John Stewart started from Pennsylvania in 1853 with his second wife, Jannet, his 3 unmarried daughters, Agnes, Helen Marnie and Elizabeth. The Stewart's eldest daughter, Annie was married to John Stewart (no relation to her father). They came along with their 11 children, aged 1 to 19. Another daughter, Mary Stewart Warner, and her husband, John Warner, and their 3 children also went with the family. Elizabeth Stewart would marry Fred Warner (a son) in St. Joseph, Missouri, on May 23 at the start of the trip. Following so far? Lots of Johns in this story! Another Stewart daughter, Allison remained at home in Pennsylvania awaiting the birth of her third child in June of 1853. The family was a very close knit family - 11 of the children were name for the parents and sisters.
With the Stewarts was Mrs. Love, who had known the family for some 10 years and her grown three sons. David, James, and (of course!) John. Helen Marnie Stewart would marry David Love the next year in Oregon. Agnes would marry another of the Warner boys, Tom. With that marriage Papa John Stewart would have all his daughters married. :)
The family planned to make it all the way to Oregon as one unit...but of course that didn't turn out as planned. Annie and her husband John Stewart (not her father) fell behind quickly. In Missouri after the wedding of Elizabeth and Fred, they fell behind because their wagons were too loaded down to be able to move fast enough to keep up with the rest of the party. On May 4, the elder Stewarts, Loves, and Warners decided they could wait no longer and took off without them. Why they did not just unload some of their belongings is recorded Helen Marnie's diary:
"May 17, I wish the Stewart folks would come up to us. I don't like to be parted from any of our
"May 21, Left Stewart folks for good I suppose. if he is not so stubborn he might throw away one of those big wagons and we would wait on him yet if it was not for anna and the children I would not care so much but it is hard to leave them."
"June 4, Stewart is about 60 miles back and will never catch up to us now we cannot wait so long for fear of endangering out own fate."
"June 15, Heard of Stewart today that he sold his little wagon and were all well and getting along very well. I do wish they would ketch up with us."
The story continues next time...do they all meet up again?
For more information, Google "Agnes Stewart Warner"...
_________________________
On This Day in Pioneer History: On October 15, 1880, the warrior Victorio, one of the greatest Apache military strategists of all time, dies in the Tres Castillos Mountains south of El Paso
No comments:
Post a Comment
As of May 2011, any "anonymous" comment will not be published. Comments made to this blog are moderated.