Margaret and her husband Thomas Kirkwood were among the first members to be baptized in the Scotland area in 1840. She and Thomas eventually had 6 children – one of them, born in 1951, was named Joseph Smith Clements Kirkwood, after the prophet and the missionary that had been so active in their joining the church. Thomas Sr. died in 1852, as well as two of Margaret’s children, Margaret, 19, and Katherine, 9. All of them had suffered from lingering illnesses. Missionaries were always welcome at their home and on April 28, 1856, son James Kirkwood, 11, was baptized. The next day, the family left Scotland on board a steamship headed for Liverpool. On May 1st, they boarded the Thornton and began their journey to join the saints in America. The family enjoyed the many meetings on the ship. Meetings where they partook of the sacrament, bore testimony of gospel truths, and united in faith and fasting for a safe voyage. The health of the family was good as they sailed across the Atlantic, a blessing for which they always remembered to thank the Lord.
On June 14th, the company arrived in New York. Margaret’s son recorded,
“We had great cause to be thankful to God for his blessing towards us and for everything which had happened since our departure from Liverpool. The appearance of the country, with the sweet anticipation of being privileged to set my feet in the Land of Promise, tended to strengthen my body.”
Margaret’s son, Thomas, being poorly with ulcers in his legs, which arose from a carriage running over his foot, had to ride in the cart the entire trek to Salt Lake– nearly 1300 miles . Often time, young Joseph also had to be put in the cart when he couldn’t walk another step. This put a lot of stress on Margaret and her older son Robert to pull the cart.
The most tragic and difficult day for the Willie company and the Kirkwood family was Oct 23rd. Margaret and Robert had struggled about 16 miles that day, pulling Thomas across Rocky Ridge in a storm of wind and snow. Some families became separated in the struggle, including the Kirkwood family. James and Joseph,
“were exhausted and fell behind the company. They walked in the freezing snow all night to reach camp. Joseph was so young that James carried him on his back. As they arrived the next morning at the campfire, James fell dead due to starvation and exhaustion.”
James had given his all to help his little brother get to camp.
Margaret was waiting for her sons, keeping a small fire burning, but the warmth of the fire was not enough to revive James. He was buried in a common grave with 3 other children and 9 adults later that morning. Margaret wept at the loss of her precious son. Perhaps her tears, combined with the cold and strong wind, contributed to her subsequent blindness. “Margaret lost the sight of one eye on account of having been frozen.”
On Oct 25, Margaret Kirkwood wrapped her woolen shawl around her shoulders and bade farewell to the final resting place of her son James, and continued her trek to Zion. There were still 250 mountainous miles to cover. The Saints left Rock Creek with very few rescue wagons accompanying them. Finally, on Nov 2, the Willie company met a large contingent of wagons near Fort Bridger – enough that all could ride. But Margaret and son Robert continued pulling their handcart through Nov 6th. It was one of the worst days of their journey.
The company had traveled 23 miles through deep snow on the previous day, and it was still snowing most of the day on Nov 6th. The roads were very bad at each of the dozen crossings of Echo Creek and that night’s camping ground presented a most dismal appearance. Robert later recorded, “I know that day we had waded 13 streams, and got into camp after midnight.”
Thankfully, an uncrowded wagon driven by Peter McCue reached this exhausted family the next day. At last, Margaret and her family could ride in this wagon with relative comfort and safety. The family’s handcart was tied to the back of the wagon and taken into Salt Lake City on November 9th. Robert later recorded, “We made this long pull to save my brother Thomas’ life, for had we crowded him into the rescue wagons that first met us, he could not have lived.”
Margaret and her family were taken into American Fork, UT, to recuperate. Margaret married John Wood in 1857. At the time of her death in 1893, Margaret had 36 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren in Zion. For several years before her death, Margaret was the oldest living member of the Church from Scotland. She made the statement many times that if it was necessary, she would go through all the hardships again for the gospel’s sake.