Dear
Diary,
Hello, my name is Daniel Honeyman. I am a physician from New York City. I am
going on the Oregon Trail with my family. We are moving to Oregon because it was
too crowded in New York and so we can have a better life. Our trail captain’s
name is Daniel Robbins. My son’s name is John Honeyman, My wife's name is
Lavina Porter Honeyman, and my daughter-in-law’s name is Margaret Honeyman. My
son is a blacksmith, my wife is a seamstress and she tends to the family, and my
daughter-in-law also tends to the family.
March 19,1858
Dear
Diary,
Our
family earned $100.00 for working in Independence Missouri.
Dear
Diary,
I’m
not sure if I should go through with this. I’m starting to feel a tinge of
regret. I think I should go because I can have a better life in Oregon and I can
follow my dream of helping save peoples lives if they are sick or have diseases.
My family and I agreed that we would leave Independence Missouri. There are oxen
that cost $25.00and mules and horses for $30.00 to $40.00. What should we do? Is
this our last chance to buy? We are getting three more oxen just in case our
other six oxen get tired or die.
Will we top off our water kegs or wait until we get to the next stop this
evening? We are going to get the water now because our oxen might get thirsty or
tired. Oh no! Our water is contaminated with cholera so we have to dump the
water out but we can leave a little in and boil it.
July
12,1858
We can go up a mountain and carve our
names in a rock or we can stay with the wagons. We decided to stay with the
wagons because we could fall off the mountain. We could get left behind or we
could get lost on the mountain.
July
13,1858
Dear
Diary,
We are at Ayers Natural Bridge near
Douglas, Wyoming. There are Indians here so we can go with them or stay on the
trail. We are going to stay on the trail because the Indians could kill us.
Dear
Diary,
July 17,1858
We
are at Reshaws Bridge and we are taking the toll to cross the bridge.
Dear
Diary,
We are at Fort Laramie. On the way
Louise Knapp Clappe Smith had a baby who’s name is Madison America Smith. She
was born July 18,1858. We have lost three oxen. One of
them got in the poison springs and two of them died of alkali poisoning. After
that three more oxen died. I’ve been feeling frustrated because of all of the
bad happenings on the trail. We bought two buffalo robes, two beaded moccasins,
ten pounds of sugar, three oxen, three of us took a bath, five pounds of smoked
bacon, five water casks, two dozen eggs, and I sent a letter for a total cost of
$208.50.
My letter is to my friend Lewis. It says...Hello, its Daniel Honeyman. How are
you doing? If you see my sister-in-law, can you write back and tell me how you,
my sister-in-law and the puppy are doing? We are at Fort Laramie. Write back as
soon as you can.
July 28,1858
Dear
Diary,
The ground is rumbling. We see the
Rockies. Buffalo are stampeding! We have to have a plan and my plan is to move
out of the way. George Whitman sprained his left leg trying to save his children,Abigail and Morgan
, from getting hurt and luckily no one died. Ten oxen got
scared and ran away. We gathered them up but we lost a day of travel time and we
shot three buffalo.
Dear
Diary,
We are in Sweet Water, Wyoming. We
found a muddy spring which has ice under it, but it could be contaminated with
alkali. Should I dig for it? Or not? Captain Daniel said, “Some people would
dig for ice and some people would go two miles off the spring and watch the
animals.” Daniel, Robert and I are going to dig for ice and the rest are going
to go two miles off the spring. There is good news! We found pure, clean ice.
Dear
Diary,
We are at South Pass! We are half way
there! We have to go down the mountain. We see water ferociously rushing down
the mountain. I am concerned someone might fall down and die. The McMillen’s
wheel fell off and cracked! Their extra cask of water fell and spilled and
they lost some items. The Mcmillen’s only have one water cask because of them
drinking one and one falling off.
We had a celebration at Pacific Springs and sang Oh Susanna . We were
in luck because we got a yoke of oxen and two cattle.
August 1,1858
Dear
Diary,
Oh no! A rattlesnake bit Mr. Whitman.
Luckily I brought some whiskey and there wasn’t much venom in his leg so he
recovered. We have to choose to go to Fort Bridger or take the shortcut. We are
going to Fort Bridger because we will graze our oxen in the shortcut.
August 8, 1858
Dear
Diary,
We made it to Fort Bridger! Now we
can have antelope stew and re-water our water kegs. We are going to buy two oxen
and trade four tired ones for two new ones. Lavina, John and Margaret are going
to paint the fences so we can earn $15.00.
Dear
Diary,
We
have been on the trail for four months and seven days. We are at Massacre Rock.
I am afraid of the hostile Indians that might attack. The men are going to
figure out a plan how to cross Massacre Rock. We are shouting and yelling out.
Robert McMillen and Daniel are going to scout Massacre Rock to see if there are
any Indians. The rest of the wagon train and I are going to be holding weapons. I am
going to be holding a pistol. John is going to be holding a rifle. Margaret is
going to be holding a hatchet and Lavina is going to be holding a knife... The
plan worked and we crossed safely.
Dear
Diary,
We came across hot springs and the
people who knew about them crossed safely but the people who didn’t know about
hot springs went across at the wrong time and got burned.
Dear
Diary,
September 10,1858
I am feeling scared because if I mess up on something while the hostile Indians
are near our camp, I could die.
Dear
Diary,
We earned $5.00 for writing a poem.
It will be published back east! We lost all of our 110 pounds of cornmeal.
Dear
Diary,
We have about 400 miles to go. I am
feeling excited and scared. I am excited because we are almost there and I am
scared because of other problems we might have along the rest of the trail.
I have passed the long and hard Snake River. I see the beautiful Blue
Mountains. I wish that we all make it across safely.
October 5,185
Dear
Diary,
Good news! We made it down the Blue
Mountains by putting ropes around our wheels and not leaving the oxen hitched to
the wagon. We are at Ladd Canyon Hill but on the way the McMillen’s and the
Robbins’ family’s wagons somersaulted down the Blue Mountains and one of
each ox en from the families broke a leg . They had to kill their oxen. Luckily
no one got hurt. I am glad that we made it down and the McMillen’s and the
Robbins’ didn’t get hurt.
Dear Diary,
We have reached
Whitman Mission, Walla Walla County, Washington. We are on our 1,709th
mile. We are almost out of food, and we are running low on supplies. We have
three options to get to Oregon. The
first is to pay $100 for the Barlow Toll. The second is to canoe down the river,
but it costs $45 for the Indians to guide you down and $40 to rent a canoe.
The third is to stay at Whitman Mission for the winter, and pay for a
lean to for $35 per month. We have decided that we are going to try to sell our
wagon for $50, and we are going to pay the rest of the $120 to rent two canoes
and pay two Indian guides. We will carry what we need on our backs.
We are going to tell the people that we do not need our wagon anymore,
and that they can buy it. They did.! I am concerned that the canoe will break
because canoeing down a river can be dangerous. I am also concerned that we will
forget something in our wagon that we will need to bring. My biggest concern is
that I won’t make it to Oregon........Our family’s canoes crashed into a rock and
cracked, and because of this, we
needed to go onto other people’s canoes.
Dear
Diary,
We are sending out two scouts because we can’t fit everybody in all the
canoes. They are my son, John Honeyman, unfortunately......and Samuel
McMillen. I am afraid that my son will die. I couldn’t go with Samuel because we are the only two doctors.
If John and I went, then that would be both Honeymen males.
October 28, 1859
Dear
Diary,
I have very sad news. My son and Samuel died..............
We are now in Willamette Valley, and I am so
relieved that we made
it to Oregon! My wife and I are living in a house with 50 acres. We are going to
a reunion with the members of our wagon train, with the exception of my son and
Samuel. I am sorry Diary, I can’t write anymore.
Dear
Diary,
I had so much fun at the reunion. It was so good to see all of the people
that I haven’t seen in a while. Well, Diary, I guess this is my last
writing.........
good-bye.
To the People
and Projects
Comments? Email Mrs. Gurwicz
Last Updated: 08/28/04