They wrote to politicians, to each other and many kept diaries. The details of meetings were excluded, but personal diaries, by happenstance, may reference a name or two that may be quite telling. A reference to Polly’s Halliday's liberal tea house may also let you know that you are on the track of a progressive thinking ancestor. .
Where to Find Diaries?
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Listen in to where Angela Rodesky says she obtains them:
5 Places to locate diaries:
1) State Archives and Repositories that hold Personal Papers.
2) Be sure to research the Merrill J. Mattes Reseearch Library at the National Frontier Trails Museum. I must say, spending a day with this concentrated selection of wagon train resources, makes me smile.
3) The ancestry.com California, Pioneer and Immigrant Files, 1790-1950 database holds 10,000 records "with biographical information about pioneers who arrived in California before 1860.
4) Local Histories and Newspapers detail wagon trains and their departure (it was both exciting and devastating to communities and families). Small-town newspapers also reprinted letters sent "home" for the community to read; sometimes enticing others to follow, and just as frequently warnings of the danger.
5) The Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA) hosts of Paper Trail, an online database Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents is a great place to begin your diary, manuscript, and written information search.
It is subscription based, but the initial search is free. This database will GUIDE you to the correct repository. You cannot download the diary from this location, but it leads you to where to go using a surname search.
Search for Your Ancestors in Writings
What did five (5) month travelers do? They recorded their journeys in diaries and letters back home, detailing the trip. Ok, not all of them. But you will be surprised where you may find your ancestor's name. Sometimes the diaries are filled with gruesome details as the writer recalls on paper a companion's demise. Sometimes the accounts are so detailed they read like a novel. Sometimes they just follow a train of thought, or confirm a reader's suspicion.
I proved that a religious "group," Bethel Community, occupied settlements in both Missouri and Oregon. I located the letters that leader, William Kiel, wrote to his congregation back home in Missouri from 1855-1870. He even threatened to excommunicate ("bar them from the Bethel Community") a few Missourians for raising the Union flag, and endangering the community. Interestingly enough, he was writing from his new Bethel Community in Oregon. The letters were filled with historical data, names of members and religious practices.[1]
I proved that a religious "group," Bethel Community, occupied settlements in both Missouri and Oregon. I located the letters that leader, William Kiel, wrote to his congregation back home in Missouri from 1855-1870. He even threatened to excommunicate ("bar them from the Bethel Community") a few Missourians for raising the Union flag, and endangering the community. Interestingly enough, he was writing from his new Bethel Community in Oregon. The letters were filled with historical data, names of members and religious practices.[1]
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