Blog

After such a long and challenging trip, I can’t imagine that there was one emigrant who hadn’t changed from the person who had left their eastern home. But they made it and now their immediate futures were coming into view.  Some families were meeting relatives who had arrived earlier so theirs was an easy decision. Others, mostly single men, were members of mining speculation companies, and they were expected to get down to the business of mining to repay the company for the

In the last blog, I painted the picture of what an arduous trip the emigrants faced when they went west. Depending on where they started, whether it was Marietta, Ohio or Baltimore, MD, their route was relatively well known. Many used the Ohio River to the Mississippi River to get to St. Louis and then the Missouri River to St. Joseph, Missouri. They would have had steamers hauling their wagons, stock, and belongings. It would have been expensive, but they factored all of tha

Have you ever taken a long airplane flight, say for six to eight hours? It is hard being cooped up with a bunch of strangers, all headed to the same place you are but handling that time together so very differently than you. After COVID, traveling seems even more tedious and behaviors even more extreme.  Now imagine traveling with folks that you know. That makes it better, right? Maybe you have had many meals together and your children are around the same age, so you know the

In my last blog, I talked about the shortcuts that some emigrant groups tried to get to California faster than others on the California Trail. I’m pretty sure we all understand FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and it surely existed in 1849.   Most emigrant groups were organized into companies, many of them from hometowns or regions. There was usually an elected captain who handled all the finances, hiring of guides, and who made judgement calls on company decisions like repair of e