Thanks for such wonderful descriptive answers, MM! I always love the "Story behind the Story".....When things like finding the grave, and then seeking then finding a descendant happen, it gives me goosebumps....There ARE no accidents in this Universe!
The particular pioneer lady and har family I study and give programs on is Phoebe Goodell Judson. Her father and husband came over the Oregon Trail in 1851 to Washington Territory through Utah (David Bigler wrote a book about her father Jotham's story of that trip), then her husband Holden went back to Vermilion Ohio to get Phoebe, their 2 year old daughter, and joined others in Independence MO, to cross the country on the Oregon Trail in 1853. Phoebe had a baby in June of that year in what is now Wyoming (and that is a complete surprise to the first time reader, because "heaven forbid we would talk about something like that".....) They eventually got to WT, stayed in Oregon for a bit to stay with her sister and family, then on to Chehalis for a few years, then to Olympia for another couple, then to Whidbey and stayed with their now grown daughter Annie, and then.....FINALLY in 1871, found their "Pioneer's Search for an Ideal Home" in Lynden, WA.
One just has to read her story, or that of most other pioneer women, to know just how hard it was to settle this country, along with the hardships and the joys....
Re: "My Pard".....he and you seem closer than brothers...and that is just such a wonderful thing!
That old story about "We don't get to chose our family, but we do get to chose our friends" is SO true! |
