Catherine Bell - A Representative Woman on the Trail

Catherine and her husband had married in South Norwalk, CT before they migrated  to Iowa and then joined the overland journey to California.  Catherine was carrying her first child, born in August on the shores of the Humboldt River.  Considering her advanced condition, her journal is uplifting:

"It is very muddy and you had better believe it...I had to get out and squat around in the mud to cook out of doors.  But I soon got used to it and it was only fun for me."  (FUN? Seriously?!)

Catherine and her husband traveled with 17 wagons, 59 men, 8 women and 20 children.  They
traveled with no threat of Indian interference, as she noted.

"I didn't feel afraid of them.  I could lay down in the wagon nights and sleep as well as I could in a house."

From California she wrote, "On the bed lies my little back headed boy nestling about trying to make me put away my writing and take him up.  Charles and myself are both very healthy.  I am as fat as a bear." 

Women who were expecting a child were not put aside as their Victorian successors would be, pampered and thought to "delicate" to participate in most of daily chores.  That's for sure! Another sign of how hardly our ancestors really were.

Next time - Music on the Trail

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On this Day in Pioneer History: On April 6, 1832, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk is drawn into war with the United States,  determined to resist the growing presence of Anglo settlers on traditional tribal lands.