Peter McBride Story

The tent was jerked loose from the snow, uncovering Peter. “I picked myself up,” 
he later wrote, “and came out quite alive, to their surprise.” 

The Peter McBride Story

Six-year-old Peter McBride was the youngest son of Robert and Margaret McBride. He had two older brothers and two sisters. His father had died after the last crossing of the Platte River, on a night when as many as 13 people died after being battered by the first winter storm.  "While my sister was preparing our little bit of breakfast, I went to look for Father.  At last, I found him under a wagon with snow all over him.  He was stiff and dead."  Peter cried and cried.  Fatherless, the McBride family pushed on.

While the Martin company was in Martin’s Cove, Peter and other children received only two ounces of flour a day. In the account Peter later wrote of those days, he said it was hard to forget the hunger when everyone was on starvation rations. One day someone gave him a bone from a dead ox. He cut off the skin and began roasting the bone in the fire, but some older boys took it away. Left with only the skin, he boiled it, drank the soup, and ate the skin. “It was a good supper,” he recalled.

The winds were ferocious the first night in the cove, flattening many tents, including the McBrides’ tent. Everyone but Peter crawled out and found other places to bed down for the night. Peter remained in the tent and later said he “slept warm all night.” The snow on top of the collapsed tent may have insulated him from the colder air. In the morning he heard someone ask, “How many are dead in this tent?” His older sister said, “Well, my little brother must be frozen to death in that tent.” The tent was jerked loose from the snow, uncovering Peter. “I picked myself up,” he later wrote, “and came out quite alive, to their surprise.” 

Peter later became a talented musician, and he shared this talent throughout his life. 

He also served in a bishopric in Arizona for 20 years.

THOUGHT FROM THE STAKE:  When I read stories of young children who survived and took on great "adult-like" responsibilities to help their families survive, I am humbled by their courage and love that they demonstrated at such a young age.  It becomes evident to me that God truly does qualify and make those who follow Him equal to the task that is before them.  The fact that the young kids of the Willie and Martin Companies could do what they did is screaming evidence that God exists and has power to enable a dedicated follower to accomplish seemingly impossible things.  If God can do what He did with a child, I wonder what He could do with me?