> My G Grandfather, Dillis Burgess Ward came west to Oregon in 1853 when > he was 15 and later wrote up the story, entitled "across the Plains > in 1853." It was published in 1909, and later republished by the > Wenatchee Daily World. D.B., born 30 Jun 1838 in Ohio County KY, 3 > miles from Hartford, was son of Jesse Ward, and his second wife, > Elizabeth Raley who died when D.B. was just a month old. She was > daughter of Jonathan Raley and Nancy Cook. Both families had earlier > come to KY from Maryland. Jesse served in the war of 1812, and was > present in the battle of New Orleans on the 8 January 1815. For 30 > years was a flat boatman, taking loads of pork and tobacco down the > Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans and hiking home. After Elizabeth > Raley's death, Jesse took his family, Hester Louretta Ward and Basil > Soper Ward, (a baby, John F. had died) children of his first wife, > Mahala Ford, who had died prior to his second marriage, and moved to > to the Kentucky Purchase, where he stayed for two years, and then > moved on to Jackson County Arkansas. He described it as "peopled by > a class of rough, semi civilized people who had little regard for > human life and whose chief diet was corn bread and bear meat, > sandwiched in with bad whisky and tobacco juice." He then moved his > family on to Batesville, and in 1850 married the widow, Exeline Cason > Baltimore whose husband had been in the Arkansas State Legislature. > This also brought to the family Exeline Baltimore's children, Francis > M., Noel B., John M,, Mary E. and Ada A., and soon a half brother, > Kirkwood Clay Ward. Jesse had 240 acres of land, 40 under > cultivation, and he operated lime kilns. The family, Methodist Church > North was anti slavery, finding themselves in a pro slavery state, so > decided to move to the northwest. It took them from June 1852 until > March 29, 1853 to get everything in shape for the journey. Exeline's > brother, Hilary Cason and family, his wife, 6 year year old son and > two younger daughters and William Bently and his wife, a deaf son, > and two younger daughters, plus hired men, teamsters, making 26 > persons, eight wagons and teams and loose cattle. Their route took > them over the Santa Fe Trail, and joined the main trail near the Green > River in northwestern Utah. He describes meeting the first Osage > Indian, passing graves, crossing streams and rivers, herds of > buffalo, and meeting Pawnee and Arapaho Indians. They camped where > Denver now stands, and he describes numerous adventures, including a > stampede of their animals, and the trip down the Columbia from the > lower cascades. The group arrived at the mouth of the Sandy on the > 20th of September, 1853 and made their last camp on a "beautiful > little brook in the Waldo Hills, some ten or twelve miles southeast of > Salem. They were fortunate to lose no member of their party. The > family lived north of Salem for a year and then Jesse bought land and > made his home near the Pringle schoolhouse in Oak Hills, three miles > south of Salem. Carolyn Fix Blount > > >