5/9/01 12:45am EDT Sara, A very interesting description of the trip from Roane Co, TN to Texas. Just wondering if there might be a typo in the part below (or was that how it was recorded)?....the river is now called the Barren Fork of the Collins River(for those following along on the maps!) >On the 14th the wagons forded Rolling River and the family walked over a >bridge. About 10:00 they reached McMinnville in Waren County. In the >evening they forded the baren fork of Clins River. Then, is "300" correct for the width of the bridge over the Wolf River? That would seem like a very wide bridge by today's standards....not even sure there is even one that wide. >27th, "We supppose that we saw 300 wagons on the road today, being hardly >ever out of sight of a wagon loaded with cotton for Memphis. Went through >Raleigh. Crossed Wolf River on a bridge some 300 yards wide. Looks like they had to carry a fair amount of cash just to pay the tolls & ferries. Thanks for passing that on. Larry Shahan Kodak, TN

Hi, Larry. First of all, I should make it clear that what I wrote was an extraction of an extraction of his Diary. The poor man suffered from spiritual battles within himself and most of the diary consists of accounts of these battles. A kind lady, whose name I have lost, did the first extration for a genealogy magazine, lost the name of that, too. Sorry. This lady deserves a great big medal for her work....his diary is really pretty dreary. Sometime back I sent her extract to Southern Trails in a series. If interested, I guess they would be in Rootsweb's archives. I had a computer crash, so lost my own copies. I rechecked, and the accounts of the 14th of October are accurate, i.e., "baren fork of Clins River." Also, "300 yards wide" is what was written in the extract. Maybe he meant 300 yards long, bank to bank. I can't put my hands on the whole diary, so can't check the "original" copy. They were able to buy food for their animals almost every day, so they passed through regions that were fairly well populated. He also commented on rich, red soil, so obviously passed through Oklahoma somewhere. Can you believe it, I have never tried to follow the trail on a map? He mentions, several times, difficulty in "changing" money. I assume he meant his gold. He also kept a strict account of the money he spent. Best regards, Sara