#virtualoregontrail April 16, 1845 "Got under way..."

The Riggs' driver, James Field, kept a diary along the way to Oregon. He started it the day they left for St. Joseph. These are his first entries.

Weston, Platte Co., Mo., April 16, ’45. 

-Got under way this day at 12 m. Took the road to St. Joseph; went about 9 miles, and camped. 

17th. – This stay started in the morning; went 22 miles more, and camped about 6 miles below St. Joseph, which is now in sight, situated at the foot of the Missouri bluffs, at the far side of a prairie lying between us and it. 

18th. – Struck off in a different direction to the lower ferry, six miles from us, where we crossed the Missouri about 2 miles from the Emigrant camp, which we joined this evening. There we remained until the 29th, in the afternoon, when, in company with about 80 wagons, we rolled out about 3 miles and formed an encampment in the prairie, for the purpose of herding the cattle as they were collected in from the Missouri bottom, where they were badly scattered, and some never recovered. 

From “The Diary of James Field” Willamette Farmer (Portland, OR, Fridays: April 18 – August 1, 1879). 

18 Apr 1879 (April 16, 1845-May 27) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-04-18/ed-1/seq-3/ 

Weston, Missouri lies in Platte County, about 40 miles south of St. Joseph. Both cities are situated along the Missouri River. (Side note: I grew up in North Kansas City and lived only 15 miles or so from Weston. I wish I had known about this history then!)

Each week, I'll post the entries from this diary. I'll add supplemental information from other sources when it adds to the story. We're off! I hope you enjoy following along in this virtual journey with my great-great grandfather's family on the Oregon Trail!

#virtualoregontrail The Military Immigrant Train

In 1845, at least 2500 emigrants traveled over the Oregon Trail to reach the Oregon Territory. This migration, the largest one to date, nearly doubled the population of the territory. The emigrants joined together in much smaller groups, or companies, who left Missouri over several weeks.

One such group, the Military Immigrant Train, was led by William G. T'Vault. It was one of three groups planning to leave together from St. Joseph. It was under Commander T'Vault that the Riggs and Allen families planned to travel. The T'Vault Military Immigrant Train alone included 66 wagons, almost 300 people, and nearly 1500 head of stock. The two companies joining them would be led by Lawrence McNary and John Herron. These groups were piloted by John Clark, a local trader, who agreed to guide them as far as "Burnett's Trace" - also known as"Independence Road".

William G. T'Vault, 

 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._T%27Vault

Companies leaving near the same time were led by Samuel Parker, Samuel Hancock, Presley Welch, A. Hackleton, and Solomon Tetherow. Each company established themselves in an orderly fashion. Perhaps they named their group, and they hired officers and assigned roles. The leaders often included a captain, treasurer, secretary, lieutenants, and others with duties related to hunting, scouting, and safety. Bylaws specifying acceptable conduct on the trail were often adopted. Males of sixteen or older could join a group by agreeing to the constitution and paying an initiation fee of one dollar. Members agreed in advance to the authority of the officers of the company.

In the constitution for one of the groups, an article stated that the majority would rule in all cases, and the men were all held to the Military Law of the United States. Bylaws were more specific. For example, murder was punishable by death, an adulterer would receive 39 lashes on their bare back, and dogs running loose around the camp shall be shot at the discretion of the Captain. The constitutions adopted by the other groups were likely similar.

On this day, April 11, in 1845, the Riggs and Allen families had less than a week remaining to make their final preparations. They would leave their homes on the 16th to join T'Vault and the other companies in St. Joseph and prepare for departure.

#virtualoregontrail Saying Goodbye

How do you say goodbye to your family knowing that, by leaving, you may never see them again? In 1845, communicating across the country was difficult. One could mail cards or letters, and at the time, that was really the only option. Think about how spoiled we are today. A family member can decide to move hundreds of miles away, but it's so easy to pick up the phone and hear their voice, or video chat to see their face. Even a visit hundreds of miles away is pretty easy. Imagine if those options weren't available. Goodbye was GOODBYE.

James Allen left his entire family to make the trip to Oregon with his wife, young son, and her family. His parents surely adored baby Cyrus, not yet two years old. Now they had to say goodbye to the toddler and his parents. James would be far away from the trusted counsel of his father and the camaraderie of his brothers, especially William and Andrew, who flanked him in birth order. And he wouldn't just be far away, but far away in a rugged, untamed, dangerous new territory.

James' family in Missouri consisted of his parents, Isaac Allen (1794-1846) and Margaret Boyd Miller Allen (1794-1884), and the following siblings at the time James was preparing to leave:

• William Thomas Allen (1819-1902), his wife Albina and a year old son
• Andrew J Allen (1822-1908) and his fiance Charity.
• Elizabeth C. Allen Jones (1823-1907), her husband Nathaniel and two little boys
• John Ceton Allen (1825-1889)
• Thomas Gartner Allen (1827-1897)
• Rebecca Allen (1829-1906
• Mary Jane Allen (1831-1873)
• Josiah Allen (1833-1896)
• Melissa Ann Allen (1836-1916)

In between the busy times of planning and packing, the Allen family was gathering to spend as much time together as possible before saying their goodbyes. Plans were being made for many of them to make the journey the following year, so there was some hope that they would eventually reunite. Even so, goodbyes are never easy. Though they tried to make the occasions lively and happy, there was a deep sadness in the air. Those were not the only goodbyes to be said. They would also leave neighbors, members of the church congregation, and close friends behind. 

While the farewells would have been painful, there was an undercurrent of excitement as the time to leave drew nearer. A journey across the plains and the mountains, sleeping under the stars, and the prospect of settling the new territory all seemed surreal. There was also much to fear. Raids by Indians and treacherous river crossings were dangers they could face. James and Hannah, at the end of each day, probably had long conversations about their future. This, they knew, was a once in a lifetime opportunity and they must be brave. 

Hannah's father, James B Riggs, was an industrious, prosperous man, and his preparations to move to Oregon with his family were made with meticulous attention to detail.  It’s reported that his wife, Nancy, with eight of their children ranging in age from 20 to 3 were accommodated in 5 wagons – along with household goods, food, tools necessary for building a new home, farming supplies and more.  (Hannah, and her husband James M Allen, with their toddler, would follow in their own separate wagon.)  A wagon needed four to six oxen to pull it, so the task of managing six wagons included attending to a large number of cattle and horses as well as keeping the wagons in good repair.  Last, but not least, each wagon needed a driver.  Although James would have depended on his oldest sons Milton, Rufus, and Marion to assist him in driving the wagons, it was necessary for him to hire a fifth driver.  A teamster by the name of James Field, who was an educated and burly 210-pound young man of twenty-two, was James Riggs’ choice.

Oregon Trail pioneers pass through the sand hills,
painting by William Henry Jackson.
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-crossingplains/

A place to sleep and meals with the Riggs family would have been James Field’s pay for the journey - a standard currency during the migration West.  When his duties around the camp were completed at the end of each day, he kept a detailed daily journal.  Today James’ diary is one of the most informative accounts available describing the 1845 journey of the Military Immigrant wagon train which later became known as the “Blue Bucket Gold Train”,  “Meeks Cutoff Train” or “Lost Immigrant Train". 

The mutual respect and friendship that developed between James Riggs and James Field endured long after their arrival in Oregon.  In fact, Field recorded visiting the Riggs family as well as leaving his diary in the care of “Capt. J. B. Riggs” on two separate occasions. It's this diary that we'll follow to recreate the journey these brave pioneers began so many years ago.

(Rene Rodgers contributed content to this post.)

#virtualoregontrail Captain James B. Riggs and his Family

James Miller Allen, was born on October 2, 1821 in Cole, Missouri to Isaac Allen and Margaret Boyd (Miller) Allen. He was the second of eleven children. The Allen family had moved to Platte County, Missouri by 1840. James was farming there with his father when he met and fell in love with Hannah Jane Riggs. They were married after the harvest on November 18th, 1841 and welcomed a son, Cyrus Albert Allen, on September 19th, 1843. The young couple was right in the midst of "Oregon Fever", living near a popular jump off spot for the wagon trains heading west. They probably knew neighbors whose family members had already made the trip and they would have seen newspaper articles and/or posters exalting the virtues of the Oregon Territory. Before their son's first birthday, they made the difficult decision to join Hannah's family on the Oregon Trail. Preparations would be made to leave in early 1845.

Hannah's parents were James Berry Riggs, a Kentucky-born farmer, and his wife Nancy Clarinda (Anderson) Riggs from South Carolina. Soon after James and Nancy were married in Illinois, Hannah and her twin brother, Milton, were born there on January 18th, 1825. By 1844, when the plans were being made to leave for Oregon, there were four more sons and two more daughters who would also be making the trip.

James and Nancy Riggs
http://www.oregonpioneers.com/photor.htm

The following family members were preparing for the journey to Oregon:

James Berry Riggs, head of the family

Nancy Riggs, his wife

Milton Riggs, b. January 1825, son

Rufus Riggs, b. November 1827, son
Marion L. Riggs, b. May 1830, son
Washington L. Riggs, b. August 1833, son

Silas T. Riggs, b. April 1836, son

Louisa M. Riggs, b. Feb 1839, daughter

Silbey Ann Riggs, b. March 1842, daughter

and

Hannah Allen, b. January 1825, daughter

James Miller Allen, b. October 1821, son-in-law

Cyrus Allen, b. September 1843, grandson

Since the Allen and Riggs families were farmers, they were undoubtedly excited at the possibility of acquiring land that would be plentiful, as well as fertile. With the talk that there was an opportunity for free land,  it's easy to understand why men were so eager to make the 2500 mile overland journey. James would be leaving his parents and siblings behind when he left with his wife and in-laws. He surely had many conversations with his own father about the prospects Oregon offered, and they likely formed a plan that, if Oregon proved to be the land of milk & honey as described, that James would send word back to his parents in Missouri to join him out West. One can only imagine how torn James must have felt. While he was eager for adventure and new opportunities, he would also have been dreading the goodbyes.

(Rene Rodgers contributed content to this post)

#virtualoregontrail The Reasons They Went West

(This post was written by my cousin, Rene Rodgers, and posted with her permission)

In 1845 the Allen family was well-established in Platte County, Missouri.  James M Allen, his wife Hannah, and 18 month-old son Cyrus were living there, as were his parents Isaac and Margaret Allen, siblings, grandmother and aunts & uncles.  The 1840 US Census confirms that Hannah’s parents, Nancy and James B Riggs, and her 9 brothers & sisters also lived on a nearby farm.

Young James Allen - who was 23 in the Spring of 1845 - never recorded why he made the decision to move his family over 2200 miles, crossing the plains and the Rocky Mountains to settle in Oregon. Perhaps he dreamed of obtaining rich farmland or finding new business opportunities.  Or maybe his father-in-law, James Riggs, made the decision to go West and encouraged James to do the same.  Most women were primarily interested in stability, in making a home, and raising their children properly.  For the women, these were childbearing years – one out of every five adult females who traveled the trail was pregnant, and nearly every married woman had small children in tow.  So the decision to uproot the family and take them across the country was nearly always made by a man.  Hannah Allen not only had her toddler Cyrus, but she was pregnant as well.  It’s not likely that going to Oregon was her idea!

People made the journey westward for many reasons;  however, setting out on the Oregon Trail was not an easy decision.  Travelers were inspired by dreams of rich farmlands, but they were also motivated by difficult economic times in the east and diseases like tuberculosis, typhoid, yellow fever and malaria that were decimating the Midwest around 1837.  In the relatively crowded East, unsanitary conditions allowed diseases like cholera to flourish.  In the 1830s an epidemic of cholera was carried to America by infected rats and humans on passenger ships and, by 1850, the disease was killing 30,000 people a year. But the sickness that was most responsible was “Oregon Fever”.

Map showing the Oregon Trail, Oregon Country, and northern Mexico
http://www.ushistory.org/us/29b.asp

Financial reasons, like starting businesses and escaping debt, were motivations, as well.  Many emigrants traveled to Oregon to escape debt caused by the Panic of 1837.  That financial crisis was triggered when Andrew Jackson tore down the Second National Bank.  People rushed to the bank to take out their savings, but the bank ran out of money.   The aftermath resulted in a Depression that shriveled the value of land and the price of crops, and wages that fell 30 to 50 percent.  By 1842, the American Economy had been pushed to rock bottom.  Landowners couldn’t meet mortgage payments, and farmers could find fewer and fewer reasons not to leave for better lands.  They followed the example of their ancestors to seek a home in a new country as a sure way of bettering their condition.

Business opportunities abounded for blacksmiths, innkeepers, shopkeepers, flour mills, masons, printers, and more.   But for the most part, the emigrants were farmers – family men with wives and children – who were seeking a promised land of milk and honey.  In 1842 the US government passed a Preemption Bill that allowed an Oregon Territory farmer to “squat” on a piece of property; making improvements while he lived there gave the farmer first rights to purchase the land once it was surveyed.   Later, the Donation Land Law of 1850 provided up to 640 acres of land to families willing to settle there.

Title page, The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California, 
written by Lansford Hastings, and published in 1845
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansford_Hastings

Whatever his reasons were, James Miller Allen made the momentous decision to pack up his young family and make the journey overland to Oregon.  And in preparation for the trek, James would certainly need some things that money couldn’t buy.  In the words of the Reverend Yantis, “I would lay in a good stock of patience and perseverance.”    (Quoted in Eaton, The Overland Trail, pg 10)