Diary Of A Mormon Missionary - Louisiana, December 1898

The following is a transcript from the diary of an LDS missionary from December 22, 1898.

"Girard, La             December 22nd 1898

Thursday

Stayed at Depot and occupied a bench which we laid on with quilt which the young man (the agent), gave us, but we did not sleep much, but were thankful for his kindness to us.  Elder Raymond wrote some Gospel letters to his friends, and after mailing them with some papers, we started out without any breakfast, expecting to go about eight miles south.  After walking down a short distance, ate some cake which Elder Raymond had on hand, it was very nice and so rich that we discovered two more pieces of silver in it making forty cents in all.  We then walked on our way.  I was not feeling well, stopped occasionally to rest short time.  We called at the home of Mr. John Young.  He invited us in, and the time was taken up in chatting and conversing upon the gospel until night having walked about 8 miles.  The weather was clear and warm for this time of year.  After eating supper, then conversed some time, sang a few songs and Elder Raymond read chapter in bible explaining the organization of the church.  Mr. Young and family are a going away to the southern part of this state in a short time to make them a new home with some other persons.  After speaking upon the way the church is organized, with Apostles, Seventy, Elders, Etc.  Then explained some other principles of the Gospel.  The day being passed again, all retired, after offering prayers with the family."

This LDS missionary was my great great grandfather Lewis Albert Warren.  He had just turned 32 years old, and was only six months into his mission.  He left a wife and six year-old son behind in Price, Utah.  Lewis Albert Warren was born in Spanish Fork, Utah and had never left Utah before starting on this mission.  

During this time, Mormon missionaries had to rely on "the kindness of strangers" to provide them with a place to sleep and food to eat.  This was usually done in exchange for sharing Mormon doctrine with the people they met, and helping out with chores.

It was not uncommon for my grandfather and his companion to walk many miles each day.  They were unaccustomed to the wet, humid weather of Louisiana, and it took its' toll.   Two months after this diary entry, Lewis Albert Warren had died from pneumonia.  

A Letter Home

"September 4th, 1887
Dear Aunt,

Yours of the 21 came to hand several days ago but I kept neglecting writing to see whether we were going to stay here or not but we are not going to stay here now. we have concluded to go on through to oregon this fall, though it will be pretty cool on us I expect. for we have had a right smart ice here in the vallies that is the reason we dont like here. it is so cold in the winter it snows here sometimes untill the trains can't run, so you know that it must be pretty deep. if it was not so cold I think we would like here. wages is good here, money is plenty & Game is plenty deer & Elk, Bear. the men are going out on a big Hunt before we start out again I guess. they will bring in a wagon load of game in (which) you never saw the like of fish in your life mostly all Trout, they are right of spoted, I wish you and boys was with us. we have not heard from uncle Jess since we left him. I have writen back but havent got any answer yet. I dont know what is the reason unless the mail has got missplaced, Aunt I hope Lee has got well & stout by this time. I wish I could have been there to gone with Jake, to the picnic & I would like to be thare now to go to ____? meeting with you. I have read a heap about those Noted preachers & I would like to hear them. we dont have any meeting here only the Mormans & I dont care to go to hear them well I will have to stop writing for this time. I will write again before we get through. Lyda said she would write some. Ma has been sick for 2 or 3 days but she is better so I will close hoping this will find you well. from your Neice M Zemmer Sep 10th Aunt I thought I would write a few lines more as we will (leave) this place Tomorrow or next day to go up in the Mountains to Hunt & Fish there we will start on to oregon, we will be there a week you can send your next letter to Boice City Idaho, it will take us 3 weeks to go there. then I wont hear from you any more untill we get through so I will close for this time hopeing to hear from you when I get thare from your loveing Niece Mollie Zemmer Tell Jake we will try to have our pictures struck as soon as we can & send them to him."

Trail ruts near Guernsey, Wyoming - photo courtesy of Chris Light

This is a letter Mollie Zemmer wrote to her aunt Mary Jane Warren Zemmer while living in the Wyoming Territory.

A Day In A Life Along The Applegate Trail

"Wednesday 29th: Today we only passed over the mountain and camped in the valley below - distance only about 4 1/2 miles. `This night we were sadly visited by savages. They approached and finding they could get no cattle vented their spite at a young lady who had been baking and was then by the fire. They shot 3 arrows at her. Two of them hit her. One passed through the calf of her leg and the other through her arm into her side; we fear she is mortally wounded but hope for the best. Her name is Ann Davis. Four arrows more were found that had been shot at a man on guard. These prowling Indians are as hard to find as the deer." 

This is an excerpt from the diary of Lester Hulin.  He was the pilot for the Oskaloosa Company (Wagon Train), and reached Oregon by using the Applegate Trail in 1847.

A Day In A Life Along The Oregon Trail

"Sunday, May 8th -- Sunday morning. Still in camp waiting to cross. There are three hundred or more wagons in sight and as far as the eye can reach, the bottom is covered, on each side of the river, with cattle and horses. There is not ferry here and the men will have to make one out of the tightest wagon-bed (every company should have a waterproof wagon-bed for this purpose). Everything must now be hauled out of the wagons head over heels (and he who knows where to find anything will be a smart fellow), then the wagons must be all taken to pieces, and then by means of a strong rope stretched across the river, with a tight wagon-bed attached to the middle of it, the rope must be long enough to pull from one side to the other, with men on each side of the river to pull it. In this way we have to cross everything a little at a time. Women and children last, and then swim the cattle and horses. There were three horses and some cattle drowned while crossing this place yesterday. It is quite lively and merry here this morning and the weather fine. We are camped on a large bottom, with the broad, deep river on one side of us and a high bluff on the other."

Independence Rock - photo courtesy of Thunderbrand

This is from the 1853 diary of Amelia Stewart Knight.  She, her husband and seven children left Iowa in April of 1853 and made their way to Oregon in Autumn of the same year.

A Day In A Girl's Life On The Oregon Trail

"August 1st we nooned in a beautiful grove on the north side of the Platte. We had by this time got used to climbing in and out of the wagon when in motion.

When performing this feat that afternoon my dress caught on an axle helve and I was thrown under the wagon wheel, which passed over and badly crushed my limb before father could stop the team. He picked me up and saw the extent of the injury when the injured limb hung dangling in the air.

In a broken voice he exclaimed: "My dear child, your leg is broken all to pieces!" The news soon spread along the train and a halt was called. A surgeon was found and the limb set; then we pushed on the same night to Laramie, where we arrived soon after dark. This accident confined me to the wagon the remainder of the long journey."

Catherine Sager Pringle, 1890.

Image courtesy of the Oregon State Library.

These words were written by Catherine Carney Sager in 1844.  She was nine years old when her family began their journey along the Oregon Trail.

Both of Catherine's parents died along the Oregon Trail; leaving Catherine, her two older brothers and four younger sisters, including the baby "Rosanna" born May 30, 1844, orphans.


They were adopted by missionaries, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman.  The Whitman's were massacred in November 1847 once again leaving the Sager children orphans.


In about 1860 Catherine Carney Sager wrote her account of their journey along the Oregon Trail and their pioneer life.

A Day In A Fur Trapper's Life

"Sunday [March] 28th Cold and clair. we traveled to day 6 miles N W over high river cliffs. The country was such as to prevent me from continuing my course W The principal branch of the river bg S W & N E distant from this camp about 5 miles The country generally - is becoming very much cut to pieces by ravines or dry hollers some of the vallies are verry fertile but their driness renders them unfit for cultivation - Snow is so common that I have omitted to note its falling at least two days out of Three"


This comes from the 1825 diary of William H. Ashley during a fur trapping expedition.  Mr. Ashley was an entrepreneur, fur trader and politician.  Although the major Oregon Trail migration did not take place until 1843, Mr. Ashley followed the route of what would later become the Oregon Trail.