Lucia Williams relates the hellish trip over the Cascades from Ohio to Oregon. Jean Rio Baker is a Mormon from England who travels to Utah.
"Overlanders" had their biological warfare in cholera, smallpox, and measles. Their terrorism was from Indian attacks. The words of these pioneer women convey their courage, exhaustion and terror in traveling so far into the unknown.
Jean Rio Baker, 41, was a Mormon widow with six children who traveled by Windjammer from Liverpool to America and by prairie schooner to Salt Lake City.
Emma Lockhart tell of tornados, sunbonnets and a child's death on her trip from Ohio to Oregon. Hers is an epilogue of Lucia Williams whose child died without much comment from her.
Excerpt
From Jean Rio Baker's diary: "We have had a dreadful night, the ship has seemed as if she really must turn over, several times, some of the passengers much frightened."
From Lucia Williams diary, "We have been living in Oregon about 2 weeks, all of us except little John, and him we left 12 miles this side of Green River. He was killed instantly by falling rom a wagon and the wheels running over his head."
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Reviews for "Covered Wagon Women:Diaries and Letters From The Western Trails, 1851"
My memories as an immigrant professional woman in Ottawa, Canada 47 years ago. A new life after having survived the liberal war of a new country Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
This book is a collection of short stories that depict events in Author's life while she lived in Romania, then in Greece, and last in America. It's a beautiful and very sincere account of a young woman's life and comming to age.