A Day In The Life With Sarah Rousseau
Excerpts from Sarah J. Rousseau’s wagon train diary.
August 3, 1864
Wednesday
The Dr. and Mr. Parker went hunting this morning. We intend making another start in the morning for Salt Lake. … The Dr. and Mr. Parker have returned, bringing three sage chickens with them.
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August 9, 1864
Tuesday
…Went on to Granger Station. … We were alone with our two waggons [sic] and did not know but that we would be attacked by the Indians. We left the train in the morning to hunt grass for the horses, and they had not got up with us as yet, consequently, we were alone. The Dr. and Mr. Parker came to the conclusion we had better go on.
August 31, 1864
Wednesday
Mr. Parker left us today. He has not felt well for several days, thought he needed rest. He went back to Salt Lake.
November 6, 1864
Sunday
…We have stopped to water the horses at Diamond Valley Springs. The Dr. and Mr. Parker have gone to the top of the mountain close by to look at a volcano. I looked up while writing this and saw them both at the top.
November 20, 1864
Monday
…Our horses in the carriage gave out entirely. Then the train passed by and left me and the children in the desert, our big waggon had gone on. I suppose we were alone an hour and a half when Mr. Parker came on horseback to help us. … He hitched the horse he brought with one of ours and we rolled on. Got to Las Vegas about 8 o’clock.
Meet the Character: Robert Parker
Copyright: Janelle Molony
Mr. Parker joined the Pella Company from his former hometown of Council Bluffs, Iowa. 28-year-old Robert Pollock Parker was familiar with the route the Rousseaus were taking: Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger, then Mormon Trail to Southern California. He’d been guarding the trails for traveling Mormons for several years (though not necessarily in a military capacity). In 1852, he’d traveled with his mother and siblings from “Kanesviille” (Council Bluffs) to Provo as the primary protector, even at sixteen. His father had sickened suddenly and passed away prior to their move.
In 1864, he was escorting his in-laws from Navoo, Illinois (the “Old Country” of Joseph Smith), to the “Promised Land” in Salt Lake City, Utah, because his young wife, Mary, was due with a baby. He continued on to California with the Rousseaus for no apparent reason.
Mr. Parker is naturally protective of children and frequently takes them sightseeing. This behavior may stem from his own childhood tragedy when he left his mother’s wagon train and was shot at and nearly drowned. A particular habit of his was collecting scientific “specimens” along the trail. He enjoys spending time with Dr. James Rousseau who, at fifty-two, may remind him of his own father. The two form a bond and in a dire moment, when everyone else turns their back on the Rousseaus, Mr. Parker does not. “For which,” Mrs. Rousseau wrote, “I shall always remember with gratitude.”
After the wagon train arrives safely in San Bernardino, and the Rousseaus make a home in Redlands, Mr. Parker returns to his wife in Provo. Likely, correspondence and even visitations between the friends continued. Mr. Parker’s eldest children eventually move to Redlands to raise families. In 1884, the widower, joined them to live out his old age before dying of cancer. Unfortunately, his dear friend James had already passed two years earlier.
Photo courtesy of family records. 
Photo courtesy of family records.
Researcher Comments
A Final Note: Members of the Rousseau-Molony family and the Parker family are buried in the same cemetery in Southern California.
Molony – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40973669/walter-beverly-molony
Parker – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106210287/robert-pollock-parker
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Read how Mr. Parker (and other brave men in the Company) defended the wagon train from not one, but two attacks, while in Wyoming. Click here for more.
Excerpts come from Across the Plains by Sarah Jane Rousseau, 1864. Interpretative material by Janelle Molony, family researcher and author of the creative narrative based on the Pella Company, From Where I Sat. The original Diary covers May 13, 1864, to December 18, 1864, and includes locations from Pella, Iowa to San Bernardino, California. (NOT available for public resale or distribution.)
Author Byline
Janelle Molony is the g-g-g-granddaughter of Dr. James and Sarah Rousseau and current family historian. With the cooperation of other descendants, Molony is authoring a novel based on the 1864 wagon train.
For questions, or to interview the historian regarding the novel project, please Contact Me.
Special thanks to the Pella Historical Society (https://www.pellahistorical.org/) and San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society (http://www.sbhistoricalsociety.com/) for your cooperation and support!