Mrs. Sarah Jane Rousseau’s 1864 diary captures a seven-month journey that includes four primary families: Rousseau (of course), Earp (yes, THE Earps), Hamilton, and Curtis. At various times, their wagon train, dubbed the “Pella Company” grows or shrinks and new names are added and removed. As such, this item is of importance to numerous families as a record of their journey from Iowa to California, just as much as Sarah’s. The following is a review of the original diary by Pamela Greenwood, a descendant of the Curtis family.
This article was originally titled, “Commentary on Sarah Jane Daglish Rousseau’s Diary,” and shared to Ancestry.com on June 10, 2007.
BUY A COPY of The 1864 Diary of Mrs. Sarah Rousseau here.
(Left) 1845 map of Iowa Territory, Marion Co. encircled. (Right) Israel Colman Curtis.
Gathered in Knoxville
The four families (Rousseau, Earp, Hamilton and Curtis) started west from Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa on May 15, 1864. (Pella, the site of the Curtis home, is also in Marion Co.)
They went due west from Iowa through Nebraska and Wyoming and then south through Utah, and a very small piece of Arizona, to San Bernardino, California. (Don’t be confused by the Territories when you read the Diary.) This was known, from Iowa to Salt Lake City, as the Mormon Trail and then from Salt Lake City to San Bernardino as the Mormon Corridor. (San Bernardino had been a thriving Mormon community until it was abandoned by them when Brigham Young recalled his Saints to Salt Lake City in 1857.) They arrived in San Bernardino on December 17, 1864, a trip of seven months.
This was a well-established and well-used route and there appear to have been a number of other travelers on the road who intermittently join up with the Pella troupe and then separate, just as members of the Pella troupe themselves also separate and rejoin the caravan. It was a fairly loose operation, dependent on where they could find grass and water for their animals. Horses are mentioned most frequently although there is also mention of oxen and mules. They herded cows. Finding food for the animals was a constant problem. Sarah Jane is particularly fond of the horses who pull her “carriage” and all their horses have names.
They followed the telegraph lines and rivers (mainly the Platte and its tributaries) through much of Nebraska and Wyoming and there were “soldier stations” along the way. But these “stations” were poorly manned because of the Civil War and the group was plagued by Indians who were “not well controlled”. During the first part of the journey these Indians were principally Sioux, Comanche [correction: Cheyenne], Arapahos, Snakes [correction: Shoshoni] and Blackfoot and they posed quite a danger. During the later part of the trip, in Utah, the Indians were Piute and they were sometimes helpful — but always made Jane Rousseau nervous.
Utah and Beyond
During the latter half of the trip, they frequently encountered Mormons, who were invariably friendly and hospitable. They even met Brigham Young and heard his brass band. Young had first settled the area in 1847 and by 1864 he had established friendly relations with the local Indians. In fact, Chief Kanosh (Jane calls him Canuse) had converted to the Mormon faith and had settled at Corn Creek (now Hatton in Millard County) with his band, where they were attempting to farm. Here the Pella band stopped for a month, from Sept. 22 to Oct. 20, and contracted with the Utes to care for their cattle!
Sarah Jane Daglish Rousseau makes note of several Mormon women from England. This is of particular significance because she herself had emigrated from London, England in 1833 and on page 72 she is amazed to find someone who knew her Uncle Thomas Elliott from New Castle on Tym, England. (Jane’s mother was Mary Elliott Daglish.) Jane’s personal history may account for her discriminating interest in the architectural trends she makes note of as she travels. Before her marriage, Jane had taught music in Michigan and she was an accomplished pianist.
Frequent mention is made of letters to and from “Mary Ann”. This was Jane’s married daughter, Mary Ann Rousseau Anderson, who lived in Knoxville, Marion County, Iowa (the Diary’s starting point) and at this time had one child, Eva Anderson, who was two. Mary Ann Rousseau had married Thomas Jefferson Anderson, a lawyer from Virginia, in 1862. She would have three more children and die in Knoxville in 1882. Jane may have written this diary in hopes that Mary Ann and her family would join the family in San Bernardino. It would have served as a good guidebook.
The last part of the trip was clearly the most difficult and it appears the Mojave Desert almost did the Rousseau family in. There appears to have been dissension among the families on the trip at this point. The families again split up in an almost “every man for himself” way, and Lucy Holman Curtis was left to deliver her last child, Jennie, without Dr. Rousseau in attendance. However, she had other attendants who clearly were prepared to midwife her as Lucy’s daughter, Mrs. Mary Curtis Hays, had herself recently delivered a son, Charles, just weeks before.
This was a harrowing seven-month trip with three pregnant women and many small children, and an arthritic invalid (Jane) — made during the last year of the Civil War.
The Curtis Family Legacy
The Curtis family had been in Pella for twenty years and was well established. Israel was a state legislator, an attorney, a Baptist minister and the founder of Central University [correction: it was originally called Central College]. He had nine children when the group started out and even his adult children went with him to San Bernardino. What could have precipitated this wholesale move?
One possible answer was the Conscription Act of February 1864, which had called all men between the ages of 17 and 50 to join the Union Army. Israel was just 50 in February 1864. And Israel was originally from Mississippi. He had two sons, William Jesse and Richard, who would have been eligible for this draft, and one son-in-law, Tom Hays. A Rousseau descendent, Dick Molony, says Nicholas Porter Earp, Wyatt’s father, “had been in the Union Army at one time and was doing fine until Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863). He was willing to fight to keep the union together, but not to free the slaves and resigned his commission and left.”
(It is possible that it was these pro-Southern sympathies that may have precipitated Israel’s move from Aurora, Indiana to Pella, Iowa in 1844. His wife’s Holman family was strongly anti-slavery even at that early date –as early as 1829 Jesse Lynch Holman had been a founder of the American Colonization Society, organized to send freed slaves back to Africa. )
Earp Family Motives
N. P. Earp, the nominal leader of the group, had lived in Pella for about 20 years and had had a 160 acre farm there. He had been to San Bernardino before and liked the look of it. But N.P. had a checkered past with bootlegging and problems with the law (mostly for non-payment of debt.) And he was peripatetic. By 1870 he and his entire family are in Lamar, Barton County, Missouri. By 1880 they are back in San Bernardino, this time in Temescal. One only hopes that the family’s second trip was made on the newly completed transcontinental railroad. N.P. Earp is the most problematic person on the trip, from Jane’s point of view.
Wyatt Earp was sixteen when he made this trip. In later years he claimed to have provided Buffalo meat to the wagon train with his first gun, which his father had given him before their start. Jane does not appear to have received any of Wyatt’s largess. Also on the trip was Wyatt’s older brother, James C. Earp. At 23 James had served in the 17 Illinois infantry, Company F and had lost the use of his left arm at Fredericktown, Missouri, on October 8, 1862. He left the train at Austin, Nevada. Morgan S. Earp was thirteen, Warren B. Earp nine and Delia Earp just three.
Better Than Any Other Diary Out There!
Comparing this Diary to those discussed in Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey by Lillian Schlissel, one is struck by the uniqueness of Jane’s situation. First, she is invalided and thus spared much of the daily drudge of chores discussed by many. She says she was “almost useless” at the beginning of the trip and by the end she says she “can help a little.”
Jane is meticulous in counting each day’s mileage. Twenty five miles is a good day. (One assumes the trail is somehow marked by 1864.) Jane never misses a day, and is remarkably factual in her reporting. She notes earthquake activity, volcanic activity, and problems with quick sand in the rivers. Like other women she is knowledgeable about which grasses are best for the stock animals.
Group dynamics are rarely discussed, except towards the end of the trip when there is clearly tension. But there are indications of this tension as early as July 29 when Jane says, “From some cause, we cannot define, (among) some of those we thought our true friends there appears to be hard feelings, and jealousy existing, whether it is from false tales told around the camp or not I cannot tell. It is one of the best kinds of places for such things.” Visiting back and forth seems to have been infrequent. I would guess the other women on the train were extremely busy. There were more children on this train than was usual and their over all numbers were small.
The one person Jane singles out for particular attention is Mattie Field, apparently a young woman who is paying to travel with her family. She helps with chores but is sick several times during the early part of the trip, and she becomes very indecisive by the time they reach Salt Lake City. (Mattie’s departure means 14 year old Elizabeth/Libby now must do most of the cooking and laundry.) And Mattie does have a mysterious end…
On the other hand, the loss of Tom Ellis does not seem to carry the same impact on Jane, who does not miss his offensive language. Apparently hired to assist fifty one year old Dr. Rousseau, Tom is not replaced until November when Charley Copley joins the family. He has joined them just in time to make a heroic rescue mission in the Mojave Desert. He and Richard Curtis walk through the desert to bring relief to the stranded Rousseaus.
Deaths, Accidents and Medical Care
The early incident with young Allen Curtis when he fell from the mule wagon and it ran over him was a very common occurrence with young children and what is remarkable is that he “got well”. Many children died as a result of such accidents and they seem to have been frequent.
Read more about Allen & other boys falling from wagons here.
Counting graves was common. Having no deaths on the trail was uncommon and may be a testament to Dr. James Rousseau’s skill as a physician. (His patients seem always to recover. Jane also expresses confidence in his healing powers with horses.) In general, accidents and illness were a more common cause of death than were Indian raids. In fact, Indian raids were relatively uncommon.
Noting the weather conditions and the passing scenery are in every diary written by women on these trips. However not many travelers had a “marine glass” for their amusement and safety. Undoubtedly the Rousseau’s have this piece of equipment because Dr. Rousseau had previously been a government surveyor. A fair day and a fine scene were greatly to be wished for. Rain was helpful with laying the dust, but wind was a problem because it could cause the wagons to over turn and hail of course could tear the canvas. Snow made the trail hard to follow and was particularly difficult for the draft animals, as was sand.
A modern reader is struck with the delicacy Jane uses in describing childbirth. One day Mrs. Hayes is “sick” and the next day she mysteriously has a new baby. Same with Mrs. Hamilton and Mrs. Curtis. ..
The September 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, noted on page 79, is a well documented event in which a Mormon militia and some Paiute Indians killed an entire wagon train of Arkansas farming families known as the Baker/Fancher party, traveling from Arkansas to California. Around 120 unarmed men, women and children were killed. Seventeen younger children (none older than six) were kidnapped and cared for by local Mormon families and eventually returned to their relatives. In 1859 Brevet Major James H. Carleton, commanding some eighty soldiers of the First Dragoons from Fort Tejon, California, had erected a stone cairn at the site. The stone cairn was topped with a cedar cross and a small granite marker was set against the north side of the cairn and dated 20 May 1859. There have been a number of subsequent monuments erected and John D. Lee, the Mormon militia leader, was executed after several trials.
Other Notable Events
The Massacre was a unique episode in Mormon history. Seven years later the Mormons Jane writes about are almost universally helpful. All of the Mormons had made the same trip our little band was making and they were experienced with the hardships. One assumes their experinces had been instrumental in the Pella groups preparations for the trip. The following information would have informed their preparations.
“The Mormon leaders recommended, in fact insisted, each Mormon family of five members take with them the following: One good strong wagon, provided with a light box; two or three good yoke of oxen between the ages of 4 and 10 years; three or more good milk cows; and one or more beef animals; three sheep, if they could be obtained; 1,000 pounds of flour or other bread stuffs in good sacks; a working rifle or musket for each male over 12 years old; one pound of gunpowder; 4 pounds of lead; 1 pound of tea; 5 pounds of coffee; 100 pounds of sugar; 1/2 pound of cayenne pepper; 2 pounds of black pepper; 2 pounds of mustard; 10 pounds of rice; 1 pound of cinnamon; 3/4 pound of cloves; 1 dozen nutmegs; 25 pounds of salt; 5 pounds of saluterious; 10 pounds of dried apples; 1 peck dried beans; a few pounds of bacon or dried beef; 5 pounds dried peaches; 25 pounds of seed grain; 1/2 gallon alcohol; 20 lbs of soap; 4-5 fish hooks; 15 lb.. of iron and steel; a few pounds of wrought nails; one or more saws and grist mill cranks; 2 sets of pulley blocks per wagon; a coil of rope to fit blocks; a fish seine and hook; 25 to100 pounds of farming tools or mechanical tools; cooking utensils were to be; a bake kettle, frying pan, coffee pot, teakettle and cups, plates, knives, forks, spoons and other pans, the fewer the better; a good tent to be used by 2 families; clothing and bedding for each family not to exceed 500 pounds. “At the end of the list was the notation, horses or mules could be substituted for ox teams.
“The approximate weight of a wagon load was a little over one ton.” (Taken from a news article written by Ralph Arnold)
Response from Rousseau Descendant, Janelle Molony
I must offer an ongoing “Thank You” to Pam for her support and encouragment while I was just barely getting invested in this story with the guidance of my Uncle Richard (Dick Molony). She and Dick connected well before his passing and to have Pam around to exchange ideas, photos, stories, and new genealogical discoveries is a blessing.
I hope that by publishing The 1864 Diary of Mrs. Sarah Rousseau, everyone can feel the same degree of wonder and heartbreak and inspiration as we did.
I’m also very excited about the coming release that deep dives into the fights with Indians in “Idaho Territory,” which involves protecting the refugee family of pre-Civil War Abolitionist John Brown! That new title is Emigrant Tales of the Platte River Raids.
I want my research contributions to bring even more to life for the descendants of this powerful story and to sweep the nation with the incredible tale! – Much love!
