New! Brother's Keeper Poster

Brother's Keeper 1856

This is one of my favorite stories I have ever done. The scrap shot for this painting was done on location of the sweet water. some day I'll tell the whole story of what I went through to get this image.

Artist  Michael Bedard Art copyrighted ©

  

  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.

For purchase go to web store or gallery in saint George Utah.