Listers: Here's a sample of what you'll find at: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~cchouk/oregon_trail/crossing/munkers.htm CROSSING THE PLAINS IN 1846 AS TOLD BY Mrs. MARY ELIZABETH MUNKERS ESTES WHILE SITTING BY HER FIRESIDE CHRISTMAS EVE 1916 From nearby Liberty, Missouri, in early April 1846, about fifty families prepared to make the journey to the far away Oregon Territory, which then included what is now the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and part of Nevada. My father, Benjamin Munkers, was among them. His family was composed of an invalid wife, three married sons and one married daughter, besides five younger children, the youngest a boy of five years. I was then ten years old and still have quite a clear memory of the journey and of conditions of the early days spent in Oregon. All the way across, Mother was unable to do anything, even having to be lifted in and out of the wagon. She made the entire ride on a bed. It was my work to help brother's wife, who managed the cooking for our camp. The Munkers family started out with five wagons drawn by oxen; three yoke to each wagon, thirty head of oxen, fifty head of roan Durham cows and five saddle horses. These made up our herd. Most all the company drove through some stock but I think no other family had so many as we. When we left Missouri, there was a train of about one hundred wagons but that was found to be too large a party to travel together as the teams must be kept up by grazing by the way. So they scattered out under leaders or train captains, as we called them. When we started, a man by the name of Martin was our Captain. Later when our train was much smaller, Ben Simpson, father of Sam L. Simpson, was our head man. The future Poet of Oregon was then Baby Sam of the camp. Many a time I cared for him while his mother was doing the family wash. [Note: Benjamin F. Simpson was the son of my great great great grandfather William Simpson, who was also with this wagon train. Cecil] Cecil Houk, ET1 USN Ret., AG6I PO Box 530833 San Diego CA 92153 res San Diego CA 92154-3654 NEW EMAIL ADDRESS mailto:cchouk@cox.net ANDERSON-BLAKELY-EGGERS-FORD-HOUK-KIMSEY-MONTGOMERY-RULAFORD-SIMPSON Searchable GEDCOM: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~cchouk See also: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~donhouk My Web pages menu: http://members.cox.net/cchouk/