This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Speelman, Chambers, Kennedy and Young names Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/5BC.2ACE/1017.1 Message Board Post: The following story was written by Nelson's son,"I was born in Green County Pa., in 1851. When I was just a baby our family moved to West Virginia and four years later we moved to Iowa, which was then considered "The West."It was a new country with much open and uncultivated land. We came up the Mississippi river in a steamboat and landed in Keokuk, Iowa where my father, Nelson Speelman, bought a farm. It was while there that the Civil War was declared. I remember distinctly of hearing the drums beat and the cannons roar but we saw no battle. In April 1862 we started for the goldfields of Oregon. At Council Bluff, Iowa, we crossed the Missouri river over to Omaha, Neb.Since this was the last town we would go through a good supply of provisions were bought all that we could manage to carry in our wagons. After leaving Omaha we saw no more settlement of white people and from that time on Indian camps were all that were in evidence.The trip across the plains was a very long, tedious one with many members of our company, although the young folks enjoyed it all. Our train consisted of about thirty wagons. Each train had a leader whom they appointed as captain. Ours was William Chambers, father of the late Ed Chambers. We were very fortunate as we had no sickness among our people. We traveled the slow but sure gait of the ox team. We had no trouble with the Indians for safety's sake we always camped near other trains. One morning a cow was missing from our herd. Several of our men went out to look for her but found Indians preparing beef for their breakfast so the men came back and we moved on our way rejoicing because it was only a cow they had killed. We traveled along the Platt river until we came to the Black Hills of Wyoming then westward to Green river. As we had crossed this river we made bour boats out of the wagon beds. On the one which we put the wagon wheels and a feather bed on top, my father,thought would be for mother to ride, but she refused and we were all very thankful for when the boat was about half way across the river the wheels, feather bed and all tumbled into the river. Good fortune was with us as a deserted wagon was there on the river bank. Evidently the oxen had died and some emigrant had been forced to leave the wagon behind. (Little did he know that this was probably the deserted wagons of the Adams train) We had not traveled much farther when we came to deserted camp where we saw a dead man partly buried. The men of our train knew that this man had been traveling with a Mr. Young and since he was missing a search was begun. He was found in the mountains and brought to camp for trial. As time could not be wasted the trains all moved on, keeping the murderer guarded all along. The trial was held and Captain Kennedy from the "Big Missouri" trainw as given charge. A grave was dug and Mr. Young was stood at the foot of the grave.Eight men were selected and each given a gun, four being loaded and four with blanks. The men not knowing which might do the killing all fired at the signal and Mr. Young fell dead into his grave. His body was covered and the train moved on all with a heavy heart. This incident was the most tragic that ever happened in my life. We arrived in Powder River Valley the fifth of September and three days later my brother, David Speelman, was born in the covered wagon. He claims the distinction of being the first white child born in Powder River Valley. When we came here there was nothing but water, sagebrush and rye grass. The center of the valley was most all marsh land and parts was unpassable. There were plenty of fish and birds such as ducks, geese, sage hens, prairie chickens and others which we enjoyed very much as we had lived on bacon and hard tack until we were tired of it. We made our camps on Hibbard creek about eight miles west of Baker where Mr. Samuel Baisley's farm is now located. There my father built the first cabin in the valley. In August of the same year gold had been discovered in the hills twelve miles south of here and the little town of Auburn was started and in a very short time its population had grown to nearly 5,000. There was much gold and of course much excitement. Every mountain stream was prospected and many gold producing mines were located. The Oregon Trail was lined with travelers coming from all parts of the country, some walking, some on horseback, and some in wagons. The minng supplies and provisions were brought from Umatilla Landing on pack mules. There were from fifty to one hundred mules in a train." There is more to the story, but this applied to the Kennedy wagon train and the trial and execution of Mr. Young.