Benjamin Enniss Meek was born in 1837 in England and married Louisa Rodgers in 1860. In 1866, Benjamin, Louisa, their daughter Ann, and Benjamin's parents Thomas and Ann Meek immigrated to Utah aboard the ship John Bright with 764 other Mormons. During the overland journey west from Nebraska with the Thomas E. Ricks wagon company, Benjamin became ill and died on July 21, 1866 near present-day North Platte, Nebraska at age 28. He was buried along the Mormon Trail.