So far in my readings, there have been two stories of of the tragic deaths of children, both under the wheels of a wagon.
I was reminded of watching Frontier House. At the beginning of the series, the families received a crash course in things like cooking over an open fire and handling livestock. They were given an extra warning to be careful with the children around the wagons. And, in fact, professionals were brought in to drive the wagons to their destination, because it’s such a dangerous task. At one point, one of the wagons got away from the driver and one of the children nearly was hurt.
I wonder how common those sorts of accidents were, on the westward trails. As Lucia notes, one minute your child is whole and healthy, and the next, he’s gone. And she couldn’t even take time to stop and mourn him. All she could do was bury him and carry on her way.
Milwaukee, [Oregon] September 16, ’51
Dear Mother:
We have been living in Oregon about 2 weeks, all of us except little John, and him we left 12 miles this side of Green River. He was killed instantly by falling from a wagon and the wheels running over his head. After leaving the desert and Green River, we came to a good place of feed and laid by a day for the purpose of recruiting our teams. On the morning of the 20th of June we started on. John rode on the wagon driven by Edwin Fellows. We had not proceeded more than 2 miles before word came for us to turn back. We did so but found him dead. The oxen had taken fright from a horse that had been tied behind the wagon preceding this, owned by a young man that Mr. Williams had told a few minutes to turn out of the road. Two other teams ran also. John was sitting in back of the wagon but as soon as the cattle commenced to run he went to the front and caught hold of the driver who held him as long as he could but he was frightened and did not possess presence of mind enough to give him a little send, which would have saved him. Poor little fellow, we could do nothing for him. He was beyond our reach and Oh, how suddenly, one half hour before we had left him in health as lively as a lark, and then to find him breathless so soon was awful. I cannot describe to you our feelings. We buried him there by the road side, by the right side of the road, about onehalf mile before we crossed the Fononelle, a little stream. We had his grave covered with stones to protect if from wild beasts and a board with his name and age and if any of our friends come through I wish they would find his grave and if it needs, repair it.
Williams, Lucia Loraine Bigelow, 1816-1874, Letter from Lucia Loraine Williams, September 16, 1851, in Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from the Western Trails, vol. 3: 1851. Holmes, Kenneth L., ed. & comp. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
red paper boat 