Researching the Mormon Trail, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the Graham family's arrival in Utah

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #18

by Tonya Graham McQuade

Mormon Pioneer Handcart Statue in Salt Lake City's Temple Square

In my previous post, I discussed some of the religious persecution Mormons faced that led them to decide to head west to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1846, when that area was still part of Mexico. On their journey, they did not follow the same “Oregon Trail” many others followed, as was pointed out in the family letter written by Jane Kennedy Hale in 1862 (see Post #14). Perhaps they wanted “to avoid competition for forage and food with the emigrants on the Oregon Trail across the river” (1), or perhaps they followed a different trail due to the hatred, fear, and suspicion that was common between them and the “Gentiles,” or non-Mormons, on the other side of the river (see Post #17).

Whatever the reason, church leader Brigham Young became “convinced that the Latter-day-Saints would never find peace in the United States," and despite having little knowledge of the West and no specific destination in mind, he "made a bold decision: the Latter-day-Saints would move to the still wild territories of the Mexican-controlled Southwest” (2).

Young led about 1600 Mormons in a mass exodus, departing from Nauvoo, Illinois, on February 10, 1846. From there, the group made the westward trek in stages, with the first major stop being opposite Council Bluffs on the Missouri River in Iowa. Young “sent out a reconnaissance team to plan the route across Iowa, dig wells at camping spots, and in some cases, plant corn to provide food for the hungry emigrants. The mass of Latter-day-Saints made the journey to the Missouri River, and by the fall of 1846, the Winter Quarters were home to 12,000 Latter-day-Saints” (3).

On April 5, 1847, an advance company led by Brigham Young set off from Winter Quarters on the 1040-mile trek across the country to their new home. Made up of 143 men, three women, and two children, this advance company “was to arrive in the Salt Lake Valley as early as possible for the purpose of planting crops to feed the large numbers of saints to follow” (4).

After  a long and difficult journey, they reached the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and Young looked out at the glistening lake and announced they had reached their destination. “That year, some 1,600 people arrived to begin building a new civilization in the valley. The next year, 2,500 more made the passage” (5). Between 1846 and 1869, some 70,000 Mormons traveled west on the trail, crossing parts of five states: Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah.

Approximately 3,000 of these pioneers made the trek pulling handcarts. At the Handcart Pioneer Monument in Salt Lake City, where the statue pictured above is located, a nearby marker reads: "The Handcart Pioneer Monument is a tribute to the thousands of hardy Mormon pioneers who, because they could not afford the larger ox-drawn wagons, walked across the rugged plains in the 1850s pulling and pushing all their possessions in handmade all-wood handcarts. Some 250 died on the journey, but nearly 3,000, mostly British converts, completed the 1,350-mile trek from Iowa City, Iowa, to the Salt Lake Valley. Many Latter-Day Saints today proudly recount the trials and the triumphs of their ancestors who were among the Mormon handcart pioneers."

Mormon Handcart Tragedy of 1856 - Legends of America

Within two years of their initial arrival, the land on which the Mormons had settled changed hands. The U.S. defeated Mexico in the Mexican-American War, and with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, “Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, to the United States. Mexico relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.” That meant that while the Latter-day-Saints “had finally found a permanent home along the Great Salt Lake … its isolation and freedom from persecution was short-lived” (6). 

This huge “Mexican Cession” led to many debates over how best to incorporate the new land - as U.S. states or territories, large or small, slave or free. Brigham Young and his Latter Day Saints sought to create a State called Deseret that would encompass most of present-day Utah, as well as portions of many other surrounding states. Their petitions, however, were repeatedly denied - and it wasn’t until the Mormon church’s outlawing of polygamy that Utah was admitted as the 45th state in 1896.

Map of Utah Territory (in Blue) and proposed State of Deseret

In September 1850, however, as part of the Compromise of 1850, an Act of Congress created the Utah Territory; and in 1851, Brigham Young was inaugurated as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Under Young’s leadership, the Utah territory continued to seek “Deseret” statehood and operated with its own sort of “shadow government,” with church elders establishing many of the laws rather than the territorial legislature. Eventually, hearing distorted reports of activities in the state and believing he needed to subjugate a “Mormon Rebellion,” President James Buchanan sent federal troops to Utah in May 1857, along with a new governor to replace Brigham Young.

While all this tension was building, the Baker-Fancher wagon train was making its way to California from Arkansas, and their planned route required them to pass through the Utah Territory. Little did they know they were heading into a massacre - the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to be exact. Between September 7-11, 1857, Mormon militiamen disguised as Indians, as well as some Mormon-allied Paiute Indians, killed an estimated 120 men, women, and children, sparing only seventeen children under the age seven.

Drawing depicting Mountain Meadows Massacre

As explained on the LegendsofAmerica.com website: “The Mormon people feared their own destruction by the federal government. As a result, Brigham Young issued a proclamation of martial law on August 5th which, among other things, forbade people from traveling through the territory without a pass. In addition, the citizens of Utah were discouraged from selling food to immigrants, especially for animal use. It was into this atmosphere that the weary emigrants [of the Baker-Fancher wagon train] arrived in Salt Lake City on about August 10, 1857. A critical stop, the wagon train members needed to refurbish their equipment, refresh themselves and their stock, and replenish their supplies. The once friendly Mormons, usually eager to trade agricultural commodities for manufactured goods, were now hostile and reluctant to trade. The wagon train was then told by a Mormon guide that they should take the southern route because the northern route was dangerous due to Indian attacks and had the potential for severe winter weather, while the southern route provided for more fodder for their stock and less danger” (7).

Some in the train decided, despite this recommendation, to head north - and that group eventually reached California. Those who headed south basically walked into an ambush. In the months and years immediately following the massacre, Mormon leaders tried to blame the attack on Paiute Indians, but numerous investigations and various confessions eventually revealed the truth. It was not until twenty years later that the first punishment was meted out. In 1877, Maj. John D. Lee was finally convicted and executed - “before his death, Lee wrote out a full confession admitting his reluctant complicity. He claimed he was a scapegoat for the many Mormons … responsible for the massacre” (8).

Since the attackers made no effort to give the bodies a decent burial, the victims’ bodies and bones were scattered by foraging animals over a couple miles, with later travelers passing by and reporting on the remains. As one traveler passing through in 1859 stated: “The scene was one too horrible and sickening for language to describe. Human skeletons, disjointed bones, ghastly skulls and the hair of women were scattered in frightful profusion over a distance of two miles” (9). It was two years before federal troops came through and gathered up whatever remains they could find, gave them a proper burial, and erected a rock cairn memorial.

Mountain Meadows Massacre Site National Historic Landmark

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was the most deadly consequence of President Buchanan’s Utah Expedition (1857-58), aka. Utah War, Utah Campaign, Mormon War, Mormon Rebellion, and Buchanan’s Blunder (10). As 5,000 federal troops marched into Utah under U.S. General Albert Sidney Johnston, both the U.S. soldiers and Mormon militia, known as the Nauvoo Legion, prepared for war. However, the Mormon strategy was to avoid direct confrontation or engagement, and rather to hinder the federal troops as much as possible. 

Nauvoo Legion Lt. Gen. Daniel Wells instructed Major Joseph Taylor: “On ascertaining the locality or route of the troops, proceed at once to annoy them in every possible way. Use every exertion to stampede their animals and set fire to their trains. Burn the whole country before them and on their flanks. Keep them from sleeping, by night surprises; blockade the road by felling trees or destroying the river fords where you can. Watch for opportunities to set fire to the grass on their windward, so as, if possible, to envelop their trains. Leave no grass before them that can be burned. Keep your men concealed as much as possible, and guard against surprise” (11).  

No major battles occurred between the militia and federal army, but there were some small skirmishes, as well as some thefts and destruction of property. An estimated 150 people died during the one year war, including the 120 killed in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At one point, Brigham Young prepared his followers to leave Salt Lake City to find somewhere new to live, with many packing up to begin the journey. However, such a move proved unnecessary - “negotiations between the United States and the Latter-day Saints resulted in a full pardon for the Latter-day Saints (except those involved in the Mountain Meadows murders), the transfer of Utah's governorship from church president Brigham Young to non-Mormon Alfred Cumming, and the peaceful entrance of the U.S. Army into Utah” (12).

That negotiated settlement, however, did not mean that fears disappeared for travelers going west. As I mentioned in my previous post, the diarists in Everell Cummins’s Train of Innocents: The Story of the Kennedy Train repeatedly mention fears and suspicions of Mormons working with Indians to steal their horses and other livestock and to attack their train. That was the same wagon train with which Jane Kennedy Hale and William S. Hale traveled in 1862 to Walla Walla, Washington, which Jane described in her letter to the family back in Missouri (see Post #14).

In his diary entry on July 22, 1862, James McClung wrote: “Some Mormon guerrillas pretending to be in pursuit of some Indians that had stolen some stock at Fort Bridger came riding up, some in front and some in the rear, and others passing through the middle of the train. We suspected them, and the company got their guns and fell into line, and the guerrillas scattered off in every direction … after we camped some time, we saw persons riding over the hills watching us” (13).

The following day, on July 23, McClung wrote: “After traveling several miles we passed a company of emigrants that had their stock stampeded last night. No doubt the Mormons done it. They were guarding it in their corral when it broke loose, running over tents, wagons and everything which came in their way and broke several wagons in running over them and crippling several of the guards” (14).

Author Everell Cummins goes on to say, “McClung’s comments about Mormon guerrillas and his certainty that the Mormons caused a stampede are the first but not the last indications that the emigrants of 1862 were quick to look to the Mormons as the cause of any misfortune” (15). The Kennedy Train had frequent issues with stampedes, which was one of the main reasons they took so much longer than expected to reach their destination. Whether some of those stampedes were caused by "Mormon guerrillas" seeking to steal their horses and cattle remains unproven.

When my great great grandparents, Robert Neville Graham (1830-1915, b. Ireland) and Mary Elizabeth Park Graham (1848-1928, b. Ohio), made the journey to Utah, it was sometime between 1883 (when their daughter Olive Lavina Graham (Bennion) was born in Covington, Fountain County, Indiana) and 1886 (when their son Robert Neville Graham was born in Bountiful, Davis County, Utah). I don't know whether they arrived by wagon train or transcontinental railroad (which reached Utah in 1869) - but I doubt they were pushing or pulling a handcart.

Photo of Robert and Mary Park Graham (seated) and Family:

Daughters Mattie Graham Nebeker, Olive Graham Bennion, and Belle Graham Smith

Sons Harry Hunt Graham, second from left, and Robert Neville Graham

Not Pictured: youngest daughter Helen Graham Lesueur

- Photo colorized using Ancestry.com's new "colorizing tool" (cool, huh?)

My great grandfather, Henry "Harry" Hunt Graham (1880-1963), is something of a mystery. Some records say he was born in Illinois; some, in Indiana; and one, in Utah (which I'm fairly sure is incorrect). He is listed as Robert and Mary's "son" in the 1900 census records (unfortunately, the 1890 records burned in a fire) and in their obituaries; but according to my dad and to another family history record, he was adopted into the Graham family and his original last name was "Hunt." I have tried and tried to find an actual adoption record, but so far I have had no luck.

So, if anyone reading this has any insights into the Graham family history to share, I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Robert & Mary Elizabeth (Park) Graham

I hope you've enjoyed this "shallow dive" into some Mormon Trail history. Check back next time to hear about my family "gold rush" and "silver mining" connections, and to read another excerpt from the book I'm working on, Missouri Daughter.

Endnotes:

1. “Mormon Trail History.” Utah.com, https://www.utah.com/things-to-do/attractions/mormon/mormon-trail-history/. 

2. Latter-day Saints begin exodus to Utah, 16 November 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mormons-begin-exodus-to-utah. 

3. Ibid.

4. Nemec, Bethany. “Oregon Trail Chronology – End of the Oregon Trail.” End of the Oregon Trail, 3 April 2019, https://historicoregoncity.org/2019/04/03/oregon-trail-chronology/. 

5. Latter-day Saints begin exodus to Utah, 16 November 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mormons-begin-exodus-to-utah. 

6. “Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) | National Archives.” National Archives |, 20 September 2022, https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo. 

7. “Mountain Meadows Massacre – Legends of America.” Legends of America, https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ut-mountainmeadows/. 

8. Ibid

9. Ibid.

10. “Utah War.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBancroft1889-8. 

11. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Utah, 1540-1886. San Francisco: The History Company, 1889.

12. “Utah War.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBancroft1889-8. 

13. Cummins, Everell. Train of Innocents: The Story of the Kennedy Train. AuthorHouse, 2005, pg. 86.

14. Ibid, pg, 87.

15. Ibid, pg. 87.

Some Family Members Move West - A Letter from Walla Walla, Washington, 1864

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #15

by Tonya Graham McQuade

The Kennedy Train's final stop in 1862

In my last post, I shared some excerpts from the historical fiction novel I am writing, Missouri Daughter, that included a letter written from the Oregon Trail by Jane Kennedy Hale and her son, William Simpson Hale, to the family back in Andrew County, Missouri. Now, I will share an excerpt from the nonfiction book I am working on, A State Divided; The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree, which provides some additional information from a more historical perspective:

Chapter 7: Nodaway Township, Andrew County, Missouri – January to March 1864

 

In January, James was finally able to go home on furlough. He had missed Christmas once again, but he was in time for his grandson’s first birthday. His family likely met him at the train depot in St. Joseph, and eagerly looking forward to the months ahead.

  

While there are no letters to confirm his daily activities at this time, one can easily assume James contented himself with chores around the farm – cutting firewood; making repairs to the house and barn; checking on stores of grain, corn, potatoes, onions, molasses, and feed for the stock; examining the hogs, cattle, and chickens; and looking over the financial records. He likely spent plenty of time with his family – going fishing with his son Mc; listening to his daughter Eliza read for the first time; admiring Manda’s sewing; playing with his new grandson Jimmy; and catching up with his brother Elijah who lived nearby. 

 

James was also tasked by his sister-in-law Jane with finding a tombstone for his brother Meshack (who had been killed by Confederate sympathizers in 1861 - see Post #10). Not having the money to buy one before she left for Walla Walla weighed heavily on her heart, and she had written him specifically to make that request. He may have sought his brother Elijah’s help in purchasing the tombstone and placing it on Meshack’s grave.

About a year earlier, Jane had written to the family to inform them that she and her son William had finally made it safely to Walla Walla, Washington, after about six months on the Oregon Trail and quite a few trials and adventures along the way (see Post #14). There had been numerous stampedes and losses of cattle, several dangerous river crossings, various Indian attacks, hazardously washed-out mountain passes, shortages of food and water, disagreements among the travelers, and lots of sickness and death. Along the way, they had observed numerous freshmade graves – two where faithful dogs were lying atop the graves, refusing to leave their masters behind.

 

They had even witnessed an execution when Jane’s brother, Captain Kennedy, was called upon by another wagon train to help punish a man who had killed his mining partner so he could keep all the profits and equipment for himself. Captain Kennedy had pulled together a group of men to serve as a jury, and when they found the man guilty, they had agreed that death was the proper punishment. They let the man choose whether he preferred to die by hanging or firing squad, and when he chose being shot, Kennedy had twenty-four men fire upon him, though not all had ammunition in their guns, while about a thousand people from various wagon trains looked on. 

This book tells the story of the Kennedy Train of 1862

The fate of his dead brother’s family must have weighed heavily on James’s mind, and he wrote to Jane when he returned home on furlough. Soon, he received a response:

 

Washington Territory, Walla Walla - March 21, 1864

 

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

I take my pen in hand to let you know we received your letter and was glad to hear from you all and that you was at home with your family, James, for they did not know what it was to do without you. Maybe for the better, for we are a dissatisfied people on the account of the war. So let us try to do the best we can in this life, and when we come to die, we will meet in heaven where parting will be no more.

 

I feel dissatisfied here, but it might be if I was there it would be no better under the circumstances. If Meshach was alive and here, I sometimes think I would be satisfied here, but I hope my loss is his gain, and I will do the best I can and try to be contented. This is the best place to make money I ever saw, but somehow I think I would rather live there.

 

If you would come out here, you could soon make money enough to buy you a farm and go back there or to some other country. This is the greatest place. The grass grows all winter. They don’t feed anything here. All you make is clear gain. We have five hundred dollars clear of all expenses. We have worked very hard, but if we had been there, we could not have anything – just something to eat and a little to wear.

 

James, I don’t want you to enlist any more. You might get killed. Come out here and make money, and then when the war is over, settle yourself somewhere you like. James, you did not write if you could get any tombstones there or not to put to Meshech’s grave. I wish you would see and let me know, and I will send the money, for I feel bad about it, and then I will be satisfied.

 

John Kennedy has gone to the mines. Robert is there, and Mary is there, too. She has married since we came out here and has gone there and is doing well and has a fine son. Her last name is Allison, and Rhoda Ellis is living about seven miles from her. They have two children, and they are all well. Emily Francis Neel married James Kennedy and lives down in Willamette Valley and has two children. James was at the mines and come by and wanted us to go home with him, but we could not go with him.

 

I think we will go down to Oregon as soon as we can get money. That is the best place to make money, they say, and there they have plenty of everything –  fruit of all kind – and I think I would like there or California. You have no idea of the people that is in the mines. There are thousands of families there, and that is a better place to get gold than here. There is no gold mines here - we can get by working for it.

 

The men all like here better than there. They do not have to feed anything here. They just kill beef here all winter without feeding them anything, so the men go to the mines and come back here and winter and make gold plenty here, and the farmers raise plenty of vegetables here, and they bring up fruit from Willamette Valley. They say that is the prettiest valley in the world.

 

William S. Hale is going to school to the Sisters from the seminary. I pay ten dollars for eleven weeks. I have sent him all I could. School is high here, and when we got here, we had nothing but our clothing and bedding, and I sold one of my beds and divided the other and made two. We have had our health pretty well. I have not paid any doctor bills yet. William S. had the mumps and some bad colds.

 

I have been able to work all the time since we came here, and we have a room to ourselves. I get six dollars a week, and William S. works for his board night and morning. The house has five rooms. The man is a merchant, and they have one child. It is a good place, and we will stay here all summer at six dollars per week.

 

James - write and let me know how times is there and all the death and wedding. We remember our love to all inquiring friends if any. Tell Elizabeth to write. So no more at present but still remains sister and nephew until death.

 

We remember you all,

Jane Hale & William S. Hale

Jane's Letter dated March 24, 1864

James  and the family kept up their correspondence with Jane and William for many years. In 1865, Jane married a man named William McMeeken in Linn County, Oregon. Her son William ended up marrying one of William McMeeken’s daughters, Minerva McMeeken (1849-1892). Jane passed away on December 30, 1892 in Albany, Linn County, Oregon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this early peek into my book, A State Divided. If you have, be sure to click “Follow” above and sign up for email notifications for future posts.

Check back in future posts to hear some of the facts I’ve learned as a result of my research related to Jane’s letters, including information about Fort Laramie, Big Platte, the Kennedy Train, the Mormon Trail, the “Sisters” at Whitman Seminary, and Walla Walla, Washington. I’ll also be discussing and sharing photos from my April trip to Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, where I visited the Museum of Westward Expansion and learned a lot more about the road west.

Some Family Members Move West - A Letter from the Oregon Trail in 1862

Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #14

by Tonya Graham McQuade

Letter from Jane Kennedy Hale

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am now working on TWO books - one nonfiction and one historical fiction - based on the various family letters I recently acquired (see Post #1). That was a decision I made after learning that many Civil War sites only carry nonfiction titles. So, in addition to the historical fiction novel I originally started, I am now drafting A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree, which will just include the actual letters, along with historical context and explanations.

I’m really most excited, though, about the historical fiction novel I’m working on, Missouri Daughter, which will include the letters, along with additional “made up” elements. Every other chapter will focus on the family members back at home, with special focus given to James’s daughter, MaryAnn “Mollie” Hale Petree. Those “at home” chapters will include some imagined activities, conversations, worries, and emotions - but will be based on extensive research and many facts mentioned in the various letters. Most of the letters I have were directed to Mary Ann and her husband, Bailis Petree - my great great grandparents. However, when James volunteered for the army, he also left behind his wife, Elizabeth, and three children: Amanda (14), McDonald (12), and Eliza (6). Many of his letters were also addressed to them.

My next few posts will include excerpts from both books - so you’ll be able to see my different approaches - as I share some of the letters written by Jane “Jinny” Kennedy Hale and her son, William Simpson Hale, to the Hale family back in Missouri as they traveled along the Oregon trail in 1862 and eventually settled in Walla Walla, Washington. 

Jane married James’s brother, Meshack Hale, in 1831. Their son, William, was born in 1850 and was very close in age to his cousin, James’s son McDonald “Mc” Hale. Meshack, as explained in Post #10, was killed by Confederate sympathizers in 1861. The following year, Jane and William headed west with her brother, Captain John Knox Kennedy, with what became known as the “Kennedy Train.” I discovered that a book was actually written about this particular wagon train, and some of the details I learned find their way into both books.

Originally published in 2005

Here is an excerpt from Missouri Daughter, chapter 1, in which I first introduce these characters, taking what is known about Meshack’s death and embellishing the details based on historical research and sometimes “guesswork”:

Just last year, a group of Confederate guerrillas had killed Mollie’s poor Uncle Meshack, shooting him dead after burning down his barn. What a devastating day that had been for the family! A neighbor had smelled the smoke and reported that he saw a group of men riding off, whooping and hollering as they rode, but he hadn’t been able to stop them. Mollie was glad that at least they hadn’t scalped Uncle Meshack – that would have been too awful to bear. They did that sometimes, she knew – and sometimes even cut off their victims’ fingers and ears. A shiver went down her spine at the thought.

 

Fortunately, Aunt Jinny and cousin William had been off visiting Aunt Jinny’s sister and were unharmed by the attack, but now Aunt Jinny had decided she and William needed a fresh start, and they had joined her brother, Captain John Knox Kennedy, a few months ago in a wagon train headed out toward Walla Walla, Washington, traveling along the Oregon Trail. Mollie hoped they were safe. She missed hearing Aunt Jinny’s happy laughter, and she knew her brother Mc really missed cousin William, who was just a few months younger than he. The two of them were like two peas in a pod – always joking, swapping stories, going hunting, looking for arrowheads, and coming up with new ways to avoid work and get into trouble around the farm. Mc had been moping around for months now.

Later in Missouri Daughter, I have the family sit down to read the letter they finally received from Aunt Jane - but I don’t have them receive it until Christmas, where it serves as a sort of Christmas gift for them all. It cheers them all up a bit since they are all disappointed that their father, James Calaway Hale, could not come home for Christmas on furlough. I don’t know when the family actually received the letter, but if Jane waited to mail the letter until she reached Walla Walla, it’s possible that many months would have passed since she first set pen to paper.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 3, describing that scene:

After they had all enjoyed some warm cookies and milk, Mama held up an envelope. “I have a surprise,” she said. “Uncle Elijah stopped by the post office in Savannah today, and he picked up this letter for us. It’s from Aunt Jinny!”

 

It had been months since Aunt Jinny and cousin William had left for Iowa to join the wagon train heading west, and they had all been wondering if they had made it safely to Washington. Eagerly, they encouraged Mama to open the envelope, and when they saw that the letter was many pages, they excitedly urged her to begin reading:

 

Nebraska Territory – June 2, 1862

 

Dear friends and brothers and sisters,

 

I take my pen in hand to let you know that we are all well at this time, thanks be to god for his mercy. Hoping these few lines find you all in the same state of health. We are traveling on the north side of Big Platte. We are within twenty-five miles of Fort Laramie, and we will go not far from there. It is on the other side of the Platte River.

 

There is fifty wagons in this train, and my brother John Kennedy is captain of the company. I never saw the like in my life of people going to Oregon and to Pike’s Peak. You cannot see from the one end of the train to the other they say. There are nine hundred Mormons on the other side of the river.

 

I’m very well satisfied so far. William S. Hale is well satisfied too. He wishes Mc was along and all of you. He wants to see you all, and we were sad you weren’t able to come see us before we left. I intended to give you my clock and a great many other things, but we took the things along with us and sold them on the road and done well with them. We swapped the wagon and horses for a yoke of oxen for eighty dollars. They are fine cattle.

 

They all treat me well, and I feel better satisfied than I did there all alone. There is no sickness as yet and no bad luck. They have preaching on Sabbath when convenient. They have singing. John’s daughter Rhoda is along and has two children. His daughter Mary is not married yet. She is a good-looking girl. There are five women in our tent. That makes it light on me. John has four wagons for his family, one for us, and five more wagons for other families. I have all my bed clothes and both beds, and that is all I wanted. We have camped now.

 

Big Platte - June 9, 1862

 

Now we are about starting. We are up among the Indians. We have had no trouble with them yet. We have come through two tribes of them. This morning of June marks one year since Meshach died, and I was sorrow that I could not get Harriet’s and his graves fixed, but so it is. I think just as much of them as if I had them fixed. I tried hard to get them fixed, but I could not get the money.

 

Sixth day of June, we started on Big Platte again. We are all well this morning – only William S. got his arm sprained, but it is getting well. Seventh morning of June we have been traveling three days without seeing a house. We don’t see no Indians here. They are away back in the bluff a herding the buffalo to keep the whites from killing them. We don’t see none of this tribe. They keep hid away.

 

We are both well satisfied if it don’t rain. There have been some hard rains for the last week. Today it is a fine morning. I hope we will get through this safe. I had my fortune told, and he said I would get through safe and have good luck after I did get through.

Most trains took four months to travel the Oregon Trail;

the Kennedy Train took almost six months.

June 20, 1862

 

I take up pen in hand to let you know how we are getting along. We are all well at this time. We was all at a wedding last evening and there was about two hundred people there. We have been traveling for two weeks without seeing a house, not much wood, Indians plenty. It is like a camp meeting. I don’t mind if we have had good luck so far.

 

John has not lost any of his stock and has had no sickness. Only one of his step daughters has been put to bed and is a doing well - Miss Neely. She has two little girls and a third just born. There was one man’s teams run off and killed one of their sons and then broke their wagon. They had to unload his wagon into another wagon, and they will fix his wagon when we get to the fort tomorrow.

 

William S. Hale is very well pleased, and he has been well ever since we started. I hope he will stand it and live to get through and then we can get along there better. John Kennedy was at Lewis Hale’s and saw Emily Francis Neel. She was married to James Kennedy and they was doing well. Jane Hale was well and more hearty than he ever saw her.

 

John remembers his love to all of you and he says he would like to see you all and wants you all to come to Oregon and bring your children where they can get land. You and Liza might fix and come while your children is little. There is a great many old men along and they stand it well.

 

When we get there we will write to you and let you know where to write to us and let us know how all people is doing and who has married. Read this to all inquiring friends. I must come to a close as they are about starting. William S. Hale says he would like to see all of the children.

 

Always remains our love,

Jane Hale & William S. Hale to all inquiring friends

 

Mama carefully folded the letter, then opened it up again to look at the final date: June 20. She wondered when and where Jane had finally been able to mail this letter – and just where she and William might be right now. She hoped they would be celebrating Christmas in a new home in Washington, with family and friends close by. She didn’t like to think of them being alone.

 

“I sure miss William,” Mc said. “But what an adventure he’s having! I think I’d like to go see him in Washington someday. Maybe go see Lewis and Jane Hale in California, too, and take a look at those big trees he mentioned in his last letter” (see Post #13).

  

… Aunt Jinny’s letter had cheered them all up enough to sing a few Christmas carols, then say an extra special prayer for Papa. They hoped he was warm, healthy, and safe, and that he would get something special to eat for Christmas. They would be eating a Christmas ham, cut from the hog they had recently butchered, along with some sweet potatoes, cooked greens, cranberries, plum pudding, and apple pie. Bailis’s brother Benjamin and his family would be joining them after the church service that morning, as would Papa’s brother, Uncle Elijah, and his family. Maybe this could still be a happy Christmas after all.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these early peeks at my book, Missouri Daughter! If you have, be sure to click “Follow” above and sign up for email notifications for future posts.

Check back Saturday to see an excerpt from my nonfiction book, to learn some additional facts about the Kennedy Wagon Train, and to see another letter from Jane and William to the family.