Oregon Trail focus of Christmas Tea at library
Caryl Harvey tells story of Sarah Ann Whitney’s journey from Decatur, Illinois
Sterling Public Library patrons took a trip to the past Friday as they learned about life on the Oregon Trail at the library’s annual Christmas Tea.
While a gusty wind blew outside, guests warmed up inside the library with a cup of hot Bigelow orange or spice herbal tea, while dining on tea sandwiches, mini quiche, lemon bars and blue velvet cake.
Entertainment for this year’s tea was Caryl Harvey who portrayed Sarah Ann Whitney, a woman who walked the Oregon Trail in 1859 and who is based, at least partially, off Harvey’s husband’s grandmother, of the same name. Sarah shared in heartbreaking detail the trials those who braved the Oregon Trail faced, while also mixing in a few humorous stories.
Her story started in Decatur, Ill., where Sarah and her husband Henry have a store. One day, her husband told her they would be going on the Oregon Trail after his friend had told him about how fertile the ground was in Oregon.
“The guy had this funny look to him, I thought he’d been in the Oh Be Joyful — Oh Be Joyful, that’s that drinking alcohol — but he said ‘Sarah Ann, they’ve got them an ocean in Oregon and the land is next to free,’” Sarah said.
At first, she was reluctant to leave her grown son, Michael, and his new bride, to go on the trail, which was a 2,100-mile walk, but a couple of weeks later Henry told her that Michael and his bride, as well as Henry’s mother, Mother Whitney, would be joining them and they all needed to be in St. Joseph, Missouri, where the wagon trains started off to go on the Oregon Trail, soon.
After selling their house to come up with the $1,000 needed to take a wagon to Oregon, Sarah gathered up her canned goods, her harmonium and her mother’s pretty blue China from England but upon seeing the size of the wagon they would be using for the journey she wondered just exactly how they would have room enough for all of their stuff and still have a place to sleep. She was startled to find out she wouldn’t be sleeping in the wagon but in
side of a tent instead.
Soon, the family arrived in St. Joseph, where they would join a wagon train with 100 wagons in it. However, they were faced with a challenge already, as they had eaten all of their provisions and had nothing to take on the trail ride with them. The wagon master suggested they buy a trail guide and Sarah was surprised by what it listed that they should have; items included 200 pounds of flour for each person, coffee, beans, rice, sugar, bacon and salt.
When the journey started, the wagons were taken to a ferry on the Missouri River. As they made their way across the river, Sarah looked to the side of the river that held everything and then to the opposite side, which had nothing she knew at all.
Upon reaching the other side of the river, they disembarked and began the long walk on the Oregon Trail. The days were long, starting at 5 o’clock in the morning and not ending until 10:30 at night. Not three days after they left St. Joseph a young woman had a baby, but one morning the baby didn’t wake up and she was buried on the trail.
The train followed along the Platte River at a distance, but the river water wasn’t safe to drink and some people forget to pack enough water. So, as the days went on Sarah soon saw three, four, or six graves at a time, belonging to people who had died from cholera.
Hardships continued as one day Mother Whitney fell ill. After Mother spent the day lying down in the wagon, Sarah stayed up with her that night, listening to her moaning and groaning, but eventually fell asleep and when she woke up the next morning Mother had passed on. When she informed Henry of his mother’s passing, he said he knew she didn’t expect to be able to make the entire trip, which caused Sarah to wonder why she came.
“He said ‘she wanted to give me my dream, because I wanted to come,’” Sarah said.
A tombstone could not be placed on her grave, for fear the Indians would find the body, dig it up and desecrate it. Instead, iris flowers marked the grave site.
Unfortunately, the family’s losses did not end there. Sarah’s son Michael was later killed in a wagon accident. She was devastated to have to leave her baby all alone on the prairie, but the wagon train had to move on, and eventually, they reached Fort Kearney. Sarah’s heart stopped to see all of the activity there and upon going to a store to get supplies she learned that at one time 6,000 people came through there.
Not all of the Indians were hostile and Sarah’s spirits were lifted a little bit when a group of Indians came into the camp. She went to give them some of Henry’s long John underwear and in exchange, an Indian gave her a set of beads from around his neck. A couple of days later they came back with one of the Indians wearing Henry’s underwear, except he had put his arms through the legs and had his head stuffed through the butt flap, quite a sight to see!
As the family continued their journey and got nearer to the mountains, Henry told Sarah he couldn’t bear to go into those mountains knowing this trip had already cost him a mother and a son. So instead the family claimed some land and settled in Nebraska, near Fort Laramie.