Comments on: “A Display of No Ordinary Character”

By: lindberg

lindberg — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:59:04 +0000

Fascinating stuff as usual, Ardis. Thank you!

I just returned from four days of “trekking” in Wyoming with youth, and I wish I’d had this article before I left.

I too had ancestors in the Martin company (a mother/daughter pair — perhaps Mark B. and I are related?), and it’s been a great opportunity to learn more about what they went through and ponder what life might have been like for them. Your historical posts have been invaluable in that processes. Thanks again!

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:54:48 +0000

I interpreted it as the difference between wagons and handcarts, and whatever other material provisions might have been evident; that otherwise, in their feeling, and fellowship, and mood, and personal appearance, and faith, and how they treated each other, and whatever else wasn’t a purchasable commodity, they were united and equal and egalitarian.

Otherwise (i.e., if the possession/lack of money made a difference in how they treated each other), there would seem to be no purpose in making the statement — what, besides physical and behavioral, would be left to comment on as being without distinction?

By: David B

David B — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:42:44 +0000

One of the reporters’ comments caught my eye (emphasis added:

No distinctions seem to be made among them, except so far as money can make them.

Is this talking about whether people could afford wagons or handcarts, or is it actually more egalitarian than it sounds, or am i completely missing something obvious?

By: SLK in SF

SLK in SF — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:35:47 +0000

Regarding contemporary accounts, this description of a later (1860) company by Sir Richard F. Burton amuses me no end:

The road was now populous with Mormon emigrants; some had good teams, others hand-carts, which looked like a cross between a wheel-barrow and a tax-cart. There was nothing repugnant in the demeanor of the party; they had been civilized by traveling, and the younger women, who walked together and apart from the men, were not too surly to exchange a greeting.

I like to think that my great-great grandmother, a 22-year-old single woman who pulled a handcart that summer, was one of those “civilized by traveling” and “not too surly” to say hello to her famous countryman.

By: The Other Clark

The Other Clark — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:26:43 +0000

Not to mention that a wooden yoke could be hacked out of a cottonwood log fairly easily, and stored virtually anywhere (Compared to a custom-fit leather harness and hames that need to be stored out of the weather.)

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:20:07 +0000

Yeah. Horses and mules were expensive, and horses, at least, required grain to stay healthy -- heavy stuff to haul in quantity over hundreds of miles -- while oxen were cheaper and could forage quite successfully. Just for fun, let me link back to a post from three years ago: How to Handle Your Oxen When You Cross the Plains. Just in case, you know, some of you are going to be working oxen this summer.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:15:45 +0000

I was too quick to hit "empty spam" a few minutes ago and out of the corner of my eye saw a comment from Coffinberry that had been trapped in the filter. Too late to post your comment as left, Coffinberry, sorry, but I did retrieve the link to the post about Mary Ann Morton Durham, the poetess/handcart pioneer mentioned in comment #4.

By: The Other Clark

The Other Clark — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:10:40 +0000

The ratio of 440 oxen to only 20 mules and even fewer horses matches other historical accounts I’ve seen. In movies and reenactments, wagon trains are almost entirely pulled by horses, since virtually no one has harness-broke oxen today.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:59:00 +0000

There were no pretty pioneers, despite what this reporter says. All pioneers, even the children, were really old, old people with lined faces, gray hair in tight buns (women) or bald and heavily bearded (men), dressed always in black.

Or at least those seem to be the only photos I’ve ever seen.

By: Last Lemming

Last Lemming — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:41:26 +0000

I suppose then it could have been either of those women and I retract my claim for “identifiability.”

Any pictures of these two women? If we can see who is the prettiest, we have our poetess. Basic science, you know.