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