These are the noble Mormon women who accepted the uncertain fortunes of war, in the service of their country. Be their names imperishable in American history. CHAPTER XLVII. ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF CALIFORNIA--A WOMAN MISSIONARY TO THE SOCIETY ISLANDS--HER LIFE AMONG THE NATIVES--THE ONLY MORMON WOMAN SENT ON MISSION WITHOUT HER HUSBAND--A MORMON WOMAN IN WASHINGTON--A SISTER FROM THE EAST INDIES--A SISTER FROM TEXAS. The Mormons were not only the founders of Utah, but they were also the first American emigrants to California. Fremont and his volunteers, and the American navy, had, it is true, effected the _coup de main_ of taking possession of California, and the American flag was hoisted in the bay of San Francisco at the very moment of the arrival of the ship _Brooklyn_ with its company of Mormon emigrants, but to that company belongs the honor of first settlers. The wife of Col. Jackson thus narrates: "In the month of February, 1846, I left home and friends and sailed in the ship _Brooklyn_ for California. Before starting I visited my parents in New Hampshire. I told them of my determination to follow God's people, who had already been notified to leave the United States; that our destination was the Pacific coast, and that we should take materials to plant a colony. When the hour came for parting my father could not speak, and my mother cried out in despair, 'When shall we see you again, my child?' 'When there is a railroad across the continent,' I answered. "Selling all my household goods, I took my child in my arms and went on board ship. Of all the memories of my life not one is so bitter as that dreary six months' voyage, in an emigrant ship, around the Horn. "When we entered the harbor of San Francisco, an officer came on board and said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor to inform you that you are in the United States.' Three cheers from all on board answered the announcement. "Unlike the California of to-day, we found the country barren and dreary; but we trusted in God and he heard our prayers; and when I soaked the mouldy ship-bread, purchased from the whale-ships lying in the harbor, and fried it in the tallow taken from the raw hides lying on the beach, God made it sweet to me, and to my child, for on this food I weaned her. It made me think of Hagar and her babe, and of the God who watched over her." Passing over the hardships endured by these emigrants, which were greatly augmented by the fact that war was then raging between the United States and the Spanish residents of California, we deem it proper to here incorporate, as matter of history, some statements of Mrs. Jackson, made to the California journals, concerning the early days of San Francisco. She says: