.  It was supposed that he slipped into the hole and was carried downstream. 

   This was a sorrow Malinda never got over.  Edward Partridge Lewis was just shy of his 7th birthday. The tiny brass bucket is still a coveted relic in the family of Malinda Johnston Mangum, a granddaughter of Tarlton and Malinda Lewis.

                                                           The Little Brass Bucket

                                                                  (Caretakers)

     Edward Partridge Lewis----b. 3 Jan 1840-----D. 11 Dec 1846

     Malinda Gimlin Lewis-------d. 5 June 1894

     Martha G. Lewis Johnson---d. 11 May, 1886

     Melinda Johana Johnson Mangum--

     Melba Mangum--in a retirement home as of April 1995

For 150 years this small bucket has been a cherished reminder of a small boy who died during a time of trials and hardships.  After being lovingly cared for by the women of the family, it is now in the care of Claude Mangum, a brother of Melba Mangum.

Claude has memories of using it to carry water from a spring on their ranch near Bicknell, Utah, when he was a small boy.  The little bucket has lost its bail and there are a few dents, but how do you think you would look after 150 years?

Note:  Edward was a brother to my g-g-g-grandfather Samuel Lewis, son of Tarlton Lewis and 

Malinda Gimlin Lewis. 

Kristie