Brother's Keeper

      This is the Universal Story that crosses all boundaries of faith, ethnicity and age.  Are we our brother's Keeper? James Kirkwood answered that question giving his own life to preserve another. Their is no greater love nor joy. Christ taught  through His example this great truth. Christ is the brother's keeper for all mankind.

Brother's Keeper Artist  Michael Bedard Art copyrighted ©

THIS IS A  STORY FROM THE WILLIE AND MARTIN HANDCART COMPANY 1856

      James Kirkwood, an eleven-year-old convert from Scotland, struggled across the frozen prairie with his widowed mother and brothers. While his mother attended her crippled son and the handcart,

James was responsible for his six-year-old brother, Joseph. 

      A snowstorm with icy winds strung out the caravan of beleaguered saints. James carried Joseph through rivers of ice, mud, and snow.Ascending the last miles up Rocky ridge with little Joseph on his back, James arrived late at Rock Creek camp. Here, James Kirkwood succumbed to the extreme 

exposure of the day and breathed his last for the love of his little brother.

He was buried in a common grave with thirteen others who perished that night. Little Joseph 

eventually made it into the Salt Lake Valley and went on to become a beloved Mormon Bishop of a large and grateful Salt Lake ward.