British Mission Elders 1855

Maybe other history seekers have seen this, but I'm still an amateur and find it AMAZING! I've seen a lot of mission conference pictures. There are some from Brazil that have me in them. This has historical significance as this 1855 photo of British Missionaries includes the captains of four of the five experimental handcart companies of 1856. Three of the experiments came out pretty well. The last two, not so much. And those last two captains are all the more famous for that.

Back Row, left to right: Edmund Ellsworth, Joseph A. Young, William H. Kimball, George D. Grant, James Ferguson, James A. Little, Philemon Merrill. Middle Row: Edmund Bunker, Chauncey G. Webb, Franklin D. Richards, Daniel Spencer, Captain Dan Jones, Edward Martin. Front Row: James Bond, Spicer Crandall, W.C. Dunbar, James Ross, and Daniel D. McArther. From The Improvement Era, Vol. XVII, No. 1, September, 1913

Edmund Ellsworth was the Captain of the first ever handcart company in which my 4th Great-Grandmother, Eleanor Jenkins Vaughan, also traveled to Zion. One of her daughters, Jane Vaughan Lewis, with her husband John, and son, John Samuel, were on the journey. In July of 1854 Ellsworth had preached and baptized in Abergavenny across the Usk River from Llanfoist where Eleanor lived when she joined the church in 1841. He may have been a family friend.
Captain McArthur's company was next and frequently catching up to Ellsworth on the trail. Both companies came into the Valley together on September 26, 1856. Next was Captain Bunker on October 2nd with a contingent of almost all Welsh. Then the rescue parties went out for the companies of Captains Martin & Willie trapped in the early Wyoming winter at the uniquely sweet water in that high, bitter land.

________________________
Addendum
28 March 2014

I just ran across some information that Spicer Wells Crandall, pictured 2nd from left in the front row, was an 1850 settler of Springville. He went on a mission to Britain and came back in 1856 on the Enoch Train and was in charge of half of the McArthur Handcart Company. He could be a link for Eleanor Vaughan and the Lewises to Springville!